IRELAND HAD ONE of the highest concentrations of Covid-19 deaths in Long Term Residential Care (LTRC) residents globally, with 66% of all Covid-19 deaths in the first waves of the pandemic linked to outbreaks in LTRC.

Ireland was second only to Australia (75%) in terms of the percentage of deaths from Covid-19 linked to LTRC, according to a study in the Journal of Long Term Care.

In total, there were over 8,500 confirmed Covid-19 cases among LTRC residents and over 2,100 deaths.

While international studies were divided on whether public or private care homes were more at risk for Covid-19 transmission, the study on Ireland concluded that the size of a home and the Covid rates in its community were the most significant factors.

The study estimated that larger LTRC homes were 2.5 times more likely to have a Covid-19 outbreak, while there was no difference in the probability of an outbreak was observed between public and private LTRC homes.

LTRC homes located in counties with the highest community rates of Covid-19 were seven times more likely to have an outbreak compared to LTRC homes located in counties with the lowest rates.

The study was based on all 572 LTRC homes registered with HIQA as designated centres for older people, who consistently provided care between March 2020 and March 2021.

 24.7% of residents who were confirmed to have Covid-19 died of the disease.

Data showed that there was a a large spike in deaths during Waves 1 (1 March 2020–1 August 2020) and 3 (22 November 2020–31 March 2021), but the beginning of the vaccination of LTRCs from January 2021 coincided with a sharp reduction in outbreaks.

Homes had an average of 23 cases each up to March 2021, with outbreaks lasting an average of 35 days.

The length of an outbreak was determined from the date of the first confirmed case to 14 days after the last confirmed Covid-19 case.

The study also found that there was an average of 1.5 outbreaks for each care home.

There were 1,315 Covid-19 cases among healthcare workers in the country’s 113 public LTRC homes and 4,777 cases in the 459 private homes.

International studies also found that higher nurse-resident ratios were shown to reduce spread of Covid-19 infection once it entered a facility.