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LAST UPDATE | 10 Jan 2021
HSE CHIEF PAUL Reid has said that capacity in private hospitals have begun to take urgent non-Covid care, as a “surge capacity” agreement was finalised over the weekend.
It comes as the number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 rose to 1,421 today – 136 further admissions since yesterday – with the 121 of that number in intensive care units (ICU).
Speaking to RTÉ’s This Week, Reid said: “Already this week, private hospitals are taking some urgent non-Covid care… We have in essence triggered those processes already.”
An agreement was finalised between the HSE and 15 private hospitals this weekend to provide additional capacity if necessary during the next 12 months.
Discussions are ongoing with the Beacon Hospital over the weekend, Reid said.
Reid said that by early this week there would likely be double the number of people with Covid-19 in hospital now than there was at the peak of of last year, when 881 Covid patients were hospitalised.
“Our health system is under increasing strain. The best support we can all now give, is to avoid getting sick with Covid. This will help to get us out the other side of this.”
Reid also told RTÉ Radio that the normal winter trolley surge has not been as severe as in previous years; there are 130 people on trolleys today, compared to over 400 people on the same day last year.
He said that some elective care have been paused, but that urgent care such as cancer or cardio care is continuing.
Yesterday, 1,285 people with Covid-19 were in hospital, of which 107 were in ICU. There were 116 further hospital admissions in the previous 24 hours.
Dr Colm Henry of the HSE said that the numbers haven’t peaked yet, saying that there are 37 available ICU beds at the moment – plus 11 paediatric beds.
There are a total of 286 ICU beds; a further 16 ICU beds are being brought in between this and next month. There are around seven nurses needed per ICU bed.
He said that they have lost capacity in hospitals due to some healthcare staff having to self-isolate or restrict their movements.
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has been increasing to the highest numbers since the pandemic began. The past few days have represented record high numbers of people being treated in Irish hospitals for Covid-19.
Due to the way the virus attacks, there can be a delay between the time when someone contracts Covid-19, and when they are admitted to hospital, as the disease can get progressively worse. Some people need to be hospitalised for weeks before they recover.
On Thursday, hospitalisation figures topped 1,000 for the first time during the pandemic. HSE CEO Paul Reid described it as a “sad milestone”.
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A friends wife’s father died in Oz – she went back with the baby after both had a negative test – isolation in a box room in a hotel for 2 weeks no exceptions- offered to isolate in family home with an electronic bracelet – no chance – now we hear that 54k people traveled to Ireland at Christmas with an “ any chance you might isolate for 14 days please “ utter madness
@Ger McCloskey: 54k people madness. the number of uk reg cars around me at xmas was ridiculous
@Ger McCloskey: now there’s more than one elephant in the room,how many more?54k allowed into the country in the middle of all this just beggars belief,talk about incompetence.
@Ger McCloskey: flights were sent to the UK to repatriate people by the gov. Did you see the queues in Heathrow
Is the government going to admit allowing 56k enter and leave Dublin airport over Christmas was complete madness?
@Elizabeth Dunne: It’s spread in the community, those flights had very little impact on the trajectory of the virus.
@Tomo: a UK variant had to get here somehow what a ridiculous statement
@Tomo: Yeah the English strain just swam across the channel and jumped into the first unlucky person it saw. Ridiculous comment
@Elizabeth Dunne: Maybe some of those people heading outbound were glad to get off the island before Ireland dropped the ball. Maybe they are safer where the ended up – Germany, France etc. We need to look at the mess in our own back yard first.
@Elizabeth Dunne: Are the people of this country going to admit that their cramming of the pubs, restaurants shops and the hundreds of thousands socialising/visiting other homes was complete madness ? We’ll never know for sure, but if those 56k had not entered the country over Christmas the reduction from the case numbers we are seeing now would barely be noticeable. We had 200/300 cases per day when we opened the shops, pubs and restaurants and allowed mixing of households. Sure, it was the Government who ultimately eased the restrictions but we were warned everyday by NPHET and health professionals what the consequences would be if we didn’t continue to protect ourselves and those around us. We called Holohan the Grinch and Dr Gloom and Doom and we chose not to listen. This is not the fault of anybody else but ourselves, me and you and our families and friends included.
@Elizabeth Dunne: Yet it was only present in maximum 25% of cases, and that was just a guess. And the border was open in the north.
Meanwhile the coffeeshops are left open and all you see is cars full of people meeting up for coffee. Don’t blame them though, blame the people who are in the worst situation that they have to take a flight in the middle of a pandemic.
@Tomo: the uk variant didn’t arrive in ireland inside a Christmas card.
@Tomo: pass no heed of the feedback your getting. Your dead right maybe people should move to North Korea, i hear they keep their airports closed and have no problem locking people up in boxes for a few weeks. The right to travel is a fundamental freedom but there’s no a accounting for wgat thick people will say and do.
@Tomo: what is your issue with the coffee shops? You keep posting about all these cars and crowds gathering at them, I have numerous coffee shops near by which I do go to and get a take away coffee and have never seen this, anyone I see going in are by themselves and only a few people around. Few people in cars drinking it but again on their own or a family….
@Niamh Brady: I’m back on PUP because the government banned click and collect. People queuing outside with little or no transaction time is deemed dangerous by the government. Nobody meets up to click and collect.
However, friends and relatives do meet up for coffee. And you have to queue inside. And there is a longer transaction time. Yet they’re allowed to stay open. If the government have evidence click and collect is dangerous, then they need to close the coffeeshops. Don’t know about your area, but there are just so many people who are clearly not from the same social circles meeting up for coffee.
I seriously don’t understand how coffee is more important than the local economy (click and collect). Now all those PUP’s are being spent on Amazon, et al.
@Niamh Brady: That is my problem Niamh.
@Tomo: I completely agree that click and collect is a ridiculous thing to ban but as I said I have not seen issue with coffee shops in my area at least.
@Niamh Brady: have never seen crowds around coffee shops most only let 4 in at a time for takeaway.
@Tomo: i live just outside Dublin city centre and do my food shopping in town. The overwhelming majority of coffee shops I pass serve from a window with the queue outdoors, the few where people order indoors they only allow one or two customers inside at a time. Stopping click n collect cuts down on people travelling outside their 5km radius whereas people tend to buy their coffees whilst out for their daily walk. Massive difference
@Niamh Brady: he’s trying to get them closed your trying to keep them open both if ye have an agenda ,
I agree with your one ☝️ ,
All it takes is enough who gets and they will be closed too
Why did we not build temporary field hospitals during the summer, we all know this is coming …
@michal heba: there’s one in city west as far as I know
@John O Neill: the one that some were saying was a waste of money last year? The one people claimed should be subject of an inquiry? Yeah that one. Could end up being pretty useful now …
@David Clements: ooops
@michal heba: btw did we all know this was coming in summer? When certain medical professionals said we should go for zero Covid? When there were about 20 cases a day and virtually zero deaths you knew that we would record 8000 cases in January and ICU would be filling up? You knew that? Aren’t ya a great lad
@michal heba: we can have as many field hospitals as we want. The problem is ICU beds. We have 200 in the country. They are also needed for people who come out of serious surgery. We don’t have enough trained nurses to run anymore than 200 of these beds.
When we eventually run out of them, which is not too far away, then the mortality rate will go though the roof
@John O Neill: indeed. It’s amazing to see people suggest things that not only have already been done, but also that the govt were lambasted for at the time…
@Jim Beatty: source for the 200 figure? I believe they can increase to 350. https://www.thejournal.ie/icu-capacity-5316578-Jan2021/
@David Clements: ok I did not know about the increase. However out of these 350, probably only 200 would be available to Covid patients
Also in normal circumstances, a patient is usually on a ICU bed for maybe 24/48 immediately after surgery. With Covid, a patient could be using the bed for a few weeks at a time
@Jim Beatty: ah yeah I understand. It’s just the figure I was questioning…
@David Clements: it wasn’t a suggestion, I think you might find it factual
@John O Neill: I was referring to the original post. I’m with you on this
@David Clements: Paul Reid today quoted in the Irish Times “He said there were at present 286 fully-staffed intensive care beds in place and 16 additional such beds will be put in place by early February”
@David Clements: actually not only was this surge predicted, although not the timing, the HSE had been warning of the probability of surges, NPHET predicting extent of surges as lockdowns were eased, and a number of virologist pointing out that historical analysis of pandemics shows these waves and methods to predict extent. Perhaps we should have listened to the experts
Just remember people, if and when this ‘crisis’ is finally over and dealt with, do you really think the government will finally upgrade and up skill our health system??
Never in a million years, always full of empty promises.
The health system can’t cope with the normal day to day activities!! ICU shortages, bed shortages, doctors/nurses shortages, waiting lists that go on for ever, the list goes on and on… The government are acting like they care, but do they really?? They don’t, and our health system is a prime example of that… 4.9m people on our island and a few hundred ICU beds for everyone!!!
Ireland has a history of throwing money at problems in this country but never where it’s actually needed..
Hopefully once we get past the 14th figures will dramatically drop .come February restrictions start to be lifted.
This is me being positive!!!
Either that or I’m buying a extra duvet to hide under.
Concerning situation on hospitalizations. To be expected given the known seasonality of Coronaviruses where transmission peak months are December and January. This was confirmed by a public health expert on Primetime during the week. Good news however that positivity rate seems to be on the way down slowly as we move through January. Time however we uplevel the conversation to include an appropriate cost benefit analysis of the impact of lockdowns. Its clearer its a failing strategy globally. Eminent Epidimiolologists like Dr Jay Bhattacharya have been giving some much needed perspective to the monotone narrative we are unfortunately subjected to – https://youtu.be/-ESXdVbIhmg
@Toon Army: cost benefit….cost up a life there will you? How much is someone’s life worth to you for your analysis?
@Toon Army: Dr Jay and his comrades live cuckoo land if they believe we can successfully isolate all the vulnerable from the rest of society. First of all it would fail and secondly to achieve it would be a fate many in that group would have felt worse than death. Luckily Dr Jay is in the minority and the majority see the naivety of his thinking. Lockdowns are difficult but they save lives. Your own attempt at pushing ‘monotone agenda’ wasn’t as subtle as you thought.
@Toon Army: lockdown is the only real weapon European governments have . Because we just won’t follow government guidelines.
@just me: just a general FYI, cost benefit versus life happens every day e.g. Cancer treatments etc
@Phelim Ryan: Lockdowns destroy jobs, business and economic opportunity.
30 – 40% of all small businesses in lockdown areas will be gone-forever.
No government should determine who is “essential” and who is not.
No government should destroy peoples’ right to work or own and grow a business. Just look at Taiwan’s impressive success battling the coronavirus it has been largely attributed to early and strict border controls, a ban on foreign visitors and mandatory quarantine for all Taiwanese returning home.
The island’s 23 million people have also proactively been wearing face masks, even before they were required to do so.
And the protective measures have not only helped to keep the virus in check but also have driven down cases of the regular flu and has reduced cases of stomach flu by 90%.
@Realist: I am well aware of how that is played out and how a cost benefit analysis works. However-this isn’t will we buy X drug to save 20 people when we could buy Y to save 200. The usability of a cost benefit analysis does not apply to an over run health system where every person who needs care can’t access it due to the system being over run by an illness.
@artur filip: government is supporting business and people unemployed with pup. I don’t know one business gone bust and people are spending money like never before. None of that business will go broke nonsense.
@just me: In other words if certain cancers go undetected because of lack of diagnosis due to Covid fears? And this is just one drop in the ocean. Yes, there is a big cost to all these lives and the evidence is mounting that this will be greater than Covid in terms of overall years of lives lost.
@Phelim Ryan: For now I accept the likes of Dr Bhattacharya are the minority (although thousands of Epidimiolologists – many much more qualified than our friends in NPHET back his view of a more focused protection approach of the vulnerable) but history will tell in the long run.
@John Pog: Well that’s what we are led to believe alright. Yet we operate a ‘lockdown lite’ policy when it comes to international travel.
@artur filip: If only the Irish people were as selfless as the Taiwanese. Unfortunately we have a large cohort here that would have made that option impossible. Therefore we have to use the sledgehammer approach. Interestingly Irish people are €25 billion better off since the beginning of the pandemic. The supposed economic collapse is overplayed. Some local businesses are actually benifitting from people staying in their locality.
Hopefully the measures in place will reduce all hospitalisations
Is it accurate that Ireland at this time has only administered the vaccine to 15,314 people? And it’s a strictly 9-5 operation inline with HSE employee contracts?
According to the visualiser site.
Can this be true when you look at the likes of Portugal on 70,000 ????
Why in Gods name is it so slow when they had months to prepare for this? Why have we the most inefficient health service and politicians when they are paid among the highest?
@Joe: There were 5 or 6 nursing homes on the vaccination list for yesterday, as per RTE radio 1. More likley the data your looking at isn’t updated outside office hours, like the HSPC reports that are now Monday to Friday.
@Joe: It is very slow but there were vaccinations in both hospitals and nursing homes yesterday and today.
@Joe: early on, when it looked like the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine would be the first to be authorised, we preordered large volumes of it so once it comes on stream we’ll see a massive increase in the numbers vaccinated daily.
If you know someone that travelled from Sth Africa recently can you give them a shout and tell them the Irish government and health authorities are trying to catch up with them,cheers.
@joe oneill: Do you know why the Government can’t just contact the Airlines and get lists of passengers who flew from South Africa to Ireland ? They can’t because there are no direct flights between South Africa and Ireland. Those travelling from South Africa would have arrived on a connecting flight from another country, most likely UK, France or the Netherlands but potentially from anywhere. All they can do is appeal to people’s common sense and ask them to quarantine. Human nature being what it is, this is not a ideal situation but if you have a better plan give the HSE a buzz.
@Tommy Roche: They could require the airlines to gather the information from passengers as to from where they took their first flight.
I wonder how many of those have winter flu and could have stayed at home instead of taking up beds for the really seriously ill?
@Paul: if they’re in hospital they’re seriously ill. You can’t just walk into a hospital and say, “I have Covid, any chance of a bed!”
@Paul: people aren’t admitted to hospital unless their symptoms dictate it and nor would they be included in Covid numbers if they didn’t test positive.
@Paul: zero because influenza and sars-cov-2 are completely different viruses
@Paul: a lot of them,
@Paul: instead of wondering, do some research, u may find out that covid and flu are a completely different virus and u might also find that flu has been practically non existent this year. So perhaps stop looking for excuses or reasons and stay indoors
@Michael Maher: can you provide evidence of this.
@barry moore: Can you prove there is no flu , how it has done a miraculous disappearing,
@Paul: 0 positive results for influenza from 2252 tests in week 52 and 53. 558 from sentinal GP’S and 1694 from non sentinal sources, including hospitals. 0 notifications of flu since week 40. But interestingly consultation rates for flu are above the baseline and still no positive results.
@Michael Maher: im not the one making a ridiculous claim. I never mentioned the flu. You made the claim that we have loads of people in our hospitals that shouldn’t be so its up to you to back up your claim.
@Paul: None of them have the flu.
@Michael Maher: no one really knows why it’s vastly reduced this year .. Increased vaccinations, people who would normally die of it are already dead, social distancing etc. are some theories.
But vastly reduced it is
Unless you’re suggesting there’s some huge global conspiracy in operation?
@NotMyIreland: Useful stats for the majority of people but simply won’t convince those who believe this ‘Its the flu” tripe. Did you see the comment the other day from the guy who seen the ad for Lemsip Cold and Flu and took it as proof flu is still around and that the makers of Lemsip seem to know something we don’t ? Probably the funniest one I’ve seen yet.
@Michael Maher: there was a large flu vaccine roll out in October
@Tommy Roche: I didn’t see that. It doesn’t surprise me though. Some people seem to be unable to accept reality and turn to these conspiracy theories to help them feel they have a greater understanding that helps replace the anxiety of that which is unknown or not understood. Religion used to fulfill this for most, it seems now its replaced by internet conspiracy theories.
@John Pog: Loads of reasons. Flu is harder to transmit from person to person than Covid. As you say, many people are vaccinated (think the last figure I seen was around 1.3million), plus many people could be naturally immune from a particular flu variant if they have been infected in recent years. No-one is immune from Covid. Social distancing, mask wearing etc also contributed. Interesting fact about flu immunity. During the swine flu pandemic a ,decade or so ago, is was noted that older people were impacted much less than had been expected. Later studies showed that a lot of older people (60yrs+) had antibodies which protected them. Seems the 2009 swine flu was closely related to the 1918/1920 Spanish Flu and variants of it that continued over the following 20/30yrs, and many who were infected back then may have had lifelong immunity from those or closely related variants.
@barry moore: How is it ridiculous ,I answered a comment that mentioned flu. And another thing is I would everything that the HSE or Irish government say at face value. Telling the truth is something they never mastered.
@Tommy Roche: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-flu-immunity/study-explains-immunity-to-h1n1-in-older-people-idUSTRE59D5QF20091014
@Michael Maher: hospital staff don’t admit people for the fun of it. Ridiculous to think otherwise. You dislike the hse but I bet if you were sick you would be happy to look to them for treatment. How to you know they aren’t telling the truth about the current hospital numbers? Have you evidence they aren’t or is it just a conspiracy theory.
@Michael Maher: no flu because of vaccines and anti-Covid measures everywhere, especially where it originates annually.
Coupled with next to no flights in comparison to any other year.
But you stick to your theory if its easier for you to process.
Stop reading Reddit and start reading medical journals.
playing bingo with the numbers
@John O Brien: have you evidence of this or is it just your uneducated opinion.
@barry moore: yes i seen them with the balls
@barry moore: He is most likely better educated than you . The only argument you can make is to try slagging people with a different view from your own.
@barry moore: yes seen them with the bingo machine
Co.Hospital in the Town of Monaghan not being used to full capacity, why ?
@Packie Hughes: not enough staff would be the main problem.
I thought no cases of flu had been detected yet he is saying 140 people are in hospital with it, who’s right and who’s wrong?
@Sommer Church: where did he say that?
@NotMyIreland: it’s been edited! When the story /report was first put up, it quoted as saying there were 140 patients with flu in hospital atm! Must of been a typo????
@Sommer Church: yeah must have been
Why aren’t churches opened up for medical use?
@011Y: Holy Communion won’t protect you.
@011Y: they’re not sterile? And where would the staff come from?
@011Y: Unfortunately the issue isn’t a lack of space, it’s a lack of staff.
Travel, travel, travel and travel
Virus Quiz.
1. If 1 person has the virus on day1.
2. If it grows exponentially each day at the rate of e (Euler’s Number 2.718281828).
3. How many days to infect 1 Million people .. if left unchecked?
Answer ?? days
The number ‘e’ is everywhere https://youtu.be/b-MZumdfbt8
playing bingo again with the numbers
@Neuville-Kepler62F: This is a good video about epidemics too…
have your say