Medical directors urge people to stay home

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Medical Director Dr Tony Holohan issued a joint statement with Northern Ireland Medical Director Dr Michael McBride urging people to stay home.

In the statement, Dr. Holohan and Dr. McBride express concern about the high levels of Covid-19 on the island of Ireland.

“As CMO, we are very concerned about the unsustainable high level of COVID-19 infection we are experiencing on the island of Ireland. This is having a significant impact on the health of our population and the safe functioning of our healthcare systems.”

They note that as a result of increased infections north and south of the border, there has been an increase in the number of deaths related to Covid-19.

“We are likely to see continued increases in hospitalizations, ICU admissions and mortality in the coming weeks.”

They both strongly urge everyone to stay home, except for essential reasons, and to avoid all unnecessary travel, including cross-border travel.

“We will continue to work together to protect public health across the island, as we have during this pandemic, but we need everyone to play their part by staying home and protecting themselves and their communities.”

The warning comes when the number of ICU patients increased by 13 overnight. There are currently 184 people in intensive care units and 1,846 Covid-19 patients in hospitals.

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A consultant in emergency medicine at Cork University Hospital said they are treating 159 people with the virus, with 18 in the ICU.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Professor Conor Deasy said the hospital has seen an “increase this week in criticality” from patients in terms of their lung function.

Nine of the ICU patients with Covid-19 are on ventilators, an increase from three earlier this week, and 38 patients are receiving “advanced oxygen,” he said.

The UL Hospitals Group CEO said 579 employees are out of work, including 200 nurses, due to Covid-19.

Colette Cowan said that they are moving to the second part of their augmentation plan today because there is only one empty bed in the ICU and the high dependency unit is full.

Limerick University Hospital currently has 162 Covid-positive patients, an increase of ten from yesterday, and 47 patients are isolated in the emergency department awaiting admission.

Regarding the staff shortage, Ms Cowan said they are evaluating bringing in staff who are home due to Covid-19, but only those who are on day 10 of isolation.

He said they have asked six staff members to come back after the evaluation this week.

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda had the highest number of admissions for Covid-19 in the country yesterday.

Twenty-five patients were admitted at 8pm last night and 117 Covid-19 patients are now being treated at the hospital.

Ten patients are in the ICU and the hospital has two beds in its intensive care unit.

The incidence of Covid-19 in Co Louth and, in particular, Dundalk and Ardee is among the highest in the country.

At Cavan General Hospital, 67 patients are being treated at the hospital with ten admissions yesterday.

Four people are in ICU.

The hospital has two beds available in the intensive care unit.

Twenty-three Covid-19 patients are being treated at Our Lady Hospital in Navan.

As part of HSE measures in response to Covid-19, a community assessment center has been re-established at Cootehill in Co Cavan.

It will be open seven days a week for people in Cavan and Monaghan, where Covid-19 rates are still very high.

The Executive of the Health Service has said that until yesterday a total of 77,303 Covid-19 vaccines have been administered.

HSE CEO Paul Reid said 69,378 of them were received by frontline healthcare workers and 7,925 were received by people at long-term care facilities.

He said Ireland has received 152,100 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to date, along with 3,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

Additional reports Sinead Hussey



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