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Diarmuid Pepper reports from Creeslough:
AS THE COMMUNITY reels from an unthinkable tragedy, throughout the day locals in Creeslough have been doing whatever they can to help each other out and support the ongoing emergency response.
Ten people – adults, teenagers, and a young girl aged just five – lost their lives following yesterday’s blast.
Dozens of emergency workers from across the county and futher afield worked through the night to recover the dead and injured.
The search and recovery effort at the devastated apartment block at the Applegreen service station has since been scaled back as there are no other people still unaccounted for.
Senior politicians, including the Taoiseach, have begun to arrive and are expected to attend a service this evening alongside grieving locals.
Speaking earlier, Micheál Martin said the government would do everything possible to help the community get through this “enormous trauma”.
Around a kilometre from the site this evening – watching the scene before the Taoiseach’s arrival – you got a sense of the ‘Donegal spirit’ that locals say is needed now more than ever.
Men in hi-vis jackets patrolled the narrow routes that traffic has been diverted along, in order to allow the emergency services to carry out their tasks. The local volunteers raised a friendly hand as they directed the public and the media.
At the cordon, which is set back around 80 metres from the explosion, there was a sombre silence as locals try to get their heads around the scale of the tragedy.
Two of the victims were teenagers. Earlier this afternoon a handful of teenagers at the cordon wept as they were consoled by friends and family.
Shattered glass was scattered in the street in front of a house close to the explosion – its windows smashed by the impact of the blast.
Some of the emergency crew were clearing up the shards earlier today while the homeowners sat against the window ledge, in a state of shock.
Girls in their late teens handed out teas and coffees to the emergency services and members of the public along the cordon.
“Look at that, they’ve been doing that all day,” remarked a guard. “That’s the Donegal spirit.”
At a press conference in nearby Milford later on, Superintendent David Kelly said it was “a tragedy for our community”.
All the victims were from the locality, he confirmed. “Forgive me if I get a bit emotional,” he told reporters at one point, before explaining that while a probe was ongoing the blast was being treated as a tragic accident.
Back at Creeslough this evening emergency crews involved in the response trudged forlornly from the site of the wreckage to the nearby Coffee Pod.
Usually a hub for tourists staying in nearby glamping pods, it now serves as an impromptu hub for the emergency crews.
Its owner leaves bottles of water on a table outside for the crew, and also comes out periodically with staff to hand out sandwiches and teas and coffees.
Father John Joe Duffy of the Diocese of Raphoe labelled the response to the tragedy as the “national spirit” – noting how crews came from over the border in Derry and Belfast yesterday to help late into the evening and overnight.
At the press conference in Milford, this all-island response was noted several times and emergency crews in the North were thanked for their assistance.
The latest Garda statement, issued just before 6pm tonight, confirmed that the search operation at the scene had now ended. Eight people remain in hospital as of this evening.
Post-mortems will take place in the coming days, and the community will have to observe multiple funerals as the week progresses.
Sinn Féin Donegal TD Pearse Doherty, who was also at the scene in Creeslough and was among those to greet the Taoiseach, said the close knit community had been turned “upside down”.
“The village here has less than 400 people. People know each other and know the people who are involved,” he told The Journal.
The explosion, he said, “not only ripped the heart out of this building, but ripped the heart out of this community”.
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I don’t think Tony is too happy being called out on his fake stats.
@DK: The stats weren’t fake, he said that on Dec 31st, so his stats related to the end of December, when Delta was still dominant in hospitals. It’s now out of date.
https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/pages/hospitals-icu–testing
Click the Positive Rate (%) Previous 7 Days.
@DK: or you could have a land yourself if they have been giving the correct numbers for those being treated for CoViD-19 and the numbers of Carriers of SARS-COV-2 but not being treated was much higher and being included in the daily case,numbers
@Joe_X: sorry, must correct myself: ….being included in the daily case numbers when they were found originally, and only as hospital cases if they developed covid.
@David Jordan: If you believe that I have some magic beans to sell you. No way its 25% – 30% of cases now either. If they’re admitting that you know the real amount is at least 35% – 40%.
@David Jordan: Hang on. It was only last week that we we’re told (I.e. reported in media) that people in hospital for other reasons but with covid was only 5%. Questions have been asked for clarity on this figure for ages, and anyone asking were called “Tin-foil hatters”. Now it’s 30%, it does cast some doubt on what is being reported in the media. Clarity, from a single source should actually be a legal requirement from official sources.
@Alan Wright: That percentage could have changed very quickly. We’ve seen how much more contagious Omicron is, so if it took hold in hospitals the number of people who caught it in hospital has probably rocketed in the last few weeks.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: ‘Could’ and ‘probably’ are the type of words we’ve been hearing from Government and NPHET as they appear fearful to actually collect and release real information. It is the information age we live in and they are more akin to the cloak & dagger tactics of the CIA or KGB. These figures have only been released because people have been pushing for this data for ages now.
@Alan Wright: “The data is fake I want real data” More data is given as the scenario progresses which is more amicable to your view. “This data is also fake I want real data”. Do you just want the data to match your pre-existing views or are you willing to change your views to match the data?
@Alan Wright: “It was only last week”
2 Weeks ago. Friday Dec 31st is when he made the statement, the stats would refer to the previous week, now two weeks ago.
@David Jordan: the problem was his language wasn’t clear. He said asymptomatic non infectious, so people who had probably more or less recovered from covid but were still getting treatment even though they were no longer infectious. What everyone in the media thought he meant was that only 95% of people were admitted with covid and only 5% were incidental. His use of the word incidental was erroneous based on most people’s definition of the word.
@Joe_X: So you will defend even this?
@Anthony Guinnessy: will you if you are wrong? By asking that question, you went on the defensive very fast. If I was wrong, so be it. I’ll admit it. Don’t think I am though. If you think there are only 1055 people (using today’s figures) in hospital testing positive for SARS-COV-2, your a tad overly optimistic.
Hopefully this argument will once and for all be put to rest for both sides. We will see the true number of people in hospital carrying the virus SARS-COV-2 and how many being treated for CoViD-19.
@Joe_X: I’ve never understood why there is an argument here, in both instances the patient has Covid.
@Joe_X: Yes. But has anyone the answer to the question about whether the 83 dates this week (RIP. This is a terrible time) were from omicron or delta? I apologise and plead ignorance here as we have omicron in our house. We’re miserable with it but it certainly doesn’t feel like something life threatening.
@Vonvonic: deaths
@Joe_X: which also should have anyways been the number reported
@Football in the Groin: yes, but the disagreement is in the terminology used. Today they reported 1055 in hospital with Covid. To me and others, that is 1055 in hospital being treated for Covid. After all, with the numbers of the last week, if people think that there are only 1055 people are in hospital carrying the virus, they are very optimistic. To more though, it could mean that 1054 people in hospital tested and found positive but not being treated, and only one being treated or anywhere in between the 2 stances, but that is downplaying the seriousness of the disease and that argument was being used to undermine the restrictions. But 1055 people being treated is a bit more serious than only 1 person being treated for the disease and 1054 in for a broken leg and carrying the virus.
@Vonvonic: That would be interesting to know, hopefully we will get that information too.
@Go On: I agree. They could have saved a whole lot of trouble had they given both numbers.
@Joe_X: So much for wishful thinking. Already down along this comments thread there are already suggestions kf how those numbers will be be “massaged”. No matter what the truth is there will be those who prefer the conspiracy theories.
@Joe_X: Probably not so simple. Let’s say I go into a hospital with a heart complaint, no Covid. If I catch Covid in hospital and it makes my condition worse, am I in hospital with Covid or not?
@Football in the Groin: because if its not serious enough to put someone in hospital then they are unlikely to require icu beds and unlikely to die so it is a measure of how severe the virus is on the population. Giving out irrelevant information about someone having covid but in hospital for something else you may as well say how many had covid and live in a two story house. Its irrelevant apart from hospital management.
@Anthony Guinnessy: there is no such thing a irrelevent information. The more the better. Just a pity ye keep calling it scaremongering instead of seeing what it truly is: plain information.
@Football in the Groin: when someone is admitted …say with a broken leg… and after a routine swab COVID is confirmed … they are admitted with COVID, but presenting complaint is actually the leg, COVID isn’t causing illness for them.
However if another patient is hospitalised because of COVID symptoms that require treatment then they are admitted for COVID.
Big difference.
If we don’t get back to normal by the end of this month we never will…
@Vincent Bickerstaffe: What an arbitrary deadline you’ve set. Thankfully the world will continue on regardless
shout out to conor riocht on twitter for pushing for these stats to be publicized, would be great to see him return, his posts were very informative.
@kmobrien: given he was an extremely pro-FG Pfizer exec, I won’t be eagerly awaiting his return. There’s plenty of places to find the same data without any personal bias.
@Mo: If you had followed him at all you would know he wasn’t etremely pro FG. More of a Greens follower. His mistake was he came out against SF and the SF twitter bots ganged up on him.
I wonder how many of those 25-30% contracted covid after admittance?
Whatever the figure is, you can be sure the numbers will be massaged to protect the HSE.
Well done big T, following the CDC’s revealing in the US. Pity they didn’t say anything last January or anytime in 2020. The truth shall set you free.
@John Egan: be careful what you wish for….might bite you on the a$$
@Joe_X: if they had worse figures they would be headlined long ago, have you been hiding under your bed for the whole project fear propaganda? You expect people to trust the numbers coming out won’t be couched in such a way to protect the cmo, government and hse even though we wouldn’t have this info were it not for it being pushed for internationally and being made available internationally.
We’re still waiting for a proper breakdown of those that died because of covid or with covid. And yes it does matter, these people that have passed away should not be used as pawns.
@Anthony Guinnessy: oh yes andy, you have gone on the defensive alright. Scared of the truth now I see, gone for the attack the commenter tack, instead of debating it. I was essential services, and like thousands others I never locked down. Now seeing as we do not see you before midnight Irish time any night, I’m guessing you are in foreign climes so we will forgive you that for not knowing what essential services is! What worse figures? If some one is in hospital for something else and tests positive for the virus, they are not a hospitalization for covid, which is what they report on. They get added to the daily figures. I know I’m bad at proof reading my comments for spelling, you need to read what you comment before you put it up.
I rest my case. 2 weeks ago I was being having a go at for asking the same question. To the persons who shot me down, right back at ya.
@Cormac McCann: and using today’s figures as an example, if they come back and confirm 1055 people are being treated for covid, and another 1000 are in hospital for other reasons other than covid and tested positive for the virus, but not treated for it, will you accept it?
@Joe_X: what are you on about Joe? You do love to have the negative vibe going at every turn. I asked a simple question that day and was shot down for my asking. What you are asking me to accept now don’t make sense. The numbers are the numbers. I will accept the genuine numbers. Not massaged ones.
So that means that 30% of the wider population have it, unless the incidentals are affected by covid in some way or they got it in hospital.
@john smith iv: In the week to 5 January 2022: “Given the 7-day cumulative incidence of 2,876 per 100,000, allowing for constraints on testing and undetected infections, the likely population prevalence of active SARS-CoV-2 infection is 5.7%- 9.6%; between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 of the population are likely to be infected,” Holohan says.
Rates have increased since and seem to have almost peaked, so rates outside hospital could be 10 – 15% right now. We’re absolutely riddled, but I don’t think we’re 30%. So some cases must be hospital acquired. Look at the Positive Rate (%) Previous 7 Days tab:
https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/pages/hospitals-icu–testing
“identified the need to get a “much more detailed understanding” of the hospitalisation data available. “
Well no s__t Sherlock… only a couple of years in, better late than never I suppose.
Sure what importance would the accuracy of data or the clarity of the ‘definitions’ of data, be to the modeling from data, the generation of data and following analysis and interpretation of data in any situation. .
In all systems, garbage in = garbage out.
All hail the data….. and those that have been asking the same question for a long time now.
@Da Dell: I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking it, 2 years in and now they decide to understand the numbers.
Probably explains a lot of why nphet models had such wide variance to them. Models? More like lick your finger, stick it in the air and see what way the wind is blowing then make up some numbers wide enough that what happens will fall into one of the bands.
Looking for granular detail, trust lost in NPHET advice? Revenue data analysts might be able to tidy up and present it properly.
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