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JOE BIDEN’S SUPPORTERS in his ancestral home in the west of Ireland are confident they will welcome him back as the new US president.
As the Democrat edges closer to the White House, residents in Ballina, Co Mayo, are already planning to roll out the red carpet for his return.
Biden’s great-great-great-grandfather Edward Blewit emigrated from the town almost 200 years ago, having worked as a brick-maker and as a civil engineer helping to map Ireland.
Locals in the town now hope Biden can follow in his ancestor’s footsteps by putting Ballina on the map.
Ten of his 16 great-great-grandparents were also born in Ireland.
A mural of Biden, which overlooks the main square in the old market town, was recently created by local artists Smiler Mitchell and Leslie Lackey.
After the unveiling, Biden pledged to revisit the town if he wins the election.
He first visited Ballina in June 2016 as US vice-president, and met with a number of relatives including Joe and Laurita Blewit.
Blewit said he believes his cousin will be the next president of the US.
He added: “It will be unreal for the family. I have met him three or four times now and to know someone who is going to be the president of the United States is unreal.
“I was in the White House a few years ago and it was a cool place to be in so I am looking forward to going back again.
“I am confident he will win, though I wasn’t too sure on Tuesday if he would win but hopefully tonight he will make it.
“It’s great for Ballina, the mural has attracted a lot of attention. We sent him a picture of the mural – he couldn’t get over it.
“He actually robbed my line and wrote on his home house in Scranton (Pennsylvania) ‘from my house to the White House’.
“Everyone in Ballina is proud of him.”
Anthony Heffernan, who owns Heffernan cafe and butchers in the Market Square, hosted Biden and some 20 of his entourage in 2016.
“Mr Biden came here on a family visit and he gathered about 22 of his distant relatives and had a meal with them to get to know them,” he said.
“They chose our building because it was secure. Sniffer dogs went through the building, it was very exciting.
“The Bidens were lovely people – they just wanted to talk about Ballina and find out the history of the town and what it was like when their family were here.
“Everyone is very keen and paying close attention to the election, we are pretty sure he will get in though I don’t think Mr Trump will give in easily.
“I think Joe Biden spoke very well on Wednesday night.
“He has told relatives here that he will be back when he becomes president.”
One of Biden’s distant relatives, Bernie Finan, has met the Democrat twice.
“I first met him when he was coming down the main street and was shaking hands with everyone and I spoke to him and told him we are related,” he said.
“I asked if he would mind that I contact him when he got back to the US and he said it would be fine.
“He seems nice, a simple man of the people and that’s reflected in the vote in recent days.
“I’ve been keeping a very close eye on it, I switched the radio on when I went to bed and then spent most of yesterday and today listening to it.
“He’s edging that bit closer and I heard the bookies gave him three-to-one and seldom do the bookies make a mistake.
“Biden and the razzle dazzle has been good for Ballina. Let’s hope it will be more useful in the future as it’s a beautiful town.”
Among many of the locals flying the flag for the presidential hopeful was Maria Bourke from Knockmore.
She said: “We hope Biden will win it and not the other one (Donald Trump).
“I think the whole world wants Biden to win.
“Ballina will go mad and I hope there are no restrictions when he comes to visit as the whole town will go mad.
“Everyone will be delighted, he is more normal than the other man. Biden is more of a family man.
“People want a leader they can relate to and see as a family man.”
Local Tricia Mullen said: “We’ve been following it closely these last few days and I am dying to see who wins.
“My children are getting me up early in the mornings so I am able to follow what’s happening.”
Also among Biden’s fans is eight-year-old Aobha Brennan, who hopes to one day welcome him to her home town.
She said: “I want him to win as he’s a nice man.
“I would love to meet him. I’ve been watching him on my television. He just needs a few more votes to win and I’ll be so excited.”
Mary, who did not want to give her surname, said it is likely Biden will return to the county as president.
She was among the thousands of people on the streets to greet the Bidens in 2016.
“I spoke to him and shook his hand, it was very exciting, she said.
“Joe Biden came with his entourage and his security. I was expecting all of his bodyguards to be pushing us away behind a line but there was none of that.
“It was very relaxed – just like Biden.
“He was walking down the street and spoke to everyone and there were no issues.
“It was a very exciting day for everyone. He was all smiles and we were all smiles.
“Everyone is excited to see what happens next.”
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One of those people is a friend of mine, 54 years old, on a ventilator, praying for his wife and two boys he’ll pull through.
@ianglen: hopefully. Lost a friend of mine to this last year. He left behind a 6 year old & 3 other children. Thinking of you & your friend.
@Mjhint: Very sorry to hear that. Condolences to them.
@ianglen: im sorry to hear about your friend but thank you for sharing that.People (especially the its just a flu crowd)need to remember that these numbers are real people and it affects different people in different ways
@Trish O’Leary-Dunne: he thought it was flu, headaches, chills. Escalated to struggling to breathe, ambulance and onto a ventilator as soon as he got in.
Fit, healthy, non smoker, has everyone in a state of shock here..
@ianglen: hope he pulls through.
@Tom kenny: Stable but critical atm, where there’s life there’s hope.
@ianglen: please god…
@Mjhint: just a small tweet. Believet or not. But no harm to accept it.I have blessed oil after use this oil person will not died before their age. The age person think.
Percent positive rate continues to drop day on day and on ICU 20% day on day increase in previous weeks had now slowed to 2%. And nothing to suggest the survival rate has changed from approx 99.8% from latest WHO. Its very serious but great if we could highlight the positive trends a bit more.
@Toon Army: Do you have a link to that WHO estimate ?
@Toon Army: In Ireland so far the fatality rate in confirmed cases is 1.9%.
@Toon Army: ICU beds are becoming saturated very quickly. There are little more than 300 ICU beds nationwide, including paediatric and surge capacity beds. These patients stay a long time, with often multiple complications, requiring huge resources.
This is serious for a number of reasons, not least because many major elective surgeries cannot be performed without ICU capacity to deal with them in the post-op period.
@NotMyIreland: and in the states 3% of closed cases
@NotMyIreland: It’s the infection fatality rate (IFR) and NOT the case fatality (CFR) that determines the “survival rate”. An infection fatality rate (IFR) is the proportion of deaths among all infected individuals, in other words the true fatality rate. While related to the CFR, an IFR attempts to estimate the mortality rate including non-diagnosed cases (e.g. not tested, asymptomatic). The IFR is obviously much much lower than the CFR.
@NotMyIreland: Yes but the infection fatality rate is order of magnitudes less. In other words if you get the infection, how likely you are to die. Best estimates are between 2 and 3 in a thousand (less still if looking at <70).
@Juniper: Agree, at the moment it’s a serious situation. As with most coronaviruses however, it’s seasonal with January being the worst month. Looking at the data it looks like the infection is peaking – likely due to the seasonal nature and perhaps also in part to reduced socialising post Christmas.
@Toon Army: your IFR at about 0.2% is probably on the optimistic side. Whilst 2% is too high given about one third cases are asymptomatic a figure around 1% is more likely.
You are correct on the daily positivity trend. It is going downwards. There is light at the end of the tunnel. However when cases and deaths do reduce I hope we do not make the same mistakes again in opening up too much of the country. Whilst the restrictions are unpleasant they are better than the heartache and pain of an overwhelmed health service and excess mortality.
Obey the rules. Social distance. Wash your hands. Wear a mask when needed.
@Toon Army: Looking at Brazil right now it doesn’t look seasonal at all, over 1,000 people dying a day right now at the height of their summer
@Toon Army: Oh yeah I understand the difference between CFR and IFR. IFR is only ever estimated, while CFR is actually recorded. So you can deduce that if you develop symptoms or a recorded case in Ireland you have a 1.9% chance of death. So you can apply the 1.9% to the daily case figures reported every day. At the moment 1000 cases reported is likely to end up with 19 deaths. You can’t apply the estimated IFR to it as its a generalised for the world population and varies widely in different populations. The range of IFR’s in the WHO report is 0.09% to 1.67%. However the report states that the IFR for countries who have experienced greater than 500 deaths per million is 0.57%. Ireland falls into this category as we currently have a deaths per million ratio of 522.
@NotMyIreland: http://www.who.int › online_firstPDF
Infection fatality rate of COVID-19 inferred from seroprevalence data
@NotMyIreland: it is reasonable to assume that at least 300,000 people here have had the virus with 2,000 deaths attributed (even though many of these died with it rather than from it) I’d say the actual fatality rate is closer to 0.5 percent and almost all fatalities are old or sick. I understand that there are exceptions and my sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost someone but we do need some context
@John Lyons: yeah you arent far off with the 0.5 percent prediction as the WHO states 0.57% for those countries with a death per million of over 500. Which we are only marginally over when the likes of Belgium are well over with 1756. So we would be on the lower end of the figures used for that average.
@Toon Army: oh yea good idea then people would go … “sure it’s getting better, we’re grand let’s party… @. Eh NOOOO. It’s still very scary out there .. we must all lie low for another while..
I wish we would get all the stats in stories like this. The situation is not good, but there are a number of people using geohive to calculate the number of people who got covid while in hospital. The figure stands at approx 53%. So it’s important to note that 53% of the hospitalisations are people with covid rather than hospitalisation due to covid. A lot of these people could be asymptotic. Now before people start saying I’m trying to undermine the situation we are under, I’m not. There are many many people out there with worsening mental health due to this constant barrage of doom and gloom 4 nearly the last 12 months. It’s important to note that the vast vast majority of cases don’t end up in hospital and a very small percentage of those in ICU. Stay well people, we’re in the end game
@Hugh Corcoran: Surely the conclusion to come to about hospital acquired infections is that they pose a risk of more vulnerable people (they are obviously in hospital as they were ill before) catching the disease and being at risk of serious illness, rather than assuming this vulnerable group would be asymptomatic?
@NotMyIreland: or that due to covid any existing condition has been exasperated. Covid is the issue
@NotMyIreland: agree, but my point was around the spread in the community. when you see a figure of approx 1900 in hospital with covid, approx 1000 of them got it while in hospital and not in the community. Not suggesting some of these people are not very sick as a result. We need to keep up the advice and get the figures down again.
@Hugh Corcoran: well done for some sense. The government could do better in explaining the detail. RTE have been disgusting in their approach to COVID reporting
@Hugh Corcoran: if proper process and procedures are being followed in Hospitals and Nursing homes I can’t understand why so many are getting it
@Hugh Corcoran: Spot on Hugh. Unfortunately that are some who don’t want that balanced reasonable assessment.
@Hugh Corcoran: I would imagine one reason that isn’t being shouted from the roof tops is because people with heart attacks, strokes etc will not attend the ED assuming they will contract covid.
@Hugh Corcoran: only covid matters complete madness
@Hugh Corcoran: how was that 53% figure calculated. Seems a lot to me.
Get well soon to all those in hospital .
We had a tiger by the tail and let go…
@Phil O’ Meara: So what do you think we should do now ? Work out a better way to grab hold of it again, or sit around crying into our hankies about how it got away in the first place ? What’s done is done and that’s not going to change no matter how much we whinge about it.
@Tommy Roche: There’s a value in reiterating this to remind ppl to actually learn from their mistakes and change their ways, don’t you think?
@Cindy Brolin:
Yes indeed!
@Phil O’ Meara: the whole world did…. we are not used to Tigers tbh
Holy Jaysus
numbers should be down for easter then we can have easter party’s and bring people home from abroad for easter,
@frank_1916: I’m not sure if this is a joke…..
@Cathy Elliott: it is
@frank_1916: Street parties galore!
@frank_1916: you never know these days!!!!
Important to note that a significant number of the people “in hospital with Covid” were already in hospital and caught Covid there. Death rate is even lower since cases started surging. Nobody is really thinking of how much the lockdown is damaging the country as they’re being bombarded with cases and hospital numbers without any context or other data.
@Adam Conroy: Actually, when the numbers started increasing big time after New Years, they did their best to clear out the hospitals of patients that could be left home, even those that could barely be classified as those who could be left home, in order to make space, because they did not know what was coming down the road. Yes, there is probably a small percentage of those who caught it in the hospitals, but the majority of those currently in hospital with CoViD-19 are there because of CoViD-19. That is the 2nd time in 24 hours that I have seen that ridiculous statement being made on here.
@Adam Conroy: I would say it’s even more than a significant number, it’s probably the majority of patients that were in there already with other serious health conditions and then caught Covid.
We’re fed hospital numbers and case statistics to distract us from the fact that we have a shocking health system and not enough ICU beds, yet we have senior HSE management retiring with pensions of over €300k with seemingly nobody held accountable for the state of our country’s health system.
@Joe_X: The number of inpatient admissions for illnesses that could be treated at home had already dropped well before New Years. Not to mention that hospital visits had also dropped for minor illnesses and elderly people coming in with trivial complaints as people have been avoiding hospitals since the start of Covid here in March. The only people who have been admitted to hospital are ones with serious conditions.
It would also be highly unethical and irresponsible to discharge any patients that cannot be classified so I don’t know where you have pulled that from.
@Nigel: my mother in law was meant to be kept in for at least a further 2 weeks due to fluid retention on her chest. However the decicision was made that in wake of the numbers rising in cases of the virus, that the beds would be needed, so anyone that they felt could be treated at home was discharged. My family has first hand experience of this. Also if you read my first comment properly, you will see that I did clarify that it was anyone they felt could be discharged, even barely as in the case of my mother in law, was. But don’t let that get in the way of your rhetoric.
@Joe_X: I wish your mother law a speedy recovery and your family all the best. It was hopefully a blessing she was discharged because she probably would have had a high risk of catching Covid in the hospital from other patients and staff.
@Nigel: Thanks for the well wishes, they are appreciated. I’m not saying that there is zero transmission in the hospitals, just that people are over estimating the amount of transmission that is occuring there. Most of the people in hospital with CoViD-19 in my opinion are there because of it in the first place.
One of those in ICU is my brother,57. He didn’t have it when admitted to hospital last month. Nowhere is safe
ICU will be at 100% capacity by mid/end next week.
@Cosmos20202020: have you got a Crystal ball? The numbers sown are promising showing a slow in the increase in both hospital & ICU admissions,
The above graph should be over 2 months not over a year so we can see the actual data!
The Poles and the Italians have coped on, wonder how long it will take for the rest to follow.
@Pius Flynn: there’s no cure for stupidity unfortunately and judging from the families of 4 I encountered while shopping alone yesterday the stay at home message goes in one ear and out the other. Any excuse for a family excursion and zero enforcement.
@DJ Dave Wexford #WearAFeckingMask: Yes. I have noticed a big increase in families shopping together in supermarkets. Bored? Go to the park or somewhere outside instead of shops.
@DJ Dave Wexford #WearAFeckingMask: I think you are looking at too much MSM.
What I was referring to is the fact that in those countries, people are rebelling against the lockdowns and opening up their businesses.
In huge numbers.
You won’t hear about that on RTÉ or the Journal.
By the way, I don’t have an opinion on whither they are wrong or right, but journalists should be journalists and report the truth.
@Pius Flynn: I am stating what I have witnessed in person not MSM. You could have made your point clear in your original comment. Have a nice day
@Mairead Jenkins: I agree with you Mairead. That coupled with no Gardai presence to turn car loads of people back home.
Time to stuff our pockets with posies .
These statistics come out on a daily basis, but what’s absent are statistics on the number of people who are being treated in hospital for Covid and how many for other conditions but who happen to have had a Covid positive test as well, and also the numbers who have died in hospital from or with Covid.
I think that these figures would reflect highly on the care that patients with Covid, or with other conditions, recieve from the front line staff in our hospitals, as it would seem that most are discharged to recover at home and that the mortality rate in hospitals is extremely low.
But as these figures and statistics are not made public, and are kept hidden by NPHET and the HSE, it’s impossible to say for certain.
One of those is my brother, 57, didn’t have it when admitted to hospital last month. Nowhere is safe.
Open the golf courses
By most estimates around 50,000 people in Ireland currently have C19, so around 4 percent end up in hospital and .4 percent end up in ICU, the median age of which is 85
@Anthony Sweeney: horror story stuff. Another way Climate change can cause more pandemics. Yet many will deny this in the same way they attacked yesterday’s story about habitat loss
have your say