The return of mandatory mask wearing cannot be ruled out if Covid-19 cases continue to rise, the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) chief clinical officer, Dr Colm Henry, has said.
Dr Henry acknowledged the HSE is “very concerned” about the rise in cases, which is largely driven by the Omicron sub variants BA.4 and BA.5, which account for 70 per cent of all cases.
However, the number of cases in ICU had remained steady, which is reassuring, he told RTÉ Radio 1′s Today with Claire Byrne show.
As of Monday morning, there were 606 patients in hospital with the virus, up from 574 on Sunday. There were 23 Covid positive patients in ICU, the same figure as Sunday.
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In the last seven days, 34,690 PCR tests were completed, returning a positivity rate of 30.5 per cent. The positivity rate has been steadily increasing over the past number of days.
Dr Henry predicted numbers will begin to decline in a few weeks, similar to what has happened in Portugal. However, he said the rise in cases is still a “troubling trend”.
He said the “harsh” reality is that of the 606 cases in hospital at present, half had not received a booster and one third had no vaccine at all.
When asked about mask wearing, Dr Henry said the virus has “pulled out so many surprises” and it is not possible to say that mandatory mask wearing will not be reintroduced at some stage.
The high levels of vaccination in Ireland mean there is a higher level of protection in the community, he added, but he said anyone with symptoms should take an antigen test and isolate if they are positive.
He also urged people to get vaccinated and boosted. To date, only 311,000 of the 700,000 people entitled to a second booster have received it, according to Dr Henry.
Dr Henry also acknowledged the current high numbers of patients on trolleys in Irish hospitals was unusual for this time of year. He said the HSE is trying to combat this with increased community care and community intervention, along with a broader range of settings for healthcare which would reduce the necessity to visit emergency departments.
Meanwhile, a UCD virologist said it is too late to reintroduce mandatory mask wearing during this latest Covid-19 surge, adding this wave had been “completely predictable”.
Dr Gerald Barry told RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland there needed to be greater acknowledgment that the virus is still causing a “huge burden”, especially on the health system.
Better surveillance of virus levels in the community is needed, he added. He said modelling the trajectory of the virus is more difficult now because not all cases were being reported, as many people taking an antigen test were not reporting positives, unlike a PCR test.
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When asked if masks should become mandatory again, he said it is too late and it would be like closing the door after the horse has bolted.
“This wave was completely predictable six to eight weeks ago. Masks will not have an impact at this stage, it’s too late to do anything about it at this stage. A month ago the public should have been warned and encouraged to wear masks.”
UCC Immunologist professor Liam Fanning said mandatory face masks on public transport may not make any difference to the current wave of Covid-19 at this stage.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Prof Fanning said it is difficult to quantify the impact of masks because so few people were wearing them, with many wearing them incorrectly.
“The actual seal that you have on most masks now is probably not sufficient to effectively cut down on transmission. I think there’s some comfort for people when they’re wearing a mask, but it’s not a shield.”
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