A former head of the HSE says the next five to seven days will be the most challenging period of the entire Covid-19 pandemic.
The number of people in hospital with the virus has increased by 56% in the past week, and the ICU figure has risen by 73%.
There are now 1,848 people in hospital with Covid, which includes 187 in intensive care.
At the local St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny, 30 patients are being treated for the virus, including five in critical care.
There are no more available beds in the ICU again, as of 8pm last night (Friday). The ICU was also at full capacity earlier this week, as reported here
50 Covid-related deaths were reported yesterday, and former director-general of the HSE, Tony O’Brien, says the coming days will be even worse;
“We know there’s about a week to 10 day lag between someone testing positive and the likely time they’ll go into hospital. Then there’s a further period after that, where those who have been hospitalised may deteriorate further. Unfortunately the figures we were seeing last weekend mean that the week ahead and possibly the week after that are going to be the most challenging of times for our hospitals, and therefore are likely to produce high levels of bad outcomes, by which I mean an increase in deaths.”
