With Carlow Rising taking on a whole new meaning in recent days, the county noting the country’s highest increase in figures released on Tuesday evening, there’s better news tonight.
It’s been confirmed this (Wednesday) evening that Carlow has seen no reporting of additional cases of Covid-19.
Kilkenny too has escaped the list of ten counties which between them share the 40 new cases of the virus bringing to 26,838 the total number of people affected across the country to date, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
Of these 21 are men and 19 are women with 75% of the total aged under 45 years. 19 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case while 13 have been identified as community transmission.
12 are in Dublin, 11 in Kildare, seven in Offaly with the rest in Clare, Donegal, Limerick, Meath, Roscommon, Tipperary & Wicklow.
There has also been one new death reported to the HPSC today, bringing to 1,774 the number of Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland to date.
“When NPHET tracks and analyses COVID-19’s progression in Ireland, we take into account much more than daily figures. Although today’s number is positive relative to what we saw last weekend, we remain concerned about both the number of cases that are being reported and their distribution across the country” says Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn.
He further explains that the five day average for reported cases nationally is now at 75 per day and, even when we exclude Kildare, Laois and Offaly from this, it remains significantly elevated for the rest of the country at 31 per day. And Dr Glynn notes “It is worth recalling that in late June, the five day average for cases reported was less than 10. In light of this, I ask people to continue to hold firm and continue to closely follow public health advice.”
Professor Philip Nolan is Chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, says that “Due to the nature of how this virus spreads, there can be a delay between when it seeds and when we see it emerge in our communities. For this reason, we work in 14 day and five day average periods in order to ensure that we are seeing the full picture of how the disease is behaving in Ireland. While today’s figures are relatively low in the context of this particular week, it is important that we remember that this is a long game.”
He continues by pointing out “We know that COVID-19 transmits when people come into close contact with one another. When we ask you to follow public health measures and adhere to public health advice, it is with the sole aim of limiting this disease’s opportunity to spread through this close contact. It’s important that everyone in Ireland knows the things they can do in their own communities to help.”
They are: limiting our contacts, avoiding crowded indoor settings, close attention to hand and respiratory hygiene, wearing a face covering where appropriate, using the COVID Tracker App and self-isolation at the first sign of symptoms. These apply countrywide, not just in the counties of Kildare, Laois and Offaly.
Consultant Psychiatrist and HSE Integrated Care Lead Dr Siobhán Ni Bhriain said, “Testing is a vital component of our national response to COVID-19. It enables us to find as many cases as possible and quickly isolate them, which helps prevent further spread. We would appeal to people who are referred for testing as close contacts to attend both tests.”
She advises “It is very important that if you experience any of the symptoms of COVID-19 – such as cough, fever, shortness of breath, or loss of sense of smell/taste – that you self-isolate immediately, and phone your GP straight away. Do not wait and see. Act quickly. This will limit the chance of this highly infectious virus transmitting further.”
