Halting a phased return to the workplace and returning to a full work-from-home policy is under consideration to control rapidly rising Covid-19 cases.
Officials from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) meet on Thursday to decide if further measures are needed to tackle high infection rates, according to The Irish Times.
Chief medical officer Tony Holohan said a recommendation that employees generally work from home is “one of the considerations” that will be discussed at the meeting before a recommendation is made to Government.
Speaking at Nphet’s weekly briefing on Wednesday, Dr Holohan said the Department of Health had “taken a leadership step” by reinstating a working-from-home rule for its employees. Up to recently, they could go to the office once a week.
Current Government policy proposes a “phased and staggered” return to the workplace, but Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has suggested a full return will not happen until next spring.
Reimposing restrictions
Health officials are not considering reimposing restrictions “at this point in time” despite the worsening situation surrounding the virus, said Dr Holohan.
However, they are considering additional measures to the current approach, which is focused on encouraging people to reduce social contacts, accelerating the rollout of booster vaccines and ensuring compliance by the hospitality sector with Covid pass rules.
Dr Holohan said “not enough” people are heeding Nphet’s message on socialising, while surveys show one-third of restaurants, cafes and pubs are not checking passes.
While earlier models suggest cases should peak towards the end of November, officials said there was “no guarantee” this would happen given current trends.
Infections are rising in all counties and in all age groups, but especially among 19- to 24-year-olds. A drop in incidence among over-85s is being attributed to the administration of booster vaccines to this group.
With one in 25 of the population infected over the past fortnight – and almost 3,000 more cases reported yesterday – officials said the risk of meeting an infectious person now is higher than at any point in the pandemic.
