Leave businesses not asking for Covid certs, Holohan urges, as 3,685 cases recorded

A further 3,685 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on Saturday, as the chief medical officer advised the public to walk out of bars and restaurants if they do not ask customers for Covid certificates.

According to the Department of Health, there were 444 patients with the virus in hospital as of 8am on Saturday, 74 of whom were being treated in intensive care (ICU).

In a video posted on his Twitter feed, Dr Tony Holohan admitted that people do not want to hear public health messaging anymore but Covid-19 is "not releasing its grip".

He said walking out and not returning to businesses that do not follow Covid-19 rules will help the hospitality sector comply with public guidelines, which only allow people who have been fully vaccinated to be served in indoor settings.

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According to the latest report monitoring behaviour, more thanOver 37 per cent of indoor diners in pubs said their certificate was not checked in October, compared with 21 per cent the month before.

At the same time, more pub-goers are dining indoors, up from 57 per cent to 77 per cent over the period, the report by the Economic and Social Research Institute found.

Dr Holohan’s advice comes in advance of a meeting between Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the hospitality sector on Tuesday about adherence to public health guidelines.

Dr Holohan said the basics of mask-wearing, hand-washing and avoiding risky environments still apply even among vaccinated people. “These are the messages that perhaps people don’t want to hear. We have all grown a little tired of it.”

He advised individuals to stay away from risky activities as much as they can for a period of time while rates of Covid-19 are still high. “It is okay, for example, to go to a pub or a nightclub, but we need to be mindful that the more we do of that, the greater the risk we have,” he said.

Dr Holohan said all sectors of the economy have a duty to comply with the public health guidelines. He cited the examples of pubs and restaurants that are not asking for Covid-19 passes.

“We need you as an individual to understand that if you are not being asked about these things or where hand-washing facilities are not present, or it’s evident that mask-wearing is not as it should be, you should look at that as a risky environment,” he stated.

“You should leave, feel empowered to leave and certainly not go back to visit. All of that will help to encourage compliance and adherence in the sectors.”

He said if individuals are mindful of avoiding risky environments and there is a high level of compliance in the hospitality sector, rates of Covid-19 will decrease.

Vaccines

He stressed the vaccines are affording the public “excellent protection against the progression to severe illness”.

He appealed to people who are unvaccinated to come forward for vaccination and for those who are eligible to get their booster shots.

In an email sent to the hospitality sector from the Department of the Taoiseach, representatives were warned that measures such as checking Covid certs should be considered not as "best practice but rather the minimum standard required to protect our communities".

The meeting will seek to give a full understanding of how the disease transmits and what risk factors are involved in terms of a potential outbreak or super-spreader event.

The email warned that without a collective effort on the part of the hospitality sector, it will be difficult to get transmission under control.

“This will limit our options of reducing the burden of disease and mortality of this latest wave,” the email stated.