Sir, – Fintan O'Toole hit the nail on the head with "Somebody McSomebody is spreading Covid in Ireland" (Opinion & Analysis, March 23rd).
If we are to reduce our stubbornly high Covid-19 infection rates, we must choose to track and trace back to the sources of infection. If the average incubation time during which people are infectious is five to six days, why are we still only tracing contacts back for the 48 hours prior to diagnosis? This shortcut is allowing infection to spread unabated. Meanwhile we are all enduring seemingly never-ending lockdowns. We must work harder to find, identify and close off any unknown sources of infection.
Setting up and properly resourcing a standalone track-and-trace service is vital and would be money well spent. – Yours, etc,
FIONA SLEVIN.
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.