Local COVID-19 nursing home clusters treble
SHARP RISE ALSO IN NUMBER OF OUTBREAKS OF VIRUS IN PRIVATE HOMES IN PAST WEEK
AS another Bank Holiday weekend under lock-down approaches, there appears to be an insufficient slowing of the spread of the COVID-19 virus to allow a relaxation of restrictions on May 5, the expiry date set out by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar when he announced the lock-down last month.
There is some good news, even though the clouds seem to be getting in the way of kick-starting Summer.
In terms of people reported to have tested positive in Cork during the past week, there has been an increase of just 49 on the figures last week.
Based on the figures reported on Sunday night, there were 1,126 people reported to have tested positive in the county.
This represented 5.8 per cent of the national figure, and Cork is still second in the county ranking.
Last week the figure was 1,077 and this represented 6.8 per cent of the national figure.
The figure most concerning the authorities is the number of clusters/outbreaks reported to the HSE as of midnight on Sunday, April 26.
While there were three outbreaks reported in nursing homes in HSE South – the region which includes Cork and Kerry – last week, this has trebled to nine nursing home outbreaks in the space of a week.
There has also been a hike in clusters of cases reported for residential accommodation centres, up from 10 last week to 14 this week.
And clusters in private houses have also jumped sharply – up from 10 last week to 25 this week.
There are also 11 outbreaks reported in hospital settings, up from nine last week.
The latest figures for people hospitalised with COVID-19-related illness in Cork hospitals showed a jump to 57 cases last Thursday, up from 45 the previous day.
The incidence per 100,000 of the population has also increased in Cork during the past week,, up from 198.4 last week to 207.4 this week, as of the time of The Corkman going to print.
When combined with the overall figures for the country, these figures all point to the unlikelihood of any significant relaxation to the lockdown restrictions which have been in place since mid-March.
Speaking yesterday, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “I don’t think I’m speaking out of school if I say that the numbers aren’t good enough at present”.