People must reduce social contacts to counter ‘serious rise’ in Covid cases – Donnelly

People need to reduce their "discretionary" social contacts to counter the current "serious rise" in Covid-19 cases, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said.

Mr Donnelly urged the public to “pull back” their social contacts “just for a while” so that the current wave of cases can be be brought under control.

With cases rising in all age groups under 75 years, Mr Donnelly warned that for younger adults, particularly 19-24 year olds, “the lines on the graph are almost vertical” at present.

He said the situation was “finely balanced” with vaccines, booster doses and more testing all working to bring the situation under control.

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As well as urging people to think about the number of people they intend meeting, and then “bring it down”, the Minister called on the hospitality industry to “play their part” in controlling the spread of infection.

"The majority of the hospitality sector are doing the right thing but far too many not," Mr Donnelly said, speaking on Wednesday after he opened the refurbished emergency department at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin.

Asked whether companies should cancel their Christmas parties due to the worsening situation, Mr Donnelly replied: “Not if it’s done right”.

“If that’s your social outlet, rather than going to the pub or something else right now, I would say that’s okay, it’s well within the guidelines. The message wouldn’t be ‘don’t do that’ it would be ‘do’nt do that and everything else’.”

He urged people with symptoms to stay at home and get tested rather than go out.

‘Tough’ winter

This winter is going to be “really tough” for hospitals, he said, with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) circulating among children, flu likely to return and a large number of patients who had deferred their care earlier in the year now requiring it.

The most recent modelling by the National Public Health Emergency Team suggested the rise in cases is “halfway between the optimistic and pessimistic scenario” previously published by officials.

Mr Donnelly said officials were working on a fresh “recut” of their models, to be ready early next week.

A key question would be to what extent cases translate into severe illness, he explained. Vaccines and boosters were providing a lot of protection. Among over-85s there has been a pronounced and now very sustained reduction in cases, as a result of boosters and changed behaviour.

Cases among 75-84 year olds, which had been stable, have increased again in recent days.

Asked whether booster vaccines would be extended to people with chronic conditions, he said he didn't want to pre-empt the deliberations of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) but his conversations with Niac did include this.

The new emergency department at the eye and ear hospital includes a phone triage system designed to prioritise access to those most in need and to establish more efficient patient flows.

Rather than attending in person, patients phone the hospital and, depending on priority, are given a time appointment on the same day or the following day. Urgent cases are told to come in immediately.