People’s acceptance of public health advice has “waned” as the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided, HSE Chief Clinical Officer Colm Henry has said.
There have been several calls in recent weeks to reintroduce mandatory mask wearing on public transport and in congregated settings.
The calls have been led by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and backed by the Labour Party.
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During the HSE’s appearance at the Oireachtas Health Committee on Tuesday morning, Fine Gael Seán Kyne asked if there should be an emphasis on hand hygiene and mask wearing.
The HSE’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry said that compliance has dropped and that “the danger is not just COVID”. He stated that there is a “much more transmissible variant” of Omicron, with a variant that will be “even more transmissible” now emerging in the United States. He also noted that flu is highly contagious.
Dr Henry said: “We've been very consistent in our public health advice. We’re telling people to continue to adhere to the basics – washing hands, coughing or sneezing into their sleeve and getting up to date with vaccines and wearing a mask on public transport and in any place where there's overcrowding or congestion.
“But of course, as you know yourself, people's acceptance of that advice has waned as the worst of the pandemic passed over.
“The experience in the past few weeks shows how important that public health advice is, in [that] the prevention is actually much more effective than treatment of problems once they emerge.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly have both said that if a mask mandate was to be reintroduced, it would be based on advice from Chief Medical Officer Dr Breda Smyth. However, there has been no advice on the matter, with Minister Donnelly previously stating that he does not anticipate the advice changing.
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