A worrying prediction.
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, has warned that Covid-19 cases could rise to an ‘unsustainable level’ in Ireland.
Speaking on Morning Ireland on Wednesday morning, Nolan said: “Unless we move collectively and firmly to prevent further transmission of the virus, we will see case numbers rising to a level that is unsustainable.”
Nolan also said that community transmission has doubled over the last ten days, but that it is not true that over half of the cases reported recently come from community transmission.
He said there was an understandable spread of Covid-19 at the beginning of July because ‘”largely through forgetfulness, not complacency” people were being less careful with hand hygiene and social distancing, and were not limiting their contacts.
Nolan said that the goal is currently to have a reasonable level of social contact, while also not creating a significant risk of transmission.
Speaking about the new guidelines, which state that you can only have indoor meetings with a maximum of six people from a maximum of three houses, he said: “If you’ve five households, and 10 people, that’s almost double the risk of five or six people from three households.”
He also said that our current tracing system is constantly being improved, but that it is doing its job.
You can listen to Nolan’s interview in full here.
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