‘Number one piece of advice is to get your vaccination...’
WALES’ health minister has spoken about her advice for families this Christmas and the Welsh Government’s thinking behind its approach to lockdown restrictions and Covid passes this winter.
The Welsh Government has decided not to make any changes to the rules for the next three-week period, Mark Drakeford announced last week.
There has been some anger from bars and hospitality venues who had been told to use the three weeks since the last review to prepare for Covid Passes to be necessary for their venues as well as large events, cinemas and theatres.
Case rates have dropped so Welsh Government decided not to go ahead with that plan, although Mrs Morgan has warned that they could still be introduced.
“We’re unlikely to crash into Christmas as we did last year,” she told the Post.
“Obviously we’ll be keeping an eye on the situation, in particular how it impacts the NHS. We’ve got to try and take as much pressure off as possible.”
She said the Welsh Government did not want to be a “party pooper” and was not suggesting people should not meet for Christmas parties. “We want to make sure people enjoy Christmas.
We will do everything we can to facilitate people being able to get together”.
Here’s our full interview with Eluned Morgan:
We’re seeing tough new restrictions being brought in across many European countries, why is Wales and other parts of the UK taking such a different approach?
Our Plan A is England’s Plan B so we already have stricter rules in Wales. We are worried about the rise of cases on the Continent and it is something that we are keeping an eye on, but rates here have come down and that is why we have decided not to change restrictions.
Over the last month we’ve seen cases rise dramatically, fall sharply
and now rise again. What are your scientific advisors telling the cabinet is happening? Is the third wave on the way down or is it too early to say?
I think part of the problem is it is very difficult to predict and even our scientific advisors are having difficulty deciphering where we’re heading to next and obviously, a lot of that depends on how the public behave. So it’s very difficult to model things when you don’t know how people are responding.
The good news is, of course, the vaccination programme means we are more protected than we were last year and we obviously want to encourage people to come forward and get their vaccinations and their boosters because that’s the best protection measure we can put in place.
In the last few days, we’ve reported several awfully sad stories of people who have lost their lives with Covid - despite taking every precaution. Their families are urging the public to take care - how does the impact on families like those play into the cabinet’s decision making?
Every human who has lost their life in this tragedy is something that we’re
taking seriously and all these numbers that we keep throwing out is a human individual and we need to understand the impact on their families is enormous.
This is not a theoretical thing. This is something that’s impacting people’s lives every day. About 9% of our hospital beds are currently filled with people who have Covid. Now that’s not only putting pressure on those families but it’s putting pressure on the wider NHS that is already under massive strain as we enter the winter period
Why were Covid passes not introduced for pubs and restaurants in this review?
We told the public if we see rates coming down then we probably wouldn’t have to introduce those measures. That’s what’s happened so I think it’s important we keep faith with the Welsh public.
As we enter the Christmas period we’re going to keep an eye on the situation on the Continent and we’re always told if you’re going to try and do something, go a bit early.
So we will be considering this as we go into the next period but no decisions will be made. But what we have been doing is we’ve had very serious, practical conversations with people in the hospitality sector and what’s been very interesting is the number of Welsh people who have downloaded their Covid Pass, I guess so they can enter cinemas and theatres. We have seen huge numbers.
About 85% of the Welsh public who are over 18 have been double vaccinated, so they won’t have any trouble getting this Covid Pass and there’s also the opportunity to have a lateral flow test as well.
What can you tell the industry about when they will find out whether Covid passes will be introduced before Christmas - and what support will be put in place to help them manage it?
We’re unlikely to crash into Christmas where we did last year because we’re in a very different situation. We have such high levels of vaccination within our community.
We’re unlikely to see the crash-out Christmas we had last year but obviously we’ll be keeping an eye on the situation, in particular how it impacts the NHS. You’ve all seen numbers of ambulances waiting outside, seen the pressure on hospitals, the fact our care service is under significant pressure.
We have to try and take as much pressure off as possible. That 9% makes a material difference to the NHS. We’ll be keeping an eye on that. That is a measuring stick that we’re really assessing the situation on.
We also know that Christmas is a time when people like to get together and we’ve just got to be very clear with the public that when you gather indoors in vast numbers that potential for the spread of virus is significant.
What advice would you give to people and organisations planning Christmas parties this year?
The advice is to get your vaccination. That’s the number one piece of advice. There’s a lot of Covid about, it hasn’t gone away. It may be that you will catch Covid but if you do, you will be less impacted if you’ve had the vaccine. There’s plenty of evidence to support that.
We don’t want to be party poopers, we want to make sure that people enjoy Christmas. We’re very aware that people didn’t have the opportunity to get together last year and we will do everything we can to see if we can facilitate people being able to get together.
Obviously what we don’t want to happen is measures where we have to close pubs in the run-up to Christmas. In order to do that we have to take seriously the possibility we will have to introduce Covid passes but we’re not at that point yet.
Are we on course for a normal family Christmas?
At the moment we’re on course for a normal family Christmas where people get together. It’s really important and we recognise that Christmas is a really important time particularly for older people who haven’t seen family for a long time. We don’t want to deprive people of that opportunity.
Should we be thinking twice about getting our elderly, vulnerable relatives together?
The vast majority of older people have had, not just their Covid vaccinations, but their boosters so we’re up to over 70% of people in the over 80s who have had their Covid vaccination boosters so that will give them the extra support if they do contract it.
Have we seen the impact of the rugby and football international yet? Is that a worry especially given scenes on trains last weekend?
We’re always concerned when we see lots of people together in a confined space when rates are this high and so we’ve been very aware that the issues around opening up big venues isn’t necessarily the venue themselves where people have taken things very seriously. The WRU has taken things very seriously and the public did. Some 90% of the public were in the stadium half an hour before kick off which is unprecedented but it’s to and from the stadiums that we have to be careful of and spilling out into the pubs afterwards. Christmas is that but several times a week.
Of course we have to think very carefully about what that might look like. We’ll be keeping an eye on the data as the weeks progress.