NPHET chief Dr Tony Holohan has said that the Taoiseach's advice to "wear masks outdoors" is a good recommendation to follow as Ireland's COVID situation has deteriorated.
The Chief Medical Officer was speaking at today's coronavirus briefing at the Department of Health.
In response to a question about the Taoiseach Micheal Martin's recommendation, he said it's "good advice" to wear the masks when outdoors for essential reasons such as grocery shopping or exercising.
There were a further 4,929 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Ireland today, with eight more deaths related to the disease.
Of the cases notified today:
- 2,250 are men / 2,641 are women
- 59% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 39 years old
- 1,513 in Dublin, 695 in Cork, 320 in Limerick, 305 in Wexford, 225 in Galway and the remaining 1,871 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 2pm today, 1,582 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 146 are in ICU. 156 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “While we are seeing the first glimmer of hope in respect of our daily case figures and positivity rates, the situation in hospitals and ICUs around the country continues to worsen day on day. We know that hospitalisations occur some weeks after a confirmed case is notified, and mortality after that again. That means we are unfortunately set for a period of time where the situation in our hospitals gets worse before it gets better.
“The best way forward now is for all of us to stay at home. Staying at home and cutting your contacts right down to only those in your immediate household is the one vital way we will protect our healthcare system as it struggles with the burdens brought on by this surge in COVID-19 infections.”
Dr Michael Power, HSE Clinical Lead for Intensive Care, said: “Over the past weeks, we have seen a swift and sharp spike in admissions into critical care units across the country. As of this morning, we have 146 people sadly in ICU. This is nearing the springtime peak of 155 people in critical care. The potential long-term impacts on these patients’ health is stark and significant. ICUs are not where we want anyone to be. They are our very last line of defence against COVID-19. The best way we can protect our ICU capacity and those that work in them is to stay at home.”
