It is vital for us all to be regularly reminded of exactly what’s at stake in the battle against Covid-19, just as we heard from our Prime Minister and from the First and deputy First Minister last night. That’s why frontline health workers are joining me regularly at this podium.
Today, I welcome Dr Paul Johnston, Clinical lead for intensive care at Antrim Area Hospital and thank him for being here today
I want to start my remarks by paying tribute to and thanking the people of Northern Ireland.
So many tough sacrifices have already been made. And now we are asking for more.
Earlier today I met with one of the families who tragically lost a loved one during the recent outbreak in Craigavon Area Hospital. I challenge anyone who still doubts the seriousness of this virus to sit across the table from such a family for even one minute and see how sorely mistaken they are.
What has happened in Craigavon and Daisy Hill Hospital shows the cruelty of this virus. And I’m on record as saying an investigation is needed and that lessons will have to be learned. I can today confirm that Dr Guduru Gopal Rao, a preeminent Consultant Microbiologist from the London North West University Trust, has been appointed as the independent Chair of the Serious Adverse Incident review.
I would also love to be able to stand here today and say we are coming to the end of this crisis. Unfortunately, we are not. There are still many months to go.
Today’s further 220 cases demonstrates the seriousness of the challenge we now face. R remains above 1 – somewhere between 1.2 and 1.8 - and our 14 day incidence based on new positive tests is now 85.9 per 100,000 people, up from 64.9. The virus is gaining momentum.
We are all so tired of this. But we need to regroup and refocus. We need to bunker down and get through it.
Following public health advice and sticking to the regulations will save lives.
We have to stick together. This is not about “me”, or “you” or “them”. This is about us.
And I will make this promise. We will get through it. We have prevailed against adversity before in Northern Ireland. We will do so again.
There are still many uncertainties about Covid-19. But we do know more about it than we did six months ago. Treatments have improved.
The pursuit of a vaccine will go down in history as a monumental global effort. Northern Ireland can play its part.
4500 people here have already registered to volunteer to participate in trials. I would appeal for more people to sign up in readiness for when trials go live.
We are not powerless against this virus. We know what needs to be done.
Washing our hands, keeping our distance, wearing a face covering.
Covid-19 spreads through human contact. We have to keep minimising and carefully managing all our contacts.
Overall, we need people to be as careful as possible in everything they do.
And unfortunately it is now necessary to reintroduce tighter restrictions on visits to hospitals and other healthcare facilities. There will shortly be new guidance published which will see visits restricted in most cases to one visit by one family member once a week. There will of course be flexibility for end of life care, some elements of maternity services and for paediatrics as examples.
One area however that I am especially keen to try to retain access to is our care homes. Every effort should continue to be made to enable other forms of visiting to ensure residents and patients maintain important social connections. My department has been working with the sector on the concept of care partners to assist with family involvement in care of their loved ones. All options and all supports remain on the table and are being discussed and developed
As listeners will be aware new rules are now in place to prevent mixing of different households.
Of course, it is not possible for regulations to cover every eventuality or situation. There will always be some grey areas. In those circumstances, I would appeal to people to use common sense and discretion. Do the right and safe thing.
The overriding goal is to keep household-to-household contact as low as possible.
While regulations and enforcement are very important, personal responsibility is also essential. We can’t regulate people’s lives 24/7 nor should we. We can’t police Covid-19 out of existence. This is not feasible or desirable - we don’t live in a surveillance state and we don’t want to.
The new regulations do not constitute a lockdown. People can still carry on with everyday activities while following some basic rules of engagement.
Continue to work from home if you can. Ask yourself how important a planned activity is to you. How much additional risk would it bring to you or others? How difficult would it be to maintain social distancing?
If you look to the week ahead and reduce your number of contacts, you may well reduce the opportunity for this virus to spread.
So please believe me when I say I do not want another lockdown.
At the same time, we have to keep all options on the table. The best way to avoid further restrictions on our lives is to follow the ones we have in place now.
Because the purpose of these restrictions it enable us to once again move from the dark side of the street to the bright side of road.
We all have to do all we can. We owe it to each other.