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Ireland is at the mercy of intermittent shutdowns for at least another nine months, as Cork, Galway, Monaghan and Roscommon are now seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases.
ork remains the county at the top of the danger list for level 3 closures, as the spread of the virus continues, partly fueled by outbreaks in pubs and restaurants.
Donegal and Dublin, which are already in semi-lockdown, are showing some signs of stabilizing, but it will be the end of the week before a proper trend can be confirmed.
Kildare and Louth are on shaky ground and could go either way in the next few days.
The shaky national landscape was outlined yesterday by Acting Medical Director Dr. Ronan Glynn. He said no county should be conceited with its state.
He said there were no deaths, but 390 new cases of the virus were confirmed yesterday, including 209 in Dublin.
When asked what would happen if Dublin and Donegal manage to get the virus under control, Dr. Glynn said, “If you ask us, will we go back to normal after this? No, we won’t. We will have to continue to suppress this.” .
“I don’t think there is an alternative strategy as it is. Things can change. There is incredible work being done in terms of treatments, vaccines and different types of tests. But we are not there yet.”
“I hope news of that evolves between now and Christmas, but ultimately I think we are looking at a six to nine month time frame here.”
He said he expected to go back to Tier 1, where the minimum number of restrictions apply.
Previously, he said that although Monaghan and Roscommon have smaller populations, their incidence rates are increasing rapidly.
Some 70 cases in Cork were linked to pubs and restaurants in recent weeks, while in Galway a significant group associated with younger people. Among the 26 deaths this month, there were four among people under 54 and another four among people 55 to 64. About 20 had underlying medical conditions.
He presented a case in which one person, through a long chain of response transmissions, including a delay in getting tested and contacts not self-isolating, went on to infect 56 other people.
There is also a worrying trend in which young people who test positive are reluctant to name close contacts, which is a mistake because there is no blame or stigma involved, he added.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will meet on Thursday to discuss current trends.
Before Halloween, he said, there will be trick-or-treating guidelines.
Meanwhile, HSE chief Paul Reid will defend Ireland’s record in Covid-19 testing today and insist that “all demand” is being met as he warns of the “worst-case scenario” of a surge. of the virus combined with a bad winter flu season.
In an appearance on the Dáil’s Covid-19 committee, he will tell TDs that the health service has the capacity to do 100,000 tests per week and an “additional augmentation capacity” to perform 2,000 more per day in Germany.
Opposition politicians have been expressing concern for weeks that the full capacity of 100,000 per week has yet to be used. Mr Reid will say that Ireland is “among the highest ranked in Europe in tests per million inhabitants”.
He will say that there will be enough flu vaccine for groups at risk by the end of October.
Elsewhere, healthcare worker Jerick Martin has recounted his nightmare experience contracting Covid-19 and his struggle to regain health.
“I was a fit and healthy man in my thirties, working and enjoying my life,” he said.
“Within five days of experiencing my first symptoms of Covid-19 I was admitted to the hospital, where I spent 68 days in intensive care, most of that time on a ventilator, in an induced coma.”
“This disease does not care that you are young, fit and healthy … Anyone can get it and anyone can get very sick,” he warned.
Irish independent
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