Consultant warns there can't be a return to packed pubs of the past

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Intensive care consultant Dr Catherine Motherway has warned that there cannot be a return to the packed pubs of the past.

While there was a need to return to some sort of normal, uncontrolled groups in indoor settings was a worry she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

The consultant, who is past president of the Intensive Care Society, said she would prefer to see people gathering in a controlled manner in small groups.

The level of intensive care beds in the country remained an issue of concern, she added and any expansion in such numbers would be welcome in the national plan due to be announced on Tuesday.

The rise in the numbers of people contracting Covid-19 in recent weeks had been predominantly among younger people who did not need same levels of hospitalisation, which was good, she said, but there remained the fear that the virus could spread in the community to more vulnerable people.

Dr Motherway said that while the vulnerable have gotten better at protecting themselves, there remained a risk. She said that she hoped that as numbers rise people would be more careful.

The survival rate in Ireland's intensive care units for Covid-19 patients was good, she said, 79%, which compared well internationally.

Dr Motherway said she was confident that the HSE was committed to improving intensive care bed capacity, but the lack of ICU beds was one of the reasons why there had been such a severe and prolonged lockdown.

The consultant, who is based at University Hospital Limerick where she has not seen a Covid-19 case in the intensive care unit for some time, called on people to gather in a controlled manner, it was uncontrolled indoor gatherings that were the problem, she said.

While we needed to get back to some sort of normal life, it was not going to be the same as before, there could not be a return to packed pubs, she said.

Pubs that do not serve food are due to open again on September 21.

Last night, the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) said that if Dublin pubs are not allowed to open on that date it “would completely destroy any trust publicans have in the Government’s management of this crisis”.

Chief Executive Donall O’Keeffe said: “The mixed messages coming from NPHET and the Government is really adding to the uncertainty facing the publicans, their staff, suppliers and all the families involved.

“They feel like the ground keeps shifting around them. This is not the way a crisis should be managed.”

The LVA said another delay would be the fourth one, “with the non food pubs in Dublin having previously been preparing to reopen on the 20th July, 10th August and 31st August”. 

Chief Executive Donall O’Keeffe said: “The mixed messages coming from NPHET and the Government is really adding to the uncertainty facing the publicans, their staff, suppliers and all the families involved.

“They feel like the ground keeps shifting around them. This is not the way a crisis should be managed.”