The stark choices facing the executive were outlined by the health minister Robin Swann yesterday, who presented a paper warning that Covid-19 infection rates will keep rising if both schools and the hospitality sector remain open.
The gravity of the situation facing all of us was underlined by the latest figures which showed a further seven people have died from this virus while another 863 positive cases have been reported.
We are also seeing a worrying increase in the number of patients in our hospitals, with 150 beds currently occupied including 23 people in intensive care.
According to the Department of Health's dashboard yesterday, just 12 ICU empty beds are now available while overall occupancy in our hospitals stands at 88 per cent.
In an indication that the health service is now coming under intense pressure as a result of the surge in coronavirus cases, planned operations at two Belfast hospitals - Belfast City and Musgrave Park - were suspended on Monday night.
Belfast trust expressed regret at cancelling around 100 elective procedures which will come as a huge blow to all those who had been waiting for their treatment.
A major concern of this second wave of the pandemic is ensuring that non-Covid patients receive the care they need even as the number of coronavirus cases rise.
In the circumstances, it is inevitable that the authorities are revisiting the Nightingale facility at this time as they anticipate the increasing demand for beds for Covid patients.
Unfortunately, all the signs are that the health service will be placed under intolerable strain unless we are able to suppress the virus, which has already reached alarming levels in the north with the rates in some areas amongst the worst in the world.
Deputy first minister Michelle O'Neill, writing in the Irish News yesterday, warned that any delay in taking decisive action 'will increase transmission rates and potentially overwhelm our health service.'
We know from the first wave of the pandemic just how quickly cases can rise, hospital admissions then increase, followed by patients sadly dying from this infection.
Tough measures will be necessary to drive down the R rate but every one of us can play our part by adhering to the simple but all too familiar rules - maintain distance, wash hands, wear a mask and reduce the number of people we come into contact with.
