Coronavirus: A week when sick list grew and grew
How Covid-19 jumped from one case to 19 in seven days, and is already squeezing the system
DAY ONE
Covid-19 cases: 1
All Ireland: 2
Sunday morning in Dublin. A schoolboy is in isolation in a city hospital, the morning after he was confirmed as the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in the Republic of Ireland.
He had returned from a trip to Northern Italy, went to school, went to band practice at his parish hall, unaware of the avirus incubating in his system. His family is advised to self-isolate and the school sends out a hurried letter that it is to close for the virus’s two-week incubation period.
The father of an uninfected pupil later tells reporters: “We were at children’s parties over the weekend, we’ve been around a lot of people. The people who have been in the classroom with this person [who contracted coronavirus] and if you multiply out all the places they’ve been the last week, there’s a lot of places and a lot of people they’ve been in contact with.” Twitter goes wild.
The school is identified but the HSE refuses to confirm the name — a matter of trust, says Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan. Any breach of confidentiality will deter the public from coming forward for testing.
DAY TWO
Covid-19 cases: 1
All Ireland: 2
The World Health Organisation raises Covid-19’s risk level from moderate to high because “the virus continues to spread”. No new cases surface in Ireland but the coronavirus still bites. Google tells 800 staff to work from home after one reports flu-like symptoms. Ryanair announces it is cutting a quarter of its flights to Italy — the European epicentre of the virus — as bookings were down, and passengers weren’t showing up for flights. But rugby will go on. The Ireland Italy game this weekend has been cancelled but in Paris, the Six Nations executive decides the remaining scheduled games will proceed, including Ireland vs France, although with the caveat that this could change.
DAY THREE
Covid-19 cases: 2
All Ireland: 3
The public message is “keep calm” but the authorities are paddling furiously to contain the virus. The outgoing government had expected to cruise control its way out of office but is in cabinet discussing a public health emergency. Ministers are briefed on worst case scenario contingency measures: the Garda and Army on standby for potential public order issues; a ban on large gatherings, affecting shopping centres, churches and creches, according to reports in the Irish Independent. Later, after a five-hour meeting, the National Public Health Emergency teams advise against all non-essential travel to four regions in Italy at the epicentre of that country’s coronavirus outbreak:
Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont. Public officials across all sectors — prisons, hospitals, schools, colleges, airports, transport — are meeting often twice a day to contain the virus. By 9pm, a second case of Covid-19 in the Republic is confirmed — a woman in the east of the country, who recently travelled from Northern Italy.
DAY FOUR
Covid-19 cases: 6
All Ireland: 9
Wednesday evening in Clare. Teenagers from all over north of the county gather for a Transition Year ball in Doolin. By the time parents come to pick up their children at 11pm, news breaks that a family of four from elsewhere in the county has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Department of Health has given no identifying details, but everyone in the locality knows. The family recently returned from a trip to Northern Italy. But significantly, the father is a doctor, who it later emerges checked before returning to work. Public health officials have already begun the exhaustive process of tracing the family’s multiple contacts over the previous 10 days.
The family had holidayed in Northern Italy for midterm break. The children returned to their schools and the parents to work. As well as treating his own patients, the doctor has attended a minor injuries clinic in the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick from 10am-2pm on February 26. He has also worked for the local out-of-hours doctors service, where call outs are believed to include attending a local nursing home. As recently as last Monday, one of those unwittingly carrying the virus is believed to have come in contact with sixth-class pupils of a school in south Galway. The school later advises all sixth-class pupils and their teachers to stay home for two weeks. On the advice of the HSE, the rest of the school remains open.
“It was a nervous shock initially really, it makes it so much more real. We are into a different phase now really. It brings it this close to home now. As this spreads, it looks quite like that there will be groups that won’t be able to overcome the side effects,” said one community activist.
The toll rises in Northern Ireland too. Two more cases of Covid-19 are confirmed, bringing the total there to three. One is a student at Queen’s University who recently travelled from Northern Italy, and the second had been in contact with someone in the UK who later tested positive for the virus.
DAY FIVE
Covid-19 cases: 13
All Ireland: 16 Communities across Clare come to terms with the impact of the coronavirus cases on a local family who is being treated in isolation bays in Limerick University Hospital.
Three local schools close — two schools attended by the two children and a third temporarily pending advice from the HSE. University Hospital Limerick is closed off for a deep clean and some nurses are advised to self-isolate.
Local voluntary groups struggle with the HSE’s advice to let events go ahead unless otherwise instructed. Ambulances call to homes to test those who may have been exposed, and those without symptoms are advised to self-isolate at home.
“Whether that be GAA clubs, soccer clubs, bingo organisers, community, childcare facilities, all these organisations where volunteers are running these groups and they have a great sense of responsibility to all involved,” said one local activist. “They are feeling the stress around making decisions, the burden of responsibility.”
Joe Garrihy, a councillor who is involved in the local soccer club, says even in rural areas, communities are connected through sports, voluntary groups, bingo, dances.
“In terms of the coronavirus, it’s almost impossible to manage something like that when you don’t know you have it until you have it,” he said.
The HSE takes heart that the cluster of cases in Clare is linked to travel in Italy, and not within the community. But that changes later on when a patient at Cork University Hospital tests positive. The patient, a male, has been in hospital for several days, failing to respond to treatment.
Weeks earlier, he had been treated for an unrelated issue at the Mercy Hospital and discharged, before any of his symptoms surfaced. He had not been abroad, and the source of the contagion remains unknown.
The diagnosis unleashes alarm bells at CUH, with up to 60 staff and patients who may have been in contact with the patient in hospital.
The hospital cancels outpatients’ clinics and a number of staff are advised to self-isolate. Later on Thursday, the HSE warns health workers coming back from high risk areas not to go to work. Yet the Taoiseach says it will not be recommending that mass gatherings be curtailed, and St Patrick’s Day parades should go ahead — although this could change.
By Thursday night, the number of cases in Ireland has doubled. Seven new cases are confirmed, including the first case of community transmission in CUH.
The others include four men who travelled from Northern Italy in the east and two women in the west of the country who it is believed were in contact with a member of the Clare family that tested positive. Ireland follows a pattern replicated across the world as the virus continues its global onslaught: 97,000 people infected and more than 3,300 deaths, including the first in Britain and Switzerland, while California declares an emergency after its first fatality.
DAY SIX
Covid-19 cases: 18
All Ireland: 22
The World Health Organisation warns that countries are not taking the coronavirus seriously enough. Infections have plateaued in China but
‘He hadn’t been abroad, and the source of the contagion remains unknown’
surge across Europe and America, and in Ireland the presence of the coronavirus hits home. The full impact of the diagnoses in Clare and Cork becomes apparent with widespread testing under way, fanning out from the communities of those infected to include medical staff, colleagues and anyone they came in contact with. Visiting restrictions are imposed in hospitals in Limerick, Tipperary and Clare and across the South and South West hospital group, including Cork, Kerry and Waterford. Private nursing homes nationwide announce similar restrictions. Despite the Taoiseach’s assurances, Youghal decides to cancel its St Patrick’s Day parade.
On Friday night, a tired looking Dr Tony Holohan confirms five new cases in the Republic: a female health worker in the South of Ireland, arising from contact with the CUH patient; second woman in the south who travelled from Northern Italy; a woman in the West who had contact with a member of the Clare family; a man in the East who travelled from Northern Italy and a second man whose contacts are being traced.
DAY SEVEN
Covid-19 cases: 19
All Ireland: 26
A small number of Irish people people are on board a coronavirus-hit cruise ship that is stuck off the coast of California, and in Rome Pope Francis swaps his regular appearances at the Vatican for livestreaming. As the virus advances, some disquiet emerges over the Government’s response.
Professor Sam McConkey tells Newstalk the coronavirus is a national emergency requiring an emergency cabinet to deal with Covid-19. He says Ireland’s response so far “has been like a small mouse facing an elephant”.
Several Irish embassies have cancelled their planned St Patrick’s Day receptions overseas, but as of now, most are going ahead back home.
But Covid-19 numbers are expected to escalate to “treble figures” this week, and key decisions can be expected after the next meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team this Tuesday.