Need to protect most at risk from virus says expert

People should treat coronavirus as they would seasonal flu - think about those most at risk and try to protect them, a consultant microbiologist has urged.

“Right now we want to protect the people who are at risk and that is the 1.-2% that have either some kind of chronic condition and those that are immunosuppressed," said Dr Margaret Hannan.

"We must work together, use common sense and try to resolve any fear that people have that this is something more than seasonal flu," said Dr Hannan, who is a member of the HSE national response team.

It emerged at the weekend that the State’’s first confirmed case of Covid-19 resulted in the closure of a Dublin secondary school for two weeks on infection control grounds.

Last night the HSE held a public meeting for the parents of the 400 pupils who have been told to limit their social interactions and not attend social meetings.

Dr Hannan said Covid-19 was not as dangerous as originally thought and was less likely to cause fatalities.

“It is probably the same as the flu and that it around less than 1%. We are still getting information coming through,” she said.

“The fatality rate was documented at 2% but we realise now that it is a lot less than that.”

Dr Hannan is head of infection control at the Mater Private and a consultant microbiologist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.

She said the greatest challenge was stopping the virus from getting into hospitals. It was all about containment until there was a vaccine.

She pointed out that more than 90% of people would recover from Covid-19 just like they did from seasonal flu.

“For most people, it will be gone in a couple of days and they will be absolutely fine,” she said.

However, between 10% and 15% might get a more severe type of infection.

“So if you really want to control something like this you get people to stay at home and just mind their own families and not put other people at risk by going out.”

“It spreads through the community very quickly but it does not have a high fatality rate.

"It doesn’’t seem to affect children very badly; it doesn’’t seem to affect pregnant women and there are 11 vaccines in development.” 

President of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland, Deirdre McDonald, said members would be willing to take part in remote education if schools are closed because of the virus.

Schools had internet platforms where work was put up and corrected so for situations like the Dublin secondary school the capacity was there to keep the learning going.

“Our members are never found short of going the extra mile for their students,” she said on RTÉ radio.

Health Minister Simon Harris said Ireland is the 61st country in the world to see a case of Covid-19 and one of the last in the EU.

Mr Harris said preparations are now being made in Ireland and at European level for the virus to be around for a “significant period of time”.

He urged people to continue to be vigilant but not to panic and to be guided by public health experts.