Doctor warns of Covid increase & upcoming peak in flu cases

Dr. Gerry McCarthy, the HSE's Clinical Lead for the National Clinical Programme for Emergency Medicine, has said that flu cases are expected to peak in the upcoming weeks. 

Increased pressure has been put on hospitals due to a ‘steady increase in Covid’, flu and other infectious diseases in the past few weeks.

Dr. McCarthy has revealed he’d like to see an ‘increase in mask wearing at the moment’ due to the rise of flu cases and the impending peak in cases. 

While speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland, he explained, “We have seen a steady increase in Covid, certainly there’s been a 77% increase week-on-week from last week to this week”.

“There has also been a 92% increase in flu. RSV is more stable than that, but yeah, we are seeing the usual rise in infectious diseases a little bit later this year than last year so we're expecting it to peak in the next week or two”.

Dr. McCarthy continued, “If a person comes to a hospital with any suggestion of respiratory illness and they’re not already wearing a mask, they will certainly be provided with one and all staff dealing with them will be masked up”.

"Many hospitals are deciding on their own bat, based on their local data of what kinds of patients and how many ineffective illnesses are coming in, to have mandatory mask wearing.

Sharing his own stance on mandatory mask wearing, he added, “I think we should be increasing the wearing of masks at the moment”.

It was also mentioned that face masks are now mandatory in Spanish hospitals due to the increased number of respiratory illnesses in the popular tourist destination.