Dr. Kevin Kelleher:

I will start and then I will ask Dr. Doherty or Dr. Cuddihy to come in as well. We have to look at the evidence about the spread of the disease from a public health perspective and then look at how to run a healthcare system to provide the healthcare that is needed both in a general sense and more particularly when a disease such as Covid is in the system. We have to put those two together. There is a lot of evidence around about how to do it.

The 2 m is primarily a social distancing issue. One does not need to have that in every aspect of healthcare work if there are other means of compensating for it via PPE or doing other things to get past that issue. There can be a mixture of those things. Clearly, we seek to maintain 2 m in areas where there is social contact. There is no need to have 1 m when people are in waiting rooms. They should try, as Deputies in the Chamber and we in the committee room are observing, to keep those 2 m. In other circumstances, 1 m distancing is appropriate. Then one needs to use the infection prevention and control guidance we have, which is general and relates to PPE. Dr. Cuddihy or Dr. Doherty may wish to add to that.