A COVID-19 expert has warned that the virus must be allowed to circulate in the community in order to achieve herd immunity.
Professor of General Practice at University of Limerick Dr Liam Glynn has been studying the virus figures since the outbreak began.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, he said the public’s efforts since the outbreak began had helped suppress the virus and saved hundreds of lives.
He warned however that the virus needs to circulate in order to build up community immunity
“We need a debate about where we are going, I think, because ultimately the end game here is this idea of herd immunity or herd protection as the term as used,” he said.
“Because the idea is that if get enough people who become immune in the population, then you can protect people who are really vulnerable, who we are always talking about, the people who are being forced to cocoon currently in the country.
“The only way you are going to achieve that is through people getting the infection and surviving or a vaccine and unfortunately with the vaccine that seems to be a long way off.
“So, in terms of people getting the infection and surviving, we actually have to allow the virus circulate to a certain extent within the community.”
#COVIDWATCHIRL April 30 @mikey0callaghan w/ @UL +@ICGPnews UK data on community deaths now available + added today. Thanks to the hard work of everyone we have #FlattenedTheCurve but we cant afford complacency now so please keep it going, stay safe and #StayAtHome pic.twitter.com/rqc3LHhHW3
— Liam Glynn (@LiamGGlynn) April 30, 2020
Strategy
He said a number of other countries “most notably Sweden” are already following that strategy.
“Now that we have suppressed the virus to a reasonable level, we can’t suppress it too much because then we won’t develop the herd immunity we need to find a safe way out of this pandemic,” he said.
“The key thing is, for the group that need ventilators, if you have too many of those that get sick at the same time then we don’t have enough ventilators for people and people will die unnecessarily.
“That is what has happened in Italy and other countries around the world and that is something we can’t afford to happen.
“But at the same time, we need to find a way to achieve the herd immunity that is necessary to allow the people that have been cocooning for so long back into society – but also to allow our economy to open up again and to not destroy that and develop a huge amount of collateral damage as a result of this pandemic.
Contact tracing
Dr Glynn also warned that contact tracing remains the “weakest link” in the fight against the virus.
He said increases in testing capacity are very welcome; however,it is taking too long to trace the people that new confirmed cases have been in contact with.
He said contact tracing is now the weakness in the chain and warned that “the whole system is as weak as its weakest link.”
He said the most effective way to speed up contact tracing was to introduce a smartphone app that automatically monitors who you have been in contact with.
