State at risk of ‘exponential’ surge of Covid-19, HSE chief says

HSE chief Paul Reid has urged people who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to take up the offer of vaccines, warning that high infection levels since July have left the State vulnerable to another "exponential" surge of the disease.

The Covid-19 infection rate here appeared to have plateaued but at a high level, Mr Reid said, adding that the next few weeks will be critical.

“The concern is with positivity levels so high that that could exponentially grow if people have more social contacts, higher levels of positivity and higher levels of case numbers growing,” he said.

Mr Reid was speaking on Thursday at the HSE’s weekly Covid briefing at Dr Steevens’ Hospital in Dublin.

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“Overall we’re making a very special call to people: if you are not vaccinated you are at significantly higher levels of risk in the community . . . If you are vaccinated you are at much higher levels of protection but you are not bulletproof.”

Up of 25 per cent of current Covid-19 cases are in fully vaccinated people, but Mr Reid said there was distinction in that group between people testing positive and patients being hospitalised, going into intensive care or dying from the disease.

With outbreaks on the rise in hospitals to levels not seen since April, the HSE said some unvaccinated healthcare workers "may have contributed" to the disease being introduced among patients. Such concerns have led to the redeployment of some unvaccinated staff to minimise risks, said Prof Martin Cormican, HSE clinical lead for infection control.

“We have to understand that there is some hesitancy around vaccination [among health staff] and we try to work with colleagues on that,” he told the press conference.

“Clearly we would be a lot more comfortable if all healthcare workers looking after vulnerable people were vaccinated . . . We understand that people don’t like being redeployed.”

Nursing home outbreaks

There were 12 outbreaks in nursing homes in the week to August 14th, comprising 121 cases; six outbreaks comprising 21 cases in residential institutions; five outbreaks comprising 12 cases in acute hospitals and one outbreak in a community hospital. Some outbreaks involved significant numbers of patients, residents and staff, including those vaccinated.

Mr Reid said: “We’re seeing significantly higher levels of people in ICU who are unvaccinated: approximately about 80 per cent of the people who are in ICU have not been fully vaccinated.”

In hospitals about 52 per cent of Covid patients have not been vaccinated and 48 per cent were vaccinated. “But of that 52 per cent, that’s high in proportion of about 20 per cent of the population: the adults who are not fully vaccinated,” Mr Reid said.

Niamh O’Beirne, HSE lead official for Covid testing and contact tracing, said 30 per cent of current cases are under the age of 18, a cohort whose vaccination only started recently.

Some 72,000 children aged 12-15 have received a vaccine shot since they became eligible for one last week. About 45 per cent of children in that age group have been registered so far for vaccination, a total of 124,000 people.

The largest source of infection was “family outbreaks” after get-togethers, Ms O’Beirne added.

“There are increasing numbers in hotels and restaurants, still not significant but it is growing, and generally gatherings, barbecues, social events. It’s the same criteria really as before: weddings, anything where there’s large groups of people meeting indoors.”

On Thursday evening, the HSE said that it would be operating walk-in Covid-19 vaccination clinics for both first and second doses over the coming days.

The clinics, which will be open to anyone over the age of 16, will be available at different times at various locations across the country. Additional reporting: PA