“Quite a lot of young people” are being hospitalised with the virus, a doctor has warned.
A specialist in public health medicine at the HSE Mid-West has said young people drinking outdoors are still at risk of Covid-19.
The warning comes as 1,110 Covid-19 cases were reported in Ireland on Tuesday, with virus incidence rates increasing in every county over the past seven days.
Appearing on Morning Ireland, Dr Anne Dee was asked about which cohort of people have been recently catching Covid-19.
“It’s mainly younger people and they’re mainly getting it in… social gatherings and then those social gatherings are driving it into workplaces and other situations, family situations,” she replied.
“Still the big risk is the combination of alcohol and Covid, I suppose, and crowds – especially where there’s big crowds and where they’re close together.
“Even like outdoor drinking is still a risk but when it goes indoors, it’s going to be a much larger risk.
“But the driving factor remains the same, really. It’s socialising and now we see it coming in from holidays as well.”
Dee also stated that while ICU numbers are not high, “quite a lot of young people” and “even some children” are being hospitalised with the virus.
“Approximately 40% of the population still need to be vaccinated. That’s a lot of people. There’s still transmission among children,” she added.
“We’re at a very precarious spot in the whole fight against Covid.
“We’ve done really, really well with vaccinations… and people are tired but really, it’s just another few weeks.
“If people can just keep themselves safe for just another few weeks until enough people are vaccinated, then hopefully, we will not see the worst of what is possible in the next few weeks.
“We won’t see the rates of hospitalisations and people in ICU and people dying that are possible”.
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