Incidence rate continues to fall but milestone reached in Covid deaths

THE Covid-19 incidence rate for Co Wexford has continued to fall in the past week with things finally seeming to move in the right direction. In fact, as the week finished, we saw the first time that Co Wexford had dropped outside of the top 5 incidence rates in the country this year, falling to 7th with a rate of 316.6 per 100,000 population.

Worryingly, however, the Covid-19 death toll for the county has drastically increased, with the latest CSO release showing an increase of 42 Covid-19 deaths in the four-week period from January 15 to February 5.

Wexford has now reached the unfortunate milestone of 100 Covid deaths, one which has been reached by only seven other counties - Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Kildare, Limerick, Louth and Mayo. The median age for deaths is 81 years-old, while the median age of those contracting the virus is 39.

Last week saw a total of 160 new cases of the virus confirmed in the model county, with a low of 9 on Friday followed by a jolt on Saturday with 49. At Wexford General Hospital things seemed to be improving too. The number of people hospitalised with the virus more than halved going from 32 to 15. The number of people in critical care also dropped by one from four to three.

Sadly, Enniscorthy retained the title of the second highest Covid incidence rate of any LEA in Ireland, coming just behind Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart with a rate of 755.9, having seen 206 cases confirmed in the two week period from January 26 to February 8.

In that same period, Gorey saw 74 cases, Kilmuckridge 39, Wexford 147, Rosslare 67 and New Ross 74.

While there has certainly been positives this week, now is not the time for complacency. It’s worth noting that at the start of December, Co Wexford had the second best incidence rate in the country with just 26 per 100,000 population. There were zero Covid cases on the wards at Wexford General. Things can change very quickly, but hopes are high that if we continue in the current vein, Wexford will see those low numbers once again.