Coronavirus Part IV - 19 cases in ROI, 7 in NI (as of 7 March) *Read warnings in OP*

SafeSurfer wrote: »

Will large numbers of medical staff and patients have to be isolated now as they have interacted with somebody with the infection?

I think this business of spending 15 minutes within two yards or something of the infected person would apply. Don't think the whole hospital would have to close down or anything...

Thisonedone wrote: »

Stupid question here but what is the point of hand washing? You have the virus on your hands so you go to wash your hands, you touch the tap to turn it on, the virus is now on the tap, you wash your hands, the virus is now removed, now you touch the tap to turn it off and so surely the virus is now back on your hands?

You cannot make your hands perfectly sterile. Washed hands aren't sterile.

This is why doctors scrub their hands to within a inch of their lives, but still put on gloves.

The aim is to minimise infection. You touch the tap, a tiny amount of potential bacteria are transferred. You wash your hands, clean off a load of stuff, touch the tap again and tiny % of what you previously transferred, is transferred back.

Your hands are still hundreds of times cleaner than they were before you washed them.

Same goes for door handles, etc. Unless someone smeared dog **** on the handle, then touching a door handle (or a mobile phone) doesn't suddenly make your hands filthy again.

seamus wrote: »

I'd say A&Es are surprisingly quiet; people avoiding them unless they actually need to. People turning up with a sore finger and their entire extended family have probably dropped away.

"General Practice" is a discipline in medicine like cardiology or paediatrics.

Someone who has specialised in General Practice will have a broader but shallower medial knoweledge than, e.g. a cardiologist.

That doesn't answer your question, but I would expect that A&E doctors would in general be GPs. They have the skills to assess and treat all patients and then move them to a specialist where necessary.

If he was doing a shift for an out of hours service like Shannon doc he might have been in the A&E.

My GP sits in the A&E department from 6pm until 10pm Fridays and Saturday evenings of our most local hospital 1 weekend in every 3 or something and then goes home and stays on call from there. That wouldn't be an unusual set up.

el Fenomeno wrote: »

How long do the symptoms take to develop after transmission?

We've had an employee sent home today with symptoms. He was in Milan a fortnight ago.

2 weeks ago.. highly unlikely he has it

Cilldara_2000 wrote: »

For the people looking for a flight ban from Italy. Do you really think it would stop Irish people from making their way home using other means?

That's not the point. People who are there will of course come home. However it will do two things

1) Stop more Irish people traveling there (and later having to return)
2) It will stop other people (mainly Italians) from making unnecessary trips here.

In 3-4 weeks there will likely be more new cases of Irish people returning from Italy with the virus. Some of them will be boarding outbound flights this week and next for their planned holiday trip to Milan/Rome. Probably after posting on here about how they think gobshites are over-reacting about a cold

dan786 wrote: »

Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin has said that his party has been briefed by public health officials on Covid-19.

Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Martin said that protecting citizens had to trump all other considerations.

He said that there would need to be decisions made in the coming days in relation to large gatherings and he said that public health should be the number one priority.

Mr Martin said that public health officials were working very hard and that the management of the crisis was strong so far, and he said he didn't think Covid-19 should be "an issue of political contention or divide".

He said that "alongside the actual virus itself, panic can set in" and that this needed to be borne in mind in terms of communication around virus.

Why is everything 'in the coming days' ?

Same with Leo and his special cabinet meeting thats happening on Monday.

I just get a sense those in power and the HSE and DoH are terrified to make decisions and of the consequences

With regard to people saying why do we need to know infected peoples identity, well we dont

What we would like is a better idea than a point on a compass.

Why not patient A, Swords, Dublin or even Dublin but no we get told the East

Thisonedone wrote: »

Stupid question here but what is the point of hand washing? You have the virus on your hands so you go to wash your hands, you touch the tap to turn it on, the virus is now on the tap, you wash your hands, the virus is now removed, now you touch the tap to turn it off and so surely the virus is now back on your hands?

Some of the hand washing instructions I've seen says to turn tap off with elbow, not exactly an easy thing to do if it's a twist tap mind you.

Drumpot wrote: »

Superb post.

Two questios I have is, if you think it will be any different in Ireland then can you please give a reason why you have come to this conclusion?

If you accept there is no reasonable reason why we should accept our country is anymore special then maybe Germany or the UK (equally an island) , should we not respond quicker to the outbreak? So if these countries are a week ahead of us and for example close schools or don’t allow mass gatherings shouldn’t we just take action like that and not just wait until we inevitably have to do it because things have gotten worse?

It’s the message from WHO that countries who react quicker and more decisively and get their populations on board with what needs to be done stand the best chance of dealing with this the best. So if we actually know what’s coming , by accepting Ireland is not unique and the virus will hit us like everyone else, why don’t we just implement measures countries who are further ahead in trouble are doing? Surely this would potentially reduce the impact on our healthcare services and by extension ourselves. Also means we can get the uncomfortable panic period out of the way in a more controlled fashion.

I will try to answer your questions as best I can from my own opinion.

Couples of things here. The first being that the WHO advise, that the majority of the world is following primarily focuses around a reactive approach, meaning when your country hits (x) number of cases or you can prove community spread then you need to implement x or y. What we need is a proactive implementation of procedures.

Ireland are sitting in a stronger position than many other countries. What I mean by this is that we are one of the later countries in the EU to have a confirmed case which means we have been watching our EU counterparts for some days/weeks. We are seeing today that cases are starting to explode in Germany, Belgium etc. These countries have been following the WHO and it has NOT worked because we are looking at this virus in the wrong way. Its spread characteristics are not like SARS 1, Influenza or MERS. The procedures the WHO want us to follow do not work for Covid 19.

The damage is being done in the Pre-Symptomatic stage of the virus. What I mean by this is that you become contagious hours after contracting the virus but you yourself may not show any symptoms of illness for days or even a week after exposure. By the time you start to feel ill, you have already been at work for a week, or been out for a meal or a drink in a bar etc. I.E. you have likely been spreading the virus for many many days. With many other viruses, you only become contagious when you show symptoms. This is why Covid 19 is so dangerous and impossible to contain.

Then we move on to our countries geographical position. We are in a unique position in that we are an island. If we implement stricter measures EARLIER, like cancelling flights to affected countries and cancelling St. Patricks day, then we stand a much better chance of slowing the virus down to a stage where our already stretched health system can somewhat cope.

If we sit on the fence and wait and do what the WHO are constantly recommending then we risk mass infection and spread within 4 weeks. I understand the job the WHO has is extremely difficult and they want to avoid a pandemic, but in my view we already have community spread in many countries meaning we are already in the early stages of a pandemic.

If we implement reactive measures we will be fighting this virus on a large scale until a vaccine is ready in about 14 months time. If we are proactive, giving accurate information and inform the public properly, then we stand a good chance at slowing the spread to a manageable pace.

And we haven't even touched on the new strains of the virus...

For anyone wondering:

The four stages of UK's coronavirus response:

contain the virus
delay its transmission
research its origins
mitigate its impact

They are on second stage.

seamus wrote: »

How would that help?

Stops speculation thats its Meath, no its wexford etc online.

We should be afforded the common courtesy to make a decision to avoid a particular area especially if there is an increase in cases