EASING SOME COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS IS LOW RISK SAYS MEDICAL EXPERT

An infectious disease specialist at the Royal College of Surgeons has said he thinks Irish society would benefit from an easing of some restrictions to allow people to go outside safely with social distancing. Professor Sam McConkey said it is low risk and relatively safe for children and over 70s to work and play outside once masks are worn and people keep their distances. He said it is inevitable the coronavirus will spread again and must be quickly and effectively identified within hours so that it can be traced and isolated and not continue to spread onwards. He said it is really key that the testing system is robust and that when a GP orders a test a result is available within a few hours and is followed by action at a public health level to trace contacts within three to six hours. This is the way to prevent one case being the seed of a new wave of infection, Prof McConkey added. 

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0430/1135735-chambers-ireland-survey/ 

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0430/1135708-coronavirus-restrictions/ 

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/taoiseach-urged-to-deliver-exit-strategy-as-restrictions-to-be-extended-by-two-weeks-996617.html 

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Prof McConkey said that authorities responded promptly and effectively in the early weeks of the Covid-19 crisis but that a different cross-party political approach is needed going forward to make "some of the hardest decisions we will make in 100 years".

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Professor McConkey said that in the last six to eight weeks the Government has taken the advice of technical and public health experts in making dramatic, unprecedented actions which have been successful in limiting the spread of the virus.

However, moving forward he said that key decisions about the economy, the costs of recovery and how best to proceed should be made in the Dáil as these tough decisions will require broad cross-party support.

Prof McConkey said the strongest predictor of any society's health is its wealth and unless we can get back to work and to individual values as a society we will not have the resources to provide food, water, medicine, houses and "the comfortable things that allow us to have good health". He said it is false to pit health against wealth as they are interdependent. There are questions going forward about wealth and social equity and we must consider how to re-build Ireland in a sustainable way with social and financial equity, he added.

Prof McConkey said that those debates are best had in the Dáil - with 160 elected representatives having "the difficult discussions" to try to find strong support for centrist positions about how to work together to get out of this. "There are going to be casualties" across various industries, he added.

Different industries are in trouble and decisions about which industries should be supported by the public purse and possibly nationalised will need to be taken, the professor commented. He also suggested that there should be a re-allocation and re-profiling of those who have lost jobs to support areas where there is a need for workers, including nursing homes. 

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Read more: Latest coronavirus stories 

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0429/1135508-restrictions-work/ 

https://www.bbc.com/news 

https://www.reuters.com/news/world 
 
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/there-will-be-casualties-decisions-facing-govt-most-difficult-in-100-years-996651.html 

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Meanwhile, the Chief Executive of IBEC said the cost of the Covid-19 pandemic has been huge economically and efforts must begin to return to a new normal. Danny McCoy said when this situation began, everyone believed it to be temporary, but this is clearly not the case and we will all be living with this virus for months. We need, he said, a roadmap that reflects this reality and we need to be conscious of losing our livelihoods as well as our lives. He pointed out that a return to work would involve sharing public space and said companies need to know how this will work. 

Mr McCoy said a whole approach to the problem is needed and questioned if the Government can afford to continue as it is, adding that the pandemic welfare payments were very generous compared to other countries and are not sustainable. Mr McCoy said it was really important- that construction got under way again.

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