Council braced for arrival of coronavirus

hands long enough. The ordinary flu has had people sleeping underneath beds in the hospital. Should we be looking at commandeering gymnasiums to deal with this?’

Cllr Jackser Owens stated that the reaction appeared to be slow in comparison to the Foot and Mouth epidemic years back.

‘This is killing people,’ he stressed. ‘There are still thousands of people coming in from Italy. We’re too slow to act. People are very worried out there.’

Speaking both as a councillor and an advanced paramedic with the HSE, Cllr Ger Carthy said: ‘We don’t have enough intensive care beds in Wexford General Hospital. Paramedics are out there swabbing for this virus, but by the middle of next week, they won’t be able to do that because there’ll be so many people presenting. The health service is under pressure. Let’s be prepared. This is a very serious thing and it will effect people in this county.’

Ms Godkin stressed that they council did not want to generate panic and that 80% of people infected with the virus would make a full recovery. However, she did add that the council are taking it extremely seriously and will be doing everything possible to prevent the spread of covid-19.

‘We’ve been through other emergencies and at no point has the response of the council been anything other than top class,’ said Cllr John Hegarty. ‘It’s important that the message is that we are taking this seriously and will take the required action.’