Co Cavan has worst death rate after a year of the virus crisis but ‘no community was left untouched’

THE border county of Cavan has had the starkest death toll from Covid-19 since the pandemic began – with an overall death rate well above the national average.

Figures compiled by the Department of Health for the Irish Independent show the death toll following almost a full year of the pandemic.

They show the national distribution of the country’s 3,978 confirmed Covid-19 deaths, from the beginning of the crisis up to February 23 this year.

Alongside Dublin, Kildare, Monaghan and Mayo, Cavan has lost more than one in 1,000 of its population to the virus.

Deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn last night said the pandemic had left no community untouched and the latest figures laid bare the impact nationwide.

Dublin has recorded 1,476 deaths, the highest overall number in the period and almost a third of the national total.

Cork had 355 deaths while Co Kildare recorded 244. The next two highest counties were Limerick with 188 deaths and Mayo with 155.

However, the rate of deaths per 100,000 shows that while Cavan came joint 12th with Waterford by overall number, the rate of death per 100,000 in the border county was the highest in the country. Nationally, the figure was 83.5 for the period, but in Cavan it was 120. Mayo was next highest with a rate of 118.8, followed by Monaghan at 112.4 and Kildare at 109.7.

The county with the lowest number of deaths was Leitrim, where 13 deaths were recorded. However, Sligo had the lowest rate of Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 of population, with a figure of 25.9 recorded.

The data provided by the Department of Health was extracted from the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting system (CIDR) on February 24, 2021.

Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has

published a snapshot of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the country over 12 months from the first confirmed case of Covid-19 here on February 29, 2020.

Statistics gathered for the CSO survey show that, proportionally, Dublin, Donegal, Limerick, Louth and Monaghan were the counties hardest hit in terms of Covid-19 cases. Cavan, Dublin, Kildare, Mayo and Monaghan were proportionally the counties with the most deaths.

The 25-44 age group saw the most confirmed cases of Covid19, while 93pc of all Covid-19 reported deaths were among those aged 65 years and over.

In the week ending January 29, 2021, there were 317 Covid19 related deaths – more than 10pc of all virus-related deaths to that date.

According to the report, the percentage of people who stayed within 10km of home in the first week of January 2021 (68.6pc) was the highest level recorded at any point since April 2020.

It was also noted that in April 2020, seven in 10 (70.4pc) enterprises had lower than normal turnover, and that between July 27 and August 23, 2020, more than 96pc of responding enterprises were trading in some capacity.

However, at the same time 2.5pc of enterprises had ceased trading temporarily while 1.2pc had ceased trading permanently.

The CSO said that in April, 70.4pc of enterprises had lower than normal turnover.

Between July and August 2020, it said that more than 96pc of responding enterprises were trading in some capacity, 2.5pc of enterprises had ceased trading temporarily while 1.2pc had ceased trading permanently.

In June, the median spend of implementing measures to comply with Covid-19 requirements on small businesses with between 20 and 49 employees was €4,000.

This median spend increased to €42,500 for large enterprises, the CSO added.