HSE working to prepare for possibility of second surge of Covid-19

“We need to give people hope and confidence, not fear," said HSE CEO Paul Reid.

The HSE’s chief executive Paul Reid has said that work has already been done to prepare for the possibility of a second surge of Covid-19 in Ireland.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast he said, there was no doubt that there had been an impact on services to date, but they will now have to be delivered in a new way, protecting the vulnerable and relieving pressure on the hospital system.

Agreements have been reached with private hospitals he said in the event that their facilities and services will be required in the event of a second surge.

This will be done in a targeted way, it could be based on geography and will be a “more agile” way, he explained.

The work that had been done in ICU services had been phenomenal with an increase in high dependency units that almost doubled capacity.

Testing had also been increased with an overall capacity of 100,000 tests which has to be kept for surges, said Mr Reid.

The country had learned a lot about how to protect the vulnerable during the pandemic.

The impact of lockdown “was massive for us.” But the country needed a functioning economy, a functioning society and a functioning education system, he said.

“We need to give people hope and confidence, not fear. We are not on the verge of a second lockdown, we are dealing with spikes.

“The strongest message is that we have to live differently, behave differently,” said Mr Reid.