Denmark apparently recorded 205,000 PCR and 240,000 antigen tests in the past 24 hrs so is more testing the way to go?
More automation of close contacts. I got a text yesterday, the 31st to say I was a close contact. After a bit of detective work I figured out it was someone I was in the same room as on the 24th, 7 days previously. If my experience is typical the system is not working well.
Big cities like Paris are saying fully masked outdoors as well as indoors in the city. The disease spreads faster in cities, is that a better way to go.
Back to the 50% capacity on public transport - sounds like a great idea. Easy to implement.
More emphasis on ventilation and social distance in work, shops, retail, etc. I don’t go into retail much but I see very little adherence to social distancing. The security guards outside limiting numbers seems to be gone. Germany brought in a rule for supermarkets. Each shopper take a trolley, (even if it was a couple) and unless there was a trolley available you could not enter the supermarket. Simple effective ideas with simple rules that are clear to understand.
In terms of ventilation it would appear that the numbers of hospital acquired covid infections are a significant number of the daily figures. So it would appear that ventilation might be the issue and other mechanical solutions. Antiviral surfaces, impregnated with antiviral elements like copper. UV sanitising of bathrooms after each use. Increase air changes per hour in hospital rooms. Add CO2 monitors to show stale air, create more single occupancy rooms.
We spend most of our lives indoors so better design to reduce disease transmission is key. I moved into a brand new building at work a few months ago and ventilation is an issue. When I put a co2 monitor on my desk and close the door the monitor quickly shows that there is poor air circulation. Opening the door and windows works well but not every room has windows and some windows don’t open because of air conditioning. Speaking to the landlord it is all “trickle ventilation”. Some rooms have air vents allowing the air in but not many. So mechanical ventilation needs to step up for diseases of the future.
When there is a lot of cases in the community then the vaccinated will catch it so there is a need to bring down the overall number of cases. Cases = long covid. Cases=hospital stays and deaths but in smaller % now. The impact of long covid are unknown but there are many communicable diseases that bring very long term issues. If you had chicken pox as a kid you can get shingles as an adult.
But I think there needs to be more data shared by public health officials. For example the county case numbers have not been updated in the covid app since Dec 22nd. It seems odd to think that 22 months into this pandemic people don’t realise that the virus does not take Christmas holidays. But I would love if public health were quicker to announce more localised outbreaks. Perhaps not as specific as Australia but even if they said clonmel town is having an outbreak, or Clontarf. The information on the LEA is too slow to arrive, is out of date and not specific enough for rural areas especially.
And lift restrictions faster when numbers are declining.
I am no expert, there are loads of experts out there for short, medium and long term solutions. But the governments job is focus, communication, and even more communication. And changing quickly as cases rise and fall.