Delay re-opening indoor dining to end of July, says Cork GP

Dr Nuala O’Connor said the average Covid case numbers are higher now than they were in December when the Alpha or B.117 variant emerged

Dr O’Connor, a member of the High-Level Task Force on Covid-19 Vaccination, said the virus spreads more easily “where people are indoors in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces". File photo: iStock

Re-opening indoor dining should be delayed to the end of July, Dr Nuala O’Connor, Irish College of General Practitioners lead on Covid-19, has said, because of the "concerning" rise in the Delta variant.

Dr O’Connor, a GP in Douglas in Cork City, said: “If we could delay indoor dining until the end of July I think it would be very wise.” 

“I don’t want to be a killjoy. We have done so well, why would we risk going backwards for the sake of three or four weeks?” 

Dr O’Connor, a member of the High-Level Task Force on Covid-19 Vaccination, said the virus spreads more easily “where people are indoors in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces, where alcohol is involved and people are chatting aloud and laughing and singing.” 

She hosts a weekly webinar for thousands of GPs around the country on all aspects of Covid-19 through the ICGP.

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“For the last number of weeks I’ve been warning them,” she said.

“I’ve been saying everything is going in the right direction. But we do have this Delta variant, and what has been on every summary slide is that we need to get to the end of July for sufficient population protection from vaccination.” 

She said we need to remember what happened in December when the Alpha or B.117 variant was starting to emerge in Ireland.

“We were at this point (low case numbers) in December. Then our numbers shot up from all the mixing and then they shot up even more because we got more UK variant,” she said.

The numbers are averaging more now than they were at the start of December so this could take off.

The average number of cases now is about 310 per day, she said, and it is known the Delta variant is up to 40% more transmissible than the Alpha variant.

In the meantime, she advised unvaccinated people to socialise outdoors and to continue wearing masks when indoors or in crowded situations.

Doctors in the UK have reported the Delta variant is not typically associated with a cough, and that symptoms appear initially more like a head cold than the standard Covid-symptoms, she said.

Referring to infections among children, she said: “We have noticed is a big decrease in school-going age children’s incidence of Covid, as the adults become vaccinated.” Dr O’ Connor said: “The evidence has always been it is not the children give it to the adults, it is the adults give it to the children.

"So as the adults get vaccinated any Covid incidence in schools is falling off, that is a positive impact of vaccinations.”