Everyone likely to be exposed to Covid-19 as society reopens – consultant

All of us are likely to be exposed to the Covid-19 virus as society opens up fully, a consultant in infectious diseases has warned.

Prof Paddy Mallon said our chances of contracting the virus will depend on whether or not we are vaccinated and what precautions we take in the company of other people.

His warning comes as the National Public Health Emergency Team said that a best-case scenario involves between 2,500 and 3,000 Covid-19 cases a day by mid-September.

“You could call it pessimistic or a heavy dose of realism, but just because you are going to come into contact with the virus, should not translate into this nihilistic attitude that I am going to throw caution to the wind,” Prof Mallon said.

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“It’s still an infection you don’t want to be going out to get, but, at the same time, as we open up the more likely we are going to come in contact with the virus.

“This is a condition that is going to be with us for a long time. We are just factoring it into how we can function generally.”

He stressed that the public should get used to the concept that vaccines do not make them “bulletproof” and they are still at risk of getting Covid-19.

“There is a realisation that vaccines protect you against severe disease, hospitaliation and death but the ability of vaccination to protect you against acquiring Covid-19 is much less,” he explained.

“There is still a risk associated with Covid. This is a concept we are going to have to grapple with. It’s about the reduction of risk, not the elimination of risk. “It is likely that when society opens that all of us at some time are going to come into contact with this virus.

“You can come into contact with this virus with the protection that a vaccine affords you in which case you are much less likely to get really sick or die than without vaccine protection.

“As society opens up and we start moving back to pre-Covid or near normal society, the things that will protect us from coming into contact with Covid-19 are the basic health measures.

“The hand washing and cough etiquette are still important, but beyond that, if you are out socialising and mixing with other individuals, there is still a risk you will come into contact with the virus.”

Prof Mallon, who is a consultant at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin and Professor of Microbial Diseases in UCD, said workplaces will still need to implement public health measures to avoid widespread absenteeism and should introduce antigen testing to identify those who are infectious.

He stressed the unvaccinated are most at risk from the opening up of society. “If they get Covid-19, that is where the real danger lies. You see around the world unvaccinated people who are most at risk of getting seriously unwell from this.

“It is terrible to see people coming into hospital sick with a vaccine-preventable illness. It is a terrible crisis for the people themselves and their families.”

The waiting list for long Covid is “continuing to build” he said, and there is a backlog of cases.

“How that pans out with people who are fully vaccinated, I don’t know. Personally I have not seen a big deluge of long Covid in vaccinated individuals. The bottom line is that we don’t know. We will have to watch this space.”