The HSE's chief clinical officer says we need to 'redouble our efforts' when it comes to following guidelines, as Ireland reopens.
Dr Colm Henry says just because younger people are getting the virus, does not mean it cannot still spread to the elderly.
A recent increase in cases has seen 231 confirmed yesterday - the highest daily number in four months.
There has also been a steady rise in hospital admissions, 49 are being treated in hospitals today with six in ICU's.
Dr Colm Henry, says it is important people act now to avoid further restrictions:
"We have to protect older people, and not create some sort of apartheid society when there is one set of rules for older people and one set of rules for younger people. We also need to get our schools back on track.
"We need to redouble our efforts with a common sense of purpose, we're not just trying to avoid Bergamo."
Fatigue
This comes as yesterday the acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn advised people living in Dublin to "keep their social contacts as low as possible" after 133 new cases were recorded there yesterday.
Speaking on Newstalk's On The Record, Dr Henry outlined the reasons why people should increase their efforts.
"There is now, understandably, a great sense of fatigue but unfortunately the virus doesn't feel emotions and it hasn't changed.
"It's every bit as transmissible now as it was then and quite prolifically we're seeing a small trickle in the increase in hospitalizations."
He says there has been a small but steady increase in the number of older people in hospitals, which is a reminder of how transmissible this virus is.
