The Stormont Executive is having a “conversation” about the wearing of masks in public, Health Minister Robin Swann confirmed today.
But the Ulster Unionist MLA cautioned against the use of masks by the public for fear they give people a “false sense of security”.
And he warned that he would be concerned that the wearing of masks could lead to measures already in place such as hand hygiene could become “less prevalent” if people started wearing masks.
The Minister was responding to a question about the wearing of the masks after the Scottish government recommended people cover their faces while in some enclosed public spaces, such as shops and public transport.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there could be “some benefit” in wearing a cloth face covering in places where social distancing was difficult. But she said it was “not a substitute” for existing lockdown restrictions.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride also addressed the issue saying that the wearing of masks “cannot be seen as a substitute for good hand hygiene”.
He added that there is “limited evidence” regarding the effectiveness of masks but that if people are in an “enclosed space” there may be “some benefit” but that it would be “limited”.
They also used the daily briefing to warn against any notion of an imminent relaxing of current lockdown measures.
Dr McBride said the 34 people currently in ICU beds with Covid-19 “could double within two weeks” if we “drop our guard now”.
The press conference came after latest Department of Health figures showed a daily increase in deaths of people who had tested positive for Coronavirus of 20.
Mr Swann said some “tentative improvements” are being seen, including a drop in the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care to 34.
He warned, though, that Northern Ireland “remains on a knife edge”.
“Don’t let anyone say this has all been overblown because, believe me, it hasn’t,” he said, adding the scale of deaths is reaching what was seen in the worst days of the Troubles.
Mr Swann also warned that when the time comes to ease social distancing, it will “not be like flicking a switch on going back to the old ways”.
“Social distancing will be with us for many months,” he said.
The Chief Medical Officer said that Northern Ireland currently has a transmission rate of around 0.7 or 0.8 but that it could rise above one again, meaning “exponential growth”, if we “drop our guard too rapidly”.
