Reopening all pubs is ‘wishful thinking’

After spike in cases, professor says forget ‘normal’, it’s a ‘new world’

‘Phase 3 is clearly not working’

LEADING virus experts have said the country is not ready to move to the next phase and that the prospect of pubs reopening is ‘wishful thinking’.

On Thursday, there was a surge of Covid cases here – with 85 new cases reported in a worrying escalation of the virus.

A further 38 new cases were reported yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases here to 26,065 to date.

Under current plans, the country is set to move into Phase 4 on August 10 – when pubs will be allowed to reopen and the maximum number allowed at mass gatherings, both indoors and outdoors, will increase.

The Cabinet is set to meet on Tuesday to discuss the issue of progressing to Phase 4. However, a number of experts told the Irish Daily Mail yesterday that entering Phase 4 isn’t looking likely. In fact, some believe that we should navigate back to Phase 2 to flatten any surge.

Infectious disease ecologist at UCC, Professor Gerard Killeen, said: ‘For me it is back to Phase 2, get serious, squash the thing and then reopen the whole lot.’

He said that the 85 cases reported on Thursday was not a ‘statistical anomaly’ – and moving on to Phase 4 was ‘wishful thinking’.

‘The day’s data is a single data point, but the general trend is clearly steadily up and we are just asking for trouble,’ he said.

Associate Professor at Trinity’s School of Biochemistry and Immunology Dr Tomás Ryan said that he doesn’t think the country is ready to progress to Phase 4.

‘Stage three is clearly not working,’ he said. ‘Right now we’re walking a tightrope and have been through much of stage three and these problems are emerging.

‘Schools, businesses opening, pubs these are all things that are going to be an extra gust of wind blowing at us as we are walking across tightrope,’ he said.

Dr Ryan said the aim should be to get to a zero-Covid island.

Dr Kim Roberts, a virology lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, told RTÉ’s Today With Sarah McInerney yesterday that it would be unwise to move to Phase 4.

‘With the current numbers that we have, I would be pretty concerned if we do move to Phase 4. I don’t think that the numbers suggest we’re ready and it’s important to look at other countries,’ she said. ‘Other countries have demonstrated when pubs and nightclubs open, transmission does increase.’

Infectious disease specialist Professor Sam McConkey said that it is still too early to judge whether pubs will reopen but warned that publicans need to forget about what was ‘normal’ and adjust to the ‘new world’.

‘It is a bit too early [to make a decision on pubs reopening], it depends on what the numbers are over the next few days,’ he said.

‘Pub owners shouldn’t see that they’re just opening up in the way that they were running in 2019.’

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said any spike in Covid-19 cases is a concern. He said the Government will ‘watch and monitor very carefully’ what happens with the number of Covid-19 cases in the coming days. There were no new deaths of Covid-19 reported yesterday.

Of the 38 cases reported yesterday, 82% were under the age of 45 and 32 were in Dublin and Kildare. There was 26 associated with outbreaks or close contacts of confirmed cases. In the past two days a total of 123 cases have been reported. Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: ‘We may be beginning to see more cases which we cannot link to outbreaks or close contacts. NPHET will continue to monitor this situation closely over the coming days.’