Country celebrates St Patrick's Day after three-year gap as Covid cases are on the rise again
"I think the message is to enjoy Patrick's Day and take basic precautions in terms of your own health and in terms of the Covid situation," Micheál Martin said.
The country will today enjoy its first full St Patrick's Day celebrations since 2019 with thousands taking to the streets for parades in every town and city.
The Taoiseach has tested positive for Covid just hours before he was due to meet US president Joe Biden in Washington DC.
Ahead of today's celebrations, Micheál Martin expressed concern about rising Covid-19 case numbers but insisted the Government was not considering a re-introduction of restrictions at this point. Some 30,000 new cases have been officially confirmed in only the last two days.
Asked what advice he would give the public over the St Patrick's Day weekend, the Taoiseach said: "I think the message is to enjoy Patrick's Day but obviously be comfortable in what you're doing and take basic precautions in terms of your own health and in terms of the Covid situation."
Mr Martin pointed out that hospitals were coming under "real pressure" as they tried to deal with the surge in cases, although he noted that the numbers in intensive care units (ICUs) were not rising.
He said the situation was being kept under constant review by chief medical officer Tony Holohan and Stephen Donnelly, the health minister, but the Cabinet had not discussed introducing any restrictions.
Also in Washington, Professor Philip Nolan, former head of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), said the rise in cases was “not worrying”.
He described the situation as an “exit wave” and said vaccination continued to protect against serious illness.
“It is not translating into serious harm. It is not translating into people in intensive care requiring ventilation anything like it did in previous waves, so to a certain extent this is expected,” he said.
He said before Nphet stood down, its “strong advice” was to keep wearing masks in high-risk situations.
Although ICU numbers were not rising, higher case numbers and large numbers of people needing regular care were placing a strain on hospitals, the HSE chief operations officer Anne O'Connor told a briefing.
She expressed particular concern at record-breaking overcrowding at Cork University Hospital (CUH) and University Hospital Limerick.
"We have never before seen the level of attendances in sites like Limerick and CUH," she said.
“The numbers coming through the doors are just so high and, when you look at Limerick and other sites, one of the standards they are assessed against is dignity and privacy."
The high numbers attending hospital come as 4,102 HSE staff are out on Covid-related leave, with 940 workers absent from nursing homes.
Echoing concerns about more vulnerable people, HSE chief executive Paul Reid pointed to the rising number of older people in hospital with the virus, now standing at over 70% of those admitted.
He said it was “uncertain” how far numbers could rise, but also said vaccination was preventing the most severe illness and death for the majority of people.
Up to this week, 48% of the Covid patients in hospitals were admitted for other illnesses — meaning they had less severe Covid-19 thanks to the vaccines.
HSE chief clinical officer Colm Henry also urged those who are at risk or visiting people who are at risk to consider wearing masks over the bank holidays.
“Even though the masks are not mandatory anymore, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to use it,” he said.
“It can still afford protection if you use it on public transport or any settings with congestion.”
There is a risk of re-infection for people now, he said.
The three HSE officials urged the public to look outside of hospitals if appropriate when they needed healthcare over the next four days including HSE injury clinics, medical assessment units, pharmacies, and GP out-of-hours services.
Separately, CUH said visiting restrictions would apply from today due to Covid-19, while similar restrictions continued at Bantry hospital.
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