Our so called Freedom day on October 22nd has been thrown into doubt by the latest rise in covid cases.
Carlow still has one of the highest rates of the virus in the country with Kilkenny at the lower end of the scale.
Latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show 249 cases of the virus were reported in Carlow in the week up to midnight on Tuesday with 142 in Kilkenny during the same time frame.
Waterford currently has the highest rate of the virus with 520 cases confirmed there in the past week.
Dr Mary Favier of NPHET says there’s a ripple of anxiety and fear among doctors over the rise in cases saying it’s a case of déjà vu:
“The impact isn’t so much on the case numbers, it’s the impact on our hospital system which is really feeling the strain. And so that will be the concern; Can our hospital system manage over the next number of weeks and months if we ease restrictions? And that will be what will need to be balanced”
Meanwhile the hospital figures locally have crept up again in recent days with 3 new cases confirmed at St Luke’s yesterday.
There are six covid patients at the local hospital at the moment with one of those in Intensive Care.
