'We’ve gone too soon in dropping the mask mandate': Cork expert voices concerns over rise in Covid cases 

A CORK-BASED expert in atmospheric science has raised concerns about the continuing transmission of Covid-19 and a recent rise in cases following the lifting of restrictions.

University College Cork (UCC) professor John Wenger, chairperson of the expert group on the role of ventilation in reducing transmission of Covid-19, noted an increase in Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations in recent weeks.

Speaking to The Echo, Prof Wenger said he believes the lifting of mandatory mask-wearing may have been announced too soon by the Government.

“In reality, we’re seeing cases increasing and we’re still on a bit of a rollercoaster as far as I’m concerned because we’re not quite sure where the evolution of the virus is going to go and we may end up getting something that could evade the vaccine and that’s a big concern for me,” said Prof Wenger.

“I think the last few weeks have seen the largest amount of disruption in terms of the people being absent from classes in lectures and labs in UCC, certainly February through March, and that’s been problematic, so I definitely think we’ve gone too soon in dropping the mask mandate.

“I understand people are fatigued, people are tired, but in the end when we have over 1,000 people in hospital, we’ll feel the impact somewhere else.”

Prof Wenger said he believes that the growing number of hospitalisations is “worrying” and warned that we are “not out of the woods”.

His comments come as figures show there were 74 Covid-19 patients in Cork City hospitals on Tuesday.

There were 44 Covid-positive patients at Cork University Hospital and 30 patients with the virus at Mercy University Hospital on that day, according to the HSE’s most recent Covid-19 daily operations update.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre’s latest Epidemiology of Covid-19 Outbreaks/Clusters in Ireland report also showed that there were 183 Covid-19 outbreaks notified in week 10 of this year, an increase of 54 compared to week nine.

The report, which includes outbreaks notified on the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting system up to midnight on March 12, showed that there were 30 outbreaks linked to acute hospitals, 45 linked to nursing homes, six linked to community hospital/long-stay units, 55 linked to residential institutions, and 17 outbreaks associated with other healthcare services.