‘Back off’ lockdowns and protect vulnerable, say Irish doctors

Ireland should "back off" lockdowns and begin "intensive protection of the vulnerable" as part of an alternative Covid-19 strategy, according to a group of 21 Irish-based doctors.

Death rates, and pressure on hospital beds and intensive care units, are similar to previous years when respiratory diseases circulated, according to a “white paper” by the Covid-19 Ireland: A Scientific Approach group.

The signatories to the paper include doctors who have signed previous anti-lockdown letters. But it also includes Prof Jack Lambert, an infectious diseases expert at the Mater hospital in Dublin.

The group claims Covid-19 has been replaced as a driver of harm in society by the “official, misguided response” to the disease. And it adds that the “enormous and disproportionate cost” of lockdowns “grows worse by the day”.

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A “fixation” on the virus has led to “the worst cost-benefit of a public health intervention in living memory”, the group claims, with lockdown “significantly undermining” elements of public health and increasing the gap between rich and poor.

The paper proposes the “safe reopening” of colleges, the hospitality industry, foreign travel and sports facilities, though it does not articulate how this could be achieved.

‘Healthy scientific debate’

It says testing resources should be focused on nursing homes and other high-risk settings and rapid antigen testing should be introduced at airports. Medical-grade masks should be supplied to vulnerable groups and screening services should be resumed to normal levels.

The group also calls for an end to daily Government briefings on case numbers and the “re-establishment of balance in the media in terms of healthy scientific debate on all critical issues”.

With “personal vigilance and care, Covid-19 is not a high-consequence infectious disease”, the authors maintain.

The group has so far raised €8,500 online to fund a member of staff.