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Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has welcomed the new advice from Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan that restriction rules for fully boosted close contacts be relaxed.
Under the advice, which is being brought to Cabinet by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly on Wednesday morning, fully boosted close contacts with no symptoms will not have to restrict their movements. Close contacts who do not have the booster vaccine will have to restrict their movement for seven days and all positive cases will need to isolate for seven days.
The proposals come as the Omicron wave sweeps across Europe and Ireland, with Dr Holohan estimating that up to 500,000 people here may have been infected last week. The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that half the population of western Europe could be infected in the next six to eight weeks.
Mr Ryan on Wednesday told Newstalk Breakfast that the move would be of benefit to employers and to their staff and it had come about as a result of recommendations from the ECDC.
The system in the last few weeks had been “confusing”, he said, and this move would provide clarity.
However, Mr Ryan warned that the virus could not be “let rip”. He said the number of patients with Covid in ICUs was “holding steady”, and Ireland has the second lowest death rate from Covid in Europe, “because the vaccine works”. The metric of measurement had to be the number of hospitalisations not the number of cases, he added.
When asked how employers would know if staff had been fully vaccinated and had received their booster, if they could not ask, Mr Ryan said that it was a matter of trust between employer and employee.
People had been vaccinated for their own good and out of a sense of pride that they were protecting others, he said.
Restrictions with regard to the hospitality sector and the current closing time of 8pm would remain in place until they were reviewed later in the month, said Mr Ryan. He said he was confident that such restrictions could be lifted at that time as this appeared to be “a shorter wave”.
Concern
Earlier, Professor of Immunology at DCU Christine Loscher expressed concern about a “blanket” easing of close contact requirements.
“I’m surprised there is a blanket change. It’s a little bit all or nothing,” Prof Loscher told Newstalk Breakfast.
Prof Loscher said she understood the need to change the rules with regard to the workplace, especially for essential services, but said she was concerned because the Omicron variant was much more transmissible and she would not like to see the change have an impact on case numbers.
Anitgen tests would be crucial “if this is the way to go” she said. A test would need to be done every day, she said.
Prof Loscher said there was not yet information on how many close contacts had turned into cases, what percentage and in what settings.
Every single public health decision to date had been made on the basis of scientific evidence, she said. “That does not seem to have happened here.”
The Department of Health said 19,290 new cases of the virus were confirmed on Tuesday, though this is widely understood to be a significant underestimate of the true numbers, as many people with symptoms who have had positive antigen tests are not being counted in the department’s official statistics.
Mr Donnelly on Wednesday said the 10 millionth dose of Covid-19 vaccine was being administered in the State, praising the number as a “huge milestone” in the vaccination programme.
According to the latest available figures, there are 1,055 patients in the country’s hospitals with Covid-19, with 92 of those in ICU.
Mr Donnelly confirmed on Tuesday he intends to bring plans to Cabinet that will remove the five-day isolation period for close contacts of confirmed cases if the individual has been given their Covid-19 booster.
“If you have boosted immunity, currently you’re asked to restrict your movements for five days,” Mr Donnelly told Newstalk radio.
“That requirement would go completely, so no restricted movement if you have boosted immunity. Now, the recommendation is still obviously that there is regular antigen testing for several days. During that period people would also wear the higher-grade masks.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar voiced his support for an easing of the rules. “I do think we need to relax the rules over close contacts, but we need to come up with a way of doing that, that is safe,” he said.