By Vivienne Clarke
Public health expert Dr Gabriel Scally has said that the Irish and UK governments should ask families to postpone Christmas family gatherings to the summer solstice next June.
Two extra bank holidays should be offered in June 2021 as an incentive for people to keep their distance from their family over the coming holiday season, he told RTÉ radio's Today with Claire Byrne show.
By then the vaccine roll-out would have helped enormously, Dr Scally said.
He added he was at a loss for words at how badly the pandemic was being managed in the North.
If Northern Ireland were a football team, the directors would have sacked the manager
The region should never have lifted all the restrictions that were in place, it was "a crazy thing to do," he added.
He pointed out that bed occupancy in Northern Ireland is currently far higher than it was at the height of the pandemic, but bars and restaurants and shops are open.
The Stormont Executive must move to close restaurants and bars, restrict shopping and tell people that there will not be a "five day free for all" over Christmas.
Resign
If politicians cannot sort themselves out, then "they're lost in the North,” the president of epidemiology and public health at the Royal Society of Medicine, London said.
"If Northern Ireland were a football team, the directors would have sacked the manager and be replacing the coaching staff. It is within that calibre of performance,” he said.
Asked if the region’s health minister Robin Swann should resign, Dr Scally said: “I personally would, yes I would change the team... this is a major public health emergency with no public health leadership.”
Dr Scally called for an all-island approach to the pandemic and said political divisions could not get in the way of tackling the virus. This was what was happening in the North and must stop.
There must be a unified, preventative approach, rather than the current reactive one, he said.
It is an opportunity for Stephen Donnelly to reach out to the North
He urged the Republic’s Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, to reach out to the North and offer co-operation and hospital beds, if needed.
“Now is the time I think to offer to Northern Ireland, given 17 ambulances queueing outside one hospital last night for hours and hours and people waiting to get in to be treated, people in desperate straits with Covid-19,” he said.
“It is an opportunity for Stephen Donnelly to reach out to the North and offer co-operation and hospital beds and intensive care beds if they are needed.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Dr Scally warned “disaster looms” in the North with hospitals “on the brink of being overwhelmed” after up to 17 ambulances were forced to queue outside a hospital in Co Antrim.
Hospital capacity across the region stood at 104 per cent on Tuesday.
