HSE ‘concerned’ over rise in Covid-19 hospital numbers – RTE.ie

The Chief Clinical Officer of the HSE has said he is "very concerned" about the rise in the number of people in hospital with, or because of, Covid-19.

It comes as 606 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported in the country's hospitals this morning.

As of 8am there were 153 more people in hospital with Covid today than there were last Monday.

There were 453 people with confirmed cases in hospital on Monday 13 June.

Speaking on RT's Today with Claire Byrne, Dr Colm Henry said the rise is largely driven by a sub-type of the Omicron variant.

"This sub-type enjoys what is called a growth advantage over previous sub-types and is now displacing it as the dominant variant here. It's about 100% of cases in Portugal and now over 70% here."

Dr Henry said that although it is much more transmissible, it does not seem to be more virulent or aggressive.

"While hospitalisations are going up, we are seeing ICU numbers steady which is of some assurance," he said.

"Those who previously had immunity from previous variants, be they Delta or otherwise, can get infected again but they are much less likely to get seriously ill."

'Not too late to get vaccinated'

Dr Henry said there has been an increase in outbreaks in nursing home settings and residential care facilities but "nothing like we saw when we peaked in March following the surge of Omicron cases with earlier sub-variants but nevertheless, we have seen a rise at our operational clinical meeting this morning".

There has also been a rise in cases among healthcare workers.

Dr Henry said they are hearing that "they are not particularly sick but because they test positive, it does have that impact on services".

There has also been a rise in hospital-acquired infections, Dr Henry said.

On vaccinations and hospital cases, Dr Henry said: "The harsh reality is that if you look at hospitalisations, 606 this morning, unfortunately over half have not received their booster and over a third haven't even got vaccinated in the first place."

He said it is not too late to get vaccinated and "people who are unvaccinated in the first place have no protection from serious illness, no protection from being hospitalised and going to ICU or worse. It's not too late for those people to get vaccinated".

Latest wave of infection was 'predictable'

Dr Gerald Barry, Assistant Professor of Virology at University College Dublin, said the rise in case numbers in hospitals is reflective of what is going on in the general population.

He told RT's Morning Ireland that we are experiencing a further wave of Covid-19 and while around half of the cases identified in hospital are 'incidental' - that is patients are in hospital for another reason - infections are being picked up due to the ongoing testing in hospital settings.

Dr Barry said that this wave of infection was predictable up to eight weeks ago and talk of the reintroduction of mandatory mask wearing now was like "closing the stable door when the horse had bolted".

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He said it was likely that we were close to the peak of the current wave and he couldnt be sure that a mandatory mask wearing order would have much impact at this stage.

Dr Barry said the public should have been informed a month ago that this wave was coming. He said the focus then should have been about mask wearing, increased antigen testing and people adjusting their behaviour, to help reduce the peak of infection.

He said the virus is still causing a huge burden on the general population and the Government and the HSE needed to be more proactive in their ongoing communication and response to help reduce that burden.

Meanwhile, Tnaiste Leo Varadkar has said the Government will be guided by public health advice on whether or not a mask mandate is reintroduced.

On the summer wave of Covid, he said he thinks we will get over this wave without the need to impose any new restrictions, but any decision on that will be guided by public health advice.

Current wave to last 'two or three weeks'

Professor of Experimental Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Kingston Mills, said he does not think there is a public appetite for mask wearing but that if everybody was wearing masks, it would make an impact on the transmission of the virus.

He said that there needs to be an "all or nothing" approach and that Covid is not seasonal.

He said that the current 'mini wave' could go on for two or three weeks, but long term we cannot give up on vaccines and boosters.

Professor Mills told RT's Drivetime that the big problem with hospitals is that the system is being stressed; healthcare workers are being infected and this is putting pressure on other healthcare procedures that have to be reduced, such as elective procedures, which is impacting people who do not have Covid.

Amid concerns that new variants may evade the vaccines currently in use, Professor Mills said updated vaccines are being produced and if they are rolled out in the autumn, with the flu vaccine, they will be closer to the strain of the disease that is circulating.

He said that another wave could come in the autumn but it totally depends on the virus and its mutation.

Dr Eoghan De Barra, consultant in infectious diseases at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, said for the first time in a long time he is seeing patients admitted because of Covid rather than incidental Covid, where they tested positive while in hospital for another reason.

Dr De Barra said it is largely immunocompromised people, who have had some level of vaccination.

"They're not as sick as in earlier waves but still needed hospital care," said Dr De Barra.

He said it was really hard to say if we have reached the peak of this wave.

"When I see very immunocompromised patients, who have been very careful over [the] past two years, come in with Covid, I suspect there is a very high level in the community because they're the real tip of the iceberg of infection," he said.

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HSE 'concerned' over rise in Covid-19 hospital numbers - RTE.ie