Covid spread; Significant hike expected soon- Paul Reid

Paul Reid, the HSE boss said that there will be huge increase in the Covid-19 cases soon. He also said that this hike is going to happen very soon.

While addressing the medias he said that the present situation will be extended to the future as well. Probably the people will be living their future with masks and face guards.

Within no time the local spikes of the disease will be evident, that will be the new reality that the people should accept. The authorities are trying their best to control and overcome this situation.

“Ultimately, however, as we have seen over the past few weeks in particular, while everybody had predominantly been talking about when we might see a second surge, I think the reality is that what we are seeing in the country right now is probably what we are going to be living with for the future with this virus.” Said Mr. Reid.

He also said that “The focus now is around agility, how we adapt, scale up and scale down, and how we try to get back our services, which I referenced a while ago.”

In the meantime, after the examination of the health experts it is decided to do saliva test is the preferred test for school going children, said HSE Chief Clinical Officer.

He said that a decision by the advisory of the NPHET is about to be issued next week and with that it could be confirmed that the saliva test is exact or not.

Meanwhile the HSE’s lead on testing, Niamh O’Beirne said that still people are not serious about the virus spread.

She said that, only 50% of people are returning for their day seven tests.

“Somewhere between 70% and 80% of people will show up for day 0 tests, and sometimes it gets closer to 85%. On the day seven tests, it is closer to 50%,” she said.

“Looking at the age profiles, the cohorts who have the most difficulty tend to be the very young and the more elderly.” She added.