Eerie Easter ahead with sharp increase in Cork COVID-19 cases
PLEASE ‘GO HOME’ MESSAGE TO VISITORS AS HOLIDAY WEEKEND TO SEE GARDA CHECKPOINTS ON OUR ROADS
TOURISM hotspots around Cork and nationwide look set to be eerily silent this weekend in sharp contrast to the bustling holiday weekends of last year as the COVID-19 lockdown looks set to continue for a number of weeks.
This comes against the backdrop of the revelation that there has been a sharp increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cork. As of Wenesday there are at least 431 cases confirmed in Cork, up from 238 the previous week.
There has also been a marked increase in clusters in HSE South, which includes Cork and Kerry.
According to figures released yesterday, the number of clusters at midnight on Saturday was 34.
These figures include 3 clusters in nursing homes, six in hospitals, six in private houses and four in residential institutions.
There has been no community outbreak reported in HSE South.
This follows the confirmation of 36 deaths nationnally from the virus on Tuesday of this week, the deadliest day so far since the outbreak of the disease took hold last month, and an increasing number of confirmed cases.
Tuesday’s death toll included three who died in the south of the country, 27 in the east and six in the west. This brought the death toll in the Republic of Ireland to 210 and this was added to further by the total of 73 in Northern Ireland.
While there are now, as of Wednesday, 6,074 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, approximately 1,345 have been hospitalised and 194 of those have been admitted to ICUs.
Figures released earlier this week showed that Cork University Hospital was treating 19 COVID-19 patients while there were 12 patients with the virus in Mercy University Hospital.
Another interesting indicator of the spread of the disease in the community – and community transmission accounts for more than 62% of confirmed cases – is the Cumulative Incidence Rate. This tells us the number of people infected per 100,000 of the population.
The figure for Cork is 78 (per 100,000) while in Kerry it’s 83. Dublin has the most cases of COVID-19 in the country and its CIR is 243 and neighbouring Wicklow has a CIR of 127.
While the COVID-19 precautionary measures introduced on March 12 and further reinforced on March 26 have not yet been formally extended beyond the initial deadline of Easter Sunday, April 12, senior government figures and Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan have indicated that the current restrictions are extremely likely to extend for a number of weeks.
Health Minister Simon Harris signed regulations following this week’s cabinet meeting giving Gardaí power additional powers during the Easter period.
People who breach restrictions including travelling more than 2km from their homes for reasons other than shopping for groceries and medicine or if an essential worker are now liable to fines and a possible six month term of imprisonment.
The message seems to have filtered through to Air BnB owners in Cork and throughout the country.
While their properties remain available on the Air BnB website, when this reporter contacted the proprietors I was told that the property was no longer available for rent.
This follows strong reactions from communities in popular tourist spots as people complained of an influx of visitors from the urban areas and, even, the UK coming to stay in their midst during the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to Gardaí there are likely to be checkpoints on the roads at the weekend in order to discourage people travelling for visits or to holidays homes in popular tourism destinations in the region.
Fine weather has been forecast for Friday and Saturday but this is expected to break on Easter Sunday itself.