Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Covid-19: Infection Rate among Healthcare Workers (Resumed)

Dr. Kevin Kelleher:

That is at the very peak. That rate is an indication but the likelihood is that many more people have it because those are just the ones who have come into the system. Many people do not come into the system with the disease. In our field of public health, we often say that the number could be anything between three, four or ten times higher, depending on the disease. We have been measuring hospitalisations quite well over the least three or four years and last winter, we went up to 7,000 or 8,000 people being admitted with flu. Some of that is because of much better recording but it also indicates a change in patterns. Equally, there are seasons where flu is milder and the numbers are significantly lower. In some years, that rate would barely get above 40 or 50 per 100,000. It differs and it is about impact. It reflects the actual virus that year, how well the vaccine works and a number of other things. As we all know, how we are going to deal with flu is a very important issue for us this coming winter. Does Dr. Doherty want to add anything to that?

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