'It's too soon' - Simon Harris urges public to stay at home over the weekend
The Health Minister has urged people to stay home this weekend, saying that restrictions would not be eased at all in the coming days, given where Ireland finds itself.
Speaking in the Dáil today, Simon Harris said that he understands the focus on the relaxation of restrictions, but says that as a country "the next 12 days are crucial" in suppressing Covid-19.
Mr Harris said that the country's Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan had told him that if asked to make a recommendation given the current situation in Ireland, he would recommend that the current restrictions continue as is.
Mr Harris said that he would like to give some certainty to the country, but was not in a position to.
I wish I could tell you what the future holds, but it's too soon. The coming days matter.
Mr Harris told the Dáil that the reproductive rate of the illness - the number of people who each infected person had in turn infected - was now down to between 0.5 and 1.0.
Sinn Féin's health spokesperson Louise O'Reilly, however, criticised the Minister for "mixed messages" on vigilance.
She said that it was he who, in a Sunday newspaper interview had raised the question of the easing of restrictions.
Mr Harris told the Dáil that the reproductive rate of the illness — the number of people who each infected person has in turn infected — is now down to between 0.5 and 1.0: “I’m very pleased to inform the house today that the reproductive rate has fallen even further to between 0.5 and 1.0. What that means for every one person who contracts Covid-19, we now expect that they will spread it to no more than one other person.”
“The model shows that at the beginning of April, around 100 people per day were being admitted to hospital with the virus. I’m pleased to inform the house today that the modelling shows that that figure has fallen to around 40 people a day — a significant reduction. The number of people in intensive care is also falling and the number of people being discharged from ICU is rising.”
Fianna Fáil’s health spokesman Stephen Donnelly said nursing homes were left out of the planning for the Covid-19 outbreak. He said that the National Public Health Emergency Team had first discussed nursing homes at its 12th meeting on March 10. He said even then it was to say visitor restrictions taken by some homes were unnecessary: “In fact, they closed playgrounds a week before they closed nursing homes.”
Mr Donnelly said that nursing homes do not have a seat on the National Public Health Emergency Team and asked Mr Harris if he would rectify this immediately. The minister said nursing homes are represented by their regulatory body, HIQA. He said that Mr Donnelly has pushed for representation for nursing home owners, but not their frontline staff.
Mr Harris said the head of the HSE met nursing home representatives on February 19 to discuss preparedness. He said the meeting came more than a month before the WHO released its guidance on infection control.
