Positive signs in Wexford’s battle against Covid-19

There are positive signs that Wexford is winning the battle against coronavirus with no new confirmed cases of Covid-19 recorded in the county for more than 10 days, based on the latest HSE figures available at the time of going to print.

This is ‘good news’ for the people of Wexford, according to Dr Sarah Doyle, a Wexford woman at the forefront of the national effort to control the spread of Covid-19.

‘Wexford has consistently had a low number of cases, compared with the rest of the country’, said Dr Doyle, a consultant with the Department of Public Health in the south east who was seconded as clinical lead to the Contact Management Programme for the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘It has the second lowest incidence rate in the country now and this suggests that among other things, people in Wexford are paying close attention to the public health messages from the HSE and the government’.

Up to Sunday night, no new cases of people diagnosed with coronavirus had been recorded in the county for 11 days and the situation at Wexford General Hospital was that there were no confirmed cases being treated there since Thursday last. On Friday last, there were no confirmed cases and no suspected cases at the hospital for the first time in weeks.

As of 8 p.m. on Sunday night, there were zero confirmed cases but seven suspected cases in the hospital, awaiting results.

‘Thinking about how Covid-19 spreads and taking small actions to prevent this, saves lives’, said Dr Doyle.

She said it is always difficult to ‘see’ what hasn’t happened but it is thought that about 12,000 lives have been saved in Ireland through the actions of the public, the HSE and the Government.

‘It is important that people continue to take these small actions, to prevent the spread of infection, and to make sure our good progress continues’, said the Piercestown native who appeared a number of times on the Late Late in her national role with the HSE Public Health Communications team.

‘It is really important to self-isolate if you are sick, even if your symptoms are only mild. You need to phone your GP for a test if you have symptoms, including cough, shortness of breath, fever, loss of sense of taste or smell. The waiting time to get a test is now very short. It is important that the HSE knows of those who have Covid-19, so that we can give advice to cases on self-isolation, identify close contacts and give them advice to prevent the spread of infection.

‘Everyone in your household should limit their movements, until you get your test results. For all of us, it’s important to continue to do physical distancing, as advised by the government, and to wash hands frequently.’

Dr Doyle said it is also important that people continue to look after themselves and others.