‘A cruel illness’ says C-19 patient

TWELVE cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Kerry Monday evening according to figures released by the Department of Health, and this will continue to increase almost daily in the coming weeks.

Kerry people are currently being tested at the a centre in the Mitchels area of Tralee.

Other locations have been examined around the county, including hotels, as potential test centres for Covid-19 but on Tuesday the HSE stated there are no plans to open other tests centres in Kerry at the moment

However, they do intend to increase the capacity of the Kerry test centre to 500 tests daily amid concerns about delays in testing and results.

As the current pandemic continues, the Government has introduced tighter guidelines following on from reports of large gatherings and limited social distancing at outdoor locations and food outlets over the weekend. These scenes caused upset to Micheál Prendergast and his mother, Joan, who know first-hand just how deadly the virus is. Micheál, who is from Castlemaine, is one of the 12 diagnosed cases in Kerry and was rushed to UHK for treatment last Thursday.

The 28-year old has spoken from his hospital bed to the media in a bid to encourage people to stay at home.

“We all think that we are invincible, but this is going to affect everyone in Ireland at varying degrees.

“It may not affect a young person as bad as me, but it will most certainly affect their parents or grandparents,” he said.

“It is a cruel, cruel illness.”

Micheál is fit and healthy, and though he has asthma, he has not suffered from an attack in years. Yet he still got extremely ill. It is believed he may have contracted the disease in London. The former student of the Intermediate School in Killorglin said that he found it difficult to breathe and had suffered convulsions from the infection.

Micheál returned home to Castlemaine on Monday and is now recovering , isolated from his family. His mother, Joan, who has also been tested and is awaiting a result, and also has symptoms, is in isolation in the same house.

She said her symptoms include a runny nose and a cough and pains, but minor symptoms compared to those suffered by her son, Micheál. It took her four days to get tested and, to date, she said she has been three days waiting for a result.

Her message to the public is follow the guidelines to save others suffering and she said people do recover .

“Micheál is going to recover. He is at home now and is still very weak. [But] People do recover.”

Micheál Prendergast in UHK