Hospitals under pressure even in most optimistic Omicron scenario — Paul Reid

Director-general of the HSE Paul Reid said the booster campaign was a pre-emptive attack to reduce the impact of Omicron.

The director-general of the HSE Paul Reid has acknowledged that even the “optimistic” modelling for the spread of the Omicron variant has indicated levels of the virus that would put hospitals under pressure.

The variant now accounts for 27% of all new Covid-19 infections here, up from just 1% of new cases last week. It is likely to become the dominant variant within a matter of days.

Mr Reid said the booster campaign was a pre-emptive attack to reduce the impact of Omicron.

“That’s our first line," he said.

While not enough was yet known about the Omicron variant, it did appear to be highly transmissible, he said, and the sheer volume of possible cases would have an impact on hospitals.

Health service staff had experienced “a horrendous year”, according to Mr Reid, working through four waves of the virus and a cyberattack. 

“Just as we were beginning to see progress, we are now facing Omicron.” 

He said the HSE had been in a very strong position recently with a 22% reduction in hospitalisations, but the figures were still at “too high a base” to face Omicron.

It was disheartening as “just when you feel we’re making progress, it hits you again,” he added.

Real evidence was still emerging which made modelling difficult, but even the most “optimistic” outcome would put hospitals under pressure, which makes the booster campaign so important.

The HSE is looking at measures to scale up intensive care capacity in hospitals in the event of a surge, along with care in the community and utilising private hospitals. 

Mr Reid admitted that non-Covid care would be modified on a hospital by hospital basis, to date it had not been necessary to make a national decision. 

“We will keep going that way as long as we can."

The aim was to sustain urgent care, he told RTÉ and Newstalk radio today. 

The most recent figures for staff out of work for Covid-related reasons had been 5,800, but that had been reduced to just over 5,000 which highlighted the importance of the booster campaign.

Protocols about derogations for close contacts would be made at local level, but if staff who were close contacts were not symptomatic, had not tested positive, and were fully vaccinated the policy was that they could work, he said.