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Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan has said that people should not underestimate the highly infectious nature of Covid-19, as well as the impact it can have on families and communities.
The latest data from the Health Protection Surveillance Center (HPSC) shows that 1.4% of all those over the age of 85 contracted Covid-19 last week.
This is the highest incidence of disease among all age groups and there is concern about the impact it could have.
There are clear signs that Ireland may have passed the peak of a third wave of Covid-19 infections in recent days. However, the pressure on hospitals and health services continues to mount.
Yesterday there were 1,923 Covid-19 patients and 8,500 non-Covid-19 patients in the hospital.
210 of the Covid-19 patients were in intensive care.
485 people have already died from the disease so far in January.
The HPSC data suggests that just over 5% of them died in intensive care, 40% in the wards of a general hospital, while 55% died outside of the hospital setting.
40% of those who died were over 85 years old.
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Galway hospitals have been under great pressure since the beginning of the year and are entering a “critical two-day period,” the CEO of Saolta University Health Care Group warned.
Tony Canavan said there are 133 Covid-19 patients at Galway University Hospital, with 17 of them in the ICU.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said that UHG has moved to surge level three and while there is additional capacity, this is dependent on staff availability, which remains a major issue.
Canavan said 387 employees were on Covid-related leave in Galway yesterday, but expects more staff to be available in the next two to three days.
He said that it is important that current restrictions are rigorously enforced and that the move from Level 5 to Level 3 in December certainly had an impact on the growing number, while new variants of the coronavirus also add to the problem.
On Tuesday, the HSE, Gardaí and the two local authorities in Co Galway called on people to adhere to public health guidelines, following what they said was a tenfold increase in infections.
Nearly 2,800 cases have been confirmed in the county in the past two weeks and case rates are said to be particularly high in Tuam, Galway City and Oranmore.
Speaking about the same program, Martin Ward, a UHG nurse whose parents died after contracting Covid-19, has asked people to take the threat of the virus seriously.
He said that people are becoming indifferent to those with mild symptoms, but that “there is also the other side that destroys lives.”
His parents, Owen and Bredge Ward of Strabane in Co Tyrone, died 12 hours apart from each other on November 16.
As a working nurse, she was allowed into the hospital to hold her father’s hand for the last half hour of her life.
“They did their best to ventilate him, but his lungs were very stiff. It was difficult for them to keep him alive.”
This is what people don’t see, he said, adding that “that’s what we are seeing right now with people dying due to high incidence rates.”
Elsewhere, there are 141 Covid-19 patients at Limerick University Hospital, up from 148 yesterday.
There are 18 patients with the virus in the UHL intensive care unit, two more than yesterday.
The hospital with the most Covid-19 cases is Cork University Hospital with 153.
The Cabinet is expected to extend the level 5 restrictions next week.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said last night that the transmission numbers for the coronavirus were “still too high”, while Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that the vast majority of the restrictions will remain “until well into February.”
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