A leading neuroscientist and molecular biologist has said Ireland still has a chance to eliminate COVID-19 from the island so we can fully reopen schools and businesses in the autumn.
It comes after the final phase of reopening was pushed back for three weeks amid concern about rising numbers of cases.
The move has infuriated publicans who were preparing to reopen on Monday, however, on The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Dr Tomás Ryan, Associate Professor at the School of Biochemistry and Immunology in Trinity College said it was “a step in the right direction.”
He said the final phase of reopening was “always going to be incredibly ambitious unless we go for what would essentially be a zero COVID strategy.”
“A lot of publicans and restaurant owners appreciate that being at 50% capacity for the next year-and-a-half to two years is really not an ideal way of doing business,” he said.
“The advantage of taking a zero-COVID approach or a near-elimination approach, as is being explicitly pursued in Scotland by Nicola Sturgeon, is that it allows you a situation where you can have 100% capacity.
“I think a lot of people working in that sector would like to see the country take that approach where, if we really take control of this and take control of our borders, then we could have 100% capacity in bars, restaurants and pubs and have no fears about school reopening.
“That is a decision that would need to be taken by government within the coming few weeks but what is clear is that many of the noises they have been making in the past 24-hours, I think, have been extremely encouraging.”
A jam-packed Grafton Street as people shop under the winter festival lights in Dublin with five days to go to Christmas, 20-12-2020. Image: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNewsDr Ryan is one of 1,000 Irish scientists who signed a letter over a month ago calling on the Government to take tough short-term measures to ‘crush the curve’ and completely eliminate the virus from Ireland.
This morning, he said the cautious approach being taken by the new Government is ‘really welcome’ and said people need to remember that there is “no silver bullet” for containing the virus as long as it is here.
“There is no one measure that is going to keep us safe and there is nothing that is going to make everything OK,” he said.
You can listen back to the full interview here:
