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PUBLIC HEALTH DOCTORS have urged people living in the mid-west region to “remain outdoors and avoid indoor gatherings” as “the number of infections in the community remains too high for the population to relax efforts to contain the spread of this virus”.
The advisory from the Department of Public Health Mid-West said people living in Limerick, Clare and north Tipperary should “continue exercising caution” after 440 Covid-19 cases were identified in the region in the past 14 days.
The majority of these cases were recorded in Limerick (331), Clare, (80), and north Tipperary (29).
The department said it is containing to encounter “difficulties throughout the contact tracing process, where some people are not fully disclosing their close contacts or activities”.
“This limits the ability to implement public health control measures. We also encounter instances where some people are not restricting their movements while awaiting the results of their PCR test. This can and will lead to onward transmission and outbreaks,” it warned.
“People who are close contacts should restrict their movements until they have a negative test (COVID not detected) which was taken at least 10 days after their last contact with a case.”
Dr Rose Fitzgerald, specialist in Public Health Medicine, argued that “though we are in a much stronger position now than we were four weeks ago, we remain concerned about the possibility of cases rising to uncomfortable levels if the public drops its guard”.
“Our priority right now is to minimise infections in the community, to help businesses avoid outbreaks or clusters so there is little to no disruption during the busy summer period and to allow a greater proportion of the population to be vaccinated,” she said.
The two-week incidence rate has decreased since the start of June.
However, the department noted this week marks the end of the Leaving Certificate examinations and that it had already recorded a “very small number of cases among Leaving Cert students since examinations started”.
“We continue to encourage young people to enjoy their summer recess safely and to adhere to Public Health guidelines,” it advised.
“Our department remains busy managing COVID-19 in workplaces in Limerick and Clare. We are currently investigating COVID-19 situations in 11 workplaces, involving 94 cases and an estimated 52 close contacts.”
It has seen “noticeable improvements in workplace measures that are evidently reducing the impact of COVID-19” through businesses implementing “pod systems and adequately rostering staff, in addition to social distancing, mask wearing and ventilation”.
The Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy today wrote to parishes to advise them to defer communion and confirmation ceremonies until further notice following an email from the Taoiseach’s department and public health advice.
In a letter, Leahy said: “Due to the uncertainty at the moment regarding the impact of the Delta variant, we have been strongly advised that no ceremonies should be rescheduled until public health advice allows.”
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said yesterday that communions and confirmations are “off, unfortunately”.
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Is it ok to go in and sleep at night or better to pitch a tent?
@Shelly Levine: Sleeping is not advised.
@Shelly Levine: It doesn’t really matter so long as you don’t relax…
@William Tallon: and remember to be vigilant- and be AFRAID!!
@EvieXVI: ‘Be afraid, very afraid…’ quote from ‘The Fly’ (1986)
@EvieXVI: Is that a quote from Nemesis, or a film?
@Shelly Levine: Hilarious love it:)
@Shelly Levine: Is a tent technically outdoors?? Better to sleep on the ground somewhere you can see the stars!
I’m getting tired of this……. restrictions to flatten the curve – curve flattened.
Lockdown to reduce ICU and hospital numbers – ICU numbers and hospital admissions reduced.
Restrictions now not being lifted for what? To prevent farther spread? In an industry that hasn’t been opened in almost a year and a half.
If the goal posts keep being moved how the he’ll are we expected to score and reach our target.
It seems the better we do, the higher the target bar gets raised.
@Padhraic McLaughlin: it’s a pandemic its not controlled by man people really are unbelievable
@Padhraic McLaughlin: We’re all getting tired of this. But most of us understand the science.
@Martin O Donnell: The concern with this was the high mortality rate compared to run in the mill things like the flu and the effect it would have on hospitals… Thats is no longer and issue for our country because of the vaccination roll out. High risk are pretty much done. With lesser symptoms now for the majority of the population this is now similar to a highly transmissible flu. Not the monster it once was before in previous waves….. UK is showing even with high daily cases of the delta variant the hospital cases and deaths remain relatively low compared to similar waves at the same point in daily cases. We cant stay locked up, we’ve reached a tipping point where we could let the virus run, keep vaccinating, reach herd immunity faster through a hybrid of vaccinations and infections.
@Martin O Donnell: It absolutely can be ‘controlled by man’. We have been controlling it. We are controlling it. We had lockdowns, now we have vaccines, and capacity to treat patients. With these, the need for for restrictions is much lower. QED.
@EvieXVI: QED? Nowhere near it.
@Martin O Donnell: It spread rapidly due to human behaviour and became a pandemic. Humans can control their behaviour and therefore the spread can be controlled. We have changed our behaviour in order to do just this so it is effectively controlled by man…
@Sean O’Doherty: Just a pity NPHET don’t……AZ and Janssen for example.
China should be sued for $50Trillion.
@edward: that’s coming down the tracks later.
I’ve almost reached the stage where I just don’t care anymore. Richard/Limerick
@Richard Ahern: that is very helpful .
Shambles
@Robert Clifford: what, exactly, is a shambles. Please share your full analysis,.
@Sean O’Doherty: it’s a place in ankh-morpork where the mended drum is I believe.
@Sean O’Doherty: the fact that we are down to less than 1 COVID death per day with very high vaccination rates and the Government are still terrified of opening anything. The fact that young people are again baring the brunt of this. The fact that they re-opened when they shouldn’t and are now pausing everything when they should be a bit braver. That’s the shambles.
@Sean O’Doherty: Question mark Sean. Question mark.
@Robert Clifford: Clever, Robert, very clever. But it still doesn’t answer the question.
They’ll be grand until the weather breaks….
We really need the COVID app back working I had no idea numbers are still so high in limerick . We all need to know this information and it can’t be impossible to have the app back up at this stage . This information is so important as half the country takes to the road since we are all staying put . We need numbers learning needs to be shared to be of value . Sharing the numbers between just the public health will not change or adapt behaviour if hot spots occurring . We really really need the daily county figures available as if public have to behave well having up to date reasons why vital .
@Mary O Dwyer: It’s been published alot that limerick has big numbers and we know what’s driving the cases in limerick.
have your say