Doubts emerge about October 22 reopening

Medical experts are also issuing stern warnings over the continued spread of the virus, with cases surpassing 2,000 again on Wednesday as hospitals come under increasing pressures. File picture: Andy Gibson

Doubts are emerging over the planned reopening of society next week, with the Taoiseach warning he cannot guarantee the October 22 return will go ahead.

Medical experts are also issuing stern warnings over the continued spread of the virus, with cases surpassing 2,000 again on Wednesday as hospitals come under increasing pressures.

Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer, warned the spread of the virus in the unvaccinated portion of society is having a "disproportionate" impact on Covid-19 in hospitals and intensive care units, with two-thirds in ICUs currently unvaccinated. 

There are just under 300,000 unvaccinated adults and a further 70,000 people who have received just one of their two doses.

Senior political leaders were also given a "very serious" presentation by health officials on the spike in cases, which is impacting on decisions, Micheál Martin said. 

"I can't guarantee you right now, no decisions have been made," he said.

There was a meeting of senior officials and the presentation by the deputy chief medical officer was a serious one.” 

Mr Martin said they were told of a “sudden increase” in case numbers over the last week.

“The vaccination transforms the situation, it's not like it was last year. The economy is doing well, the recovery has been faster than we thought. We have to keep it in perspective,” he said.

"Suffice to say that it's very, very important that the public at large realise that Covid is not gone.

"The variant is dangerous, numbers are higher in hospitals and they're having an impact on the hospital system."

Government and health officials will meet next week to decide on the re-opening of nightclubs and other indoor venues.

HSE figures for Monday show just 55 general beds available along with five of the 292 staffed ICU beds and only one paediatric ICU bed.

In Kerry, where the 14-day incidence rate has almost doubled in three weeks, GP Dr Eamonn Shanahan said: “I hope the great re-opening is not premature.” 

Kerry is experiencing high Covid positivity levels, with 455 cases confirmed in the past seven days.

Dr Shanahan, GP at the Farranfore Medical Centre, says he cannot isolate any particular reason for the spike, but he is seeing younger and older people. Household settings account for most of the infections he sees.

Dr Shanahan said patients had complained social distancing rules were no longer being followed.

The GP plans to continue avoiding large crowds of people for at least six months, he said.

Meanwhile, Orla Hegarty, lecturer and assistant professor at the UCD School of Architecture, warned Ireland should not "rely solely" on vaccines for the reopening but should also use other measures like ventilation, masks and distancing.

Call for better messaging around ventilation

She called for better messaging around ventilation, saying: “Vaccines have done a great deal of limiting disease, but they can’t control it. We haven’t put in place enough measures, and one of the strongest measures is explaining the science to people.” 

Prof Hegarty called for better information for workplaces and especially for schools on how to mitigate risk from the airborne virus.

She had previously been part of the expert group on ventilation which advised Nphet earlier this year. She left that group in July, citing frustration with the role ventilation was being given in reopening policies.

As Covid figures rise in parallel with winter illnesses, 14 hospitals had no available beds on Monday, including University Hospital Kerry.

Across Munster hospitals, only two adult ICU beds were either unused or not reserved, both in University Hospital Waterford.

Two of the three hospitals with the highest number of Covid patients were in Munster – University Hospital Limerick, 44 and Cork University Hospital,33.

Levels of the virus found in sewage by the national SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance programme is also up on last week, showing a strong positive result in 66 of the 68 centres samples, with a "weak positive" result in Youghal, Co Cork, and Wicklow.