Sir, – Despite the Level 5 restrictions that were in place, you report, "The five-day moving average for daily cases at the end of the six-week period of Level 5 restrictions is 277, compared with the target of public health officials of 50-100" ( "Coronavirus: Nphet warns against socialising after reporting 306 cases", News, November 30th).
So what went wrong? Why has the number of Covid cases remained more than double the projections?
For a while dubious anecdotal evidence of people gathering for takeaway pints, going to work or attending funerals were all blamed for the failure of Covid cases to drop in line with projections. Then all went quiet and nothing was said.
Are those buildings where hundreds of people were allowed to gather every weekday during the Level 5 restrictions a more significant factor in the spread of Covid than we think?
There are thousands of these buildings in Ireland and every main town and indeed many villages has at least one of them.
Perhaps now is the time for Nphet to re-examine the presence, definition and spread of Covid in school buildings?
Or maybe it just got its predictions wrong! – Yours, etc,
SEAN KEAVENY,
Castleknock, Dublin 15.