🇮🇪HSE #Covid19 information is unscientific & unsafe. People are at risk of infection due to misleading, contradictory & out-of-date advice 1/
✅Covid19 is MOSTLY spread by aerosols from breathing & talking, NOT droplets from coughs & sneezes
✅Aerosols linger & spread >2m
✅ ‘social distancing’ of 2m is NOT a protection indoors, everyone breaths the same air
✅ virus can fill rooms & linger for hours in EMPTY rooms/lifts/vehicles
✅ risk from touching surfaces/hands/eyes is LOW
✅ respiratory virus are almost always INHALED by infected air 2/
✅ ventilation & filtration are critically important in ALL buildings & vehicles, whether crowded or not
✅ crowded indoor spaces are unsafe BEYOND 2M DISTANCE
✅ wear a mask EVERYWHERE INDOORS that isn’t your home
✅ cough & sneeze INTO YOUR MASK
✅ NORMAL cleaning is fine 3/
✅ clean hands are good for health, & may prevent some #Covid19 transmission.. but hands CANNOT (mathematically) control this pandemic
✅ Clean indoor air, good masks & vaccines CAN control this pandemic
✅COVID IS AIRBORNE (this has been known since Spring 2020) 4/
People at risk (medical conditions/disabilities/older people)
✅ nobody knows their own immune response to a vaccine.
✅everyone should LIMIT EXPOSURE to unsafe conditions
✅ Risk is about places not people
✅ ALL places can be made low risk for EVERYONE www2.hse.ie/conditions/cov…
Nursing homes
✅ Outbreaks can be PREVENTED with airborne precautions
✅ WELL FITTING MASKS should be everywhere indoors.. & ESPECIALLY in close contact/in vehicles with vulnerable people
✅ DON’T TEST IMMUNITY. Vaccines don’t block infection, people may have waning immunity now
[aside: outdoor visits & “window visits” are inhuman & completely unnecessary. I wrote advice for safe visits to nursing homes one year ago. It wasn’t adopted]
People who are infected (& sharing a home)
✅wear well-fitting masks
✅avoid shared rooms/bedrooms & cars (esp mask off to eat)
✅ventilate shared spaces (incl bathrooms/halls)
✅keep trickle of airflow at all times for cross ventilation
✅use plug-in HEPA filter fans if possible
tl;dr
Everyone wants to be safe. Tell them how
Vaccines help fight infection, but nobody knows how well a body works. Avoid exposure
Prof @PhilipNolan_MU on @TodaywithClaire “we are not surprised, it was a possibility… we have had this “event” where cases went from 1100 to 1600/day.. it’s rapidly evolving.. the first indication was last Friday (from Wed swabs) & positivity % has increased” #Covid19
“Proportionally more infections are middle age & older adults now.. & requiring hospitalisation”
“we are unlikely to see major surge (due to vaccination).. but it’s on a knife edge” ..“we need to encourage & support vaccination”..2/3 in ICU are unvaccinated”
“we don’t know if this is a transient event or a step change that will stay at new level.. we are worried given (high) positivity rate” ... “vaccines offer 90% protection against hospitalisation”
CURRENT (on- going spending, leases, rent supports, etc) €1.4bn
“11,820 new homes to be added to supply of social housing through build, acquisition & leasing, with focus on new build (9,000 homes)”
..unclear how many direct build (good value for money), acquisition (vfm in low demand locations only), & leasing (very poor vfm)
🇮🇪 #Covid19 It’s been one year since the LongForgottenDublinPandemicExperimentOf2020™️
If we had paid attention, 2021 could have been much, much better. Here’s why..
[we didn’t learn, but it’s never too late!] 1/
On 13 Sept 2020 the national 7-day average was 187 cases/day (it’s currently 1,300 almost 7 times amount)
In context of summer 2020, there were concerns. So govt brought in new restrictions ~for Dublin only~
Most significant was a ban on indoor dining & pubs ~in Dublin only~ 2/
[+ an inter-county travel ban, limits on gatherings, closure of museums, & limits on some other not-so-high risk activities]
Most significant difference between Dublin & the Rest of Ireland was that indoor dining & pubs were open outside Dublin 3/ assets.gov.ie/87604/405b1065…