STATISTICS PAINT A GRIM PICTURE
RESIDENTS OF DEALGAN HOUSE ACCOUNTED FOR ALMOST HALF OF LOUTH’S COVID DEATHS
Residents of Dealgan House Nursing Home account for nearly 47 per cent of the deaths from COVID-19 in Louth, according to new figures made available last week.
As the HIQA investigation into the privately run nursing home, where 23 residents are believed to have died as a result of the novel coronavirus nears completion, it emerged that the a total of 49 people died from COVID-19 in Louth up until June 12, according to figure released by the Central Statistics Office.
The 83 bed nursing home at Bellewsbridge Road, which was one of the worst affected by COVID-10 in the country, last week welcomed back visitors, with emotional scenes as family members were able to visit their loved ones for the first time since mid-March.
The tragic deaths of the 23 patients due to a cluster of COVID-19, which also resulted in 60 per cent of the nursing home’s staff being unavailable to work due to illness, self-isolation or concerns for their own health or that of their families, resulted in the Royal College of Surgeons stepping in to take over ‘operational management’ of the facility on April 17.
The CSO figures show that there were a total of 780 cases of COVID-19 in Louth up until June 12, with the median age for those contracting the disease being 50, while the median ages for those who died as a result of the illness was 82.
A breakdown of the number of cases in Louth per Electorial Division (ED) is now available on a new publicly accessible COVID-19 Hub. The interactive map reveals that there were 59 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Castletown ED, which has a population of 4,264 according to the 2016 census. In the total there were just over 100 cases in the Dundalk Urban ED areas and 65 cases in the Dundalk Rural ED.
Countywide there were 18 cases in Haggardstown, 12 in Carlingford, 7 in Ballymascanlon, 12 in Dromiskin, 19 in Drumcar, 19 in Dunleer, 30 in Ardee, and 90 in Termonfeckin.
As the COVID-19 dashboard was launched last Thursday, Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said it willt provide up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community, including the number of daily cases, deaths, number of people in hospital and ICU and a daily update on testing figures.
‘In addition, the dashboard also allows people to monitor the number of cases of COVID-19 in their local area. The management of COVID-19 is an individual task, where we all must remain aware of the disease in our community, follow public health advice and adopt protective behaviours,’ he said.
The dashboard is a collaboration between the Department of Health, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the All-Island Research Observatory, HPSC, HSE, and the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Data and maps will be updated on a on-going basis.