NO NEED FOR VIRUS HUBS IN COUNTY?
AS THE HSE MONITORS THE SITUATION, RISING COVID-19 FIGURES MAY CHANGE THAT
WHILE the HSE has said it does not know when its COVID-19 assessment hubs in the county will open, that could yet prove to be faint silver lining in the battle against the coronavirus in Cork.
The HSE this week said progress on the hubs was “under constant review” and it is understood one of the reasons behind the delay was that demand for them was not as high as first thought; something that seemed to be borne out by a HSE spokesperson.
They said the fact that no definitive date has been set for the opening of the hubs was down to two key reasons, one being what the HSE said was the “current number of confirmed COVID positive cases within the community”.
The other key reason being “competing demand for resources”, relating in particular to the availability of nursing staff to run the hubs, with many nurses redeployed to work in residential and nursing homes.
However, this week there has been a sharp increase in the number of clusters in the HSE South Region with a trebling of outbreaks in nursing homes and a 150 per cent spike in clusters in private homes, the latest Health Protection Surveillance Centre figures have revealed.
A ramping up of testing is being given as the main reason for the jump in COVID-19 clusters in nursing homes, up from three last week to nine this week. The numbers of private homes experiencing outbreaks of the virus has jumped from 10 to 25 in the same period. Overall, Cork went from 1077 last week to 1126 as of Tuesday of this week.
GARDAÍ in North Cork have arrested two men for questioning following two separate drugs seizures at Covid -19 checkpoints on Tuesday evening.
Officers in Mallow, who had mounted a Covid-19 checkpoint on the N20, stopped and searched two men travelling on separate buses from Limerick to Cork between 4pm and 6pm on Tuesday.
In one case they recovered almost €5,000 worth of cannabis while in the other, they recovered over €1,000 worth of the drug.
Gardaí undertook a search when they became suspicious after questioning the men about the purpose of their trips on the bus.
Gardaí do not believe the two men were linked or connected in any way.
Both men were arrested and brought to Mallow Garda Station for questioning about the separate seizures. The drugs were sent for analysis.
It’s understood that the two men, who are in their late teens and early 20s, are both from Cork and were bringing the drugs to Cork to supply the local market for the bank holiday weekend.
Both men were later released without charge. Gardaí will now proceed to prepare files on the separate seizures for the DPP, a Garda spokesman confirmed this week.