Schools are likely to stay closed for at least another week and possibly until the end of January due to surging Covid-19 infections, according to senior political sources.
Most Ministers privately believe that Cabinet will decide on Wednesday to delay the planned reopening of schools on January 11th, The Irish Times understands.
However, officials may be asked to examine keeping certain schools open in Level 5 for pupils with special needs.
Hospital Report
Conversations are also taking place at a senior level about whether construction should remain open or not for the rest of the Level 5 lockdown.
New virus case numbers on Monday surged to a new daily record of 6,110, making the current wave worse than the first one last spring.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan, who spoke on Monday with Taoiseach Micheál Martin about the schools issue, said that even though incidence among schoolchildren was lower than for other age groups, it had increased "very, very fast".
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) was more concerned about transmission levels in this age group than it was a week ago, he said on Monday night. “We are concerned about our ability to assure the continuing provision of any of the key public services we have tried to protect, and education is one of them.”
Saying he is more concerned than he was at any point in the pandemic up to now, Dr Holohan warned current levels of infection “puts many people into hospitals, and into funeral homes”.
Wider restrictions
The Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 meets on Tuesday to discuss the situation in schools and what wider restrictions may be needed.
It is understood a decision may also be made after that meeting in relation to the ban on travel from Britain and South Africa, which was due to expire on Tuesday.
Dr Holohan has indicated to Government that further restrictions may be needed to curb the spread of the virus.
However, senior sources have warned that there is “not much else that can be done” when it comes to restrictions.
There is a growing reluctance among Ministers at the idea of reducing the 5km travel restrictions to 2km.
The latest Covid-19 figures are “beyond any projections and beyond our worst fears”, one Minister said.
With Nphet reporting another six deaths on Monday, officials say there could be up to 2,000 people with Covid-19 in hospital, and up to 400 in ICU, by mid-January, unless Level 5 restrictions are strictly adhered to.
Before Christmas, HSE chief executive Paul Reid told his board in a private report that it could not "guarantee a reasonable standard of care for all patients" if the numbers needing critical care exceeded about 350.
Non-urgent care
The HSE on Monday confirmed non-urgent care in some hospitals will be cancelled due to the rise in hospitalisations. On Monday afternoon, there were 776 Covid-19 patients in hospital, including 70 in ICU.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the targets for vaccinations this week was being increased from 20,000 to 35,000 due to the availability of additional supplies.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be administered as originally envisaged with a three-week gap between the two doses after the National Immunisation Advisory Committee rejected the idea of giving more people a first dose and lengthening the gap between doses, as the UK has done.
The European Medicines Agency will announce its decision on Wednesday on a second vaccine, from Moderna. If authorised, this vaccine should be available in Ireland "soon", according to health officials.
In the UK, Boris Johnson has introduced a national lockdown in England until the middle of February, closing schools and colleges and ordering people to stay at home. In a televised address from Downing Street, he said a surge in infections driven by a new, more easily transmissible variant of the virus was putting the National Health Service (NHS) under more pressure than at any time since the start of the pandemic.
