“Keep it going.”

The CEO of Ireland’s Health Service Executive has asked the public to double down on their efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Ireland.

The Department of Health announced 295 new cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed since yesterday, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 2,910. Six more people have died of the disease in the past 24 hours.

Strict social distancing measures introduced by the Government on Friday have resulted in a 50% slowing of the growth rate in cases nationally (down from about 30% to 15%) but handwashing and hygiene have never been more important.

“I’m always an optimist and all of your sacrifices are helping. They really are.” Mr Reid said in a tweet this morning.

I’m always an optimist and all of your sacrifices are helping. They really are. But it is far too early to be a trend. So a special plea to everyone to keep it going. In the HSE, we will continue to scale up to help us tackle the worst, as best we can. @HSELive #COVID19

— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) March 31, 2020

“But it is far too early to be a trend. So a special plea to everyone to keep it going. In the HSE, we will continue to scale up to help us tackle the worst, as best we can.”

Is social distancing working?

According to Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group (IEMAG), it will take at least another week before experts can clearly see the impact of social distancing, but early signs are very promising.

“We know what an unmitigated epidemic looks like, we are not on that track.” he said.

“It takes time to see the impact of our efforts in the numbers. It will be another 7-10 days before we have a reliable picture of how effective our collective efforts have been.”

Professor Nolan shared the following graph to illustrate an unmitigated epidemic (the black line) and demonstrate where the strict Government measures will likely put Irish cases of Covid-19 in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile cocooning has been recommended for people who are extremely medically vulnerable.

People over the age of 70, organ transplant recipients, people who live in a residential home or long-term care and people who have cancer and are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer are asked to stay at home at all times and avoid face-to-face contact. Even within your home, you should minimise all non-essential contact with other members of your household.

“Family, carers, neighbours and our public services will help ensure you have the support you need.” says the HSE.

More details on cocooning are available here.