Kinane is highly supportive of a return to a more thorough testing regime, such as a return to PCR tests as these are “the most accurate and thorough way of understanding how the virus is behaving”.
The reason for the need to return to a higher testing capacity is due to changes in how people are being infected with Kinane adding: “Over the last couple of months, it is clear that people are getting reinfected at a rapid pace, and social attitudes to the virus have also relaxed, and with the Government relaxing isolation requirements, several individuals testing positive are not isolating sufficiently and consequently increasing the virus’ spread.”
Part of this relaxation in attitudes is not just due to governmental attitudes, but also the sheer weight of other major news events both at home and abroad. This has resulted in the thoughts of many switching from COVID-19 to the war in Ukraine and the impact of the cost of living crisis.
Nevertheless, Kinane cautioned: “It is vital to remember that COVID is still a dangerous and highly infectious disease, and it is important to remain cautious, especially for people who are immunocompromised and have not completed the full vaccination course.”
