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A FURTHER 1,078 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has said this evening.
In a statement, it said that a further 66 people confirmed to have Covid-19 have died, 41 of whom died in February.
Eight died in January, seven in December, and nine in November or earlier. The date of one of the deaths is still under investigation.
The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland is 3,931, and the total number of confirmed cases is now at 208,796.
Of the cases notified today:
At 8am today, 898 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 171 were in ICU.
44 additional hospitalisations have been made in the last 24 hours.
The national 14-day incidence rate currently stands at 286.8 per 100,000 people.
The rate is highest in Monaghan at 526.2 per 100,000, where 15 new cases have been confirmed today, followed by Dublin with a rate of 376.8 and 433 new cases.
Only two counties – Dublin and Galway, with 139 new cases – reported more than 100 cases in today’s figures.
Validation of data at the Health Protection Surveillance Centre led to the denotification of two cases that were previously confirmed, which is reflected in the current running total of 208,796.
As of 10 February, 256,691 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 have been administered in Ireland, including 166,863 people who have received their first dose and 89,818 who have received their second dose.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn asked that “if you have any symptoms suggestive of Covid-19, such as cough, fever, shortness of breath or a change in your sense of smell or taste, self-isolate (stay in your room) immediately and phone your GP without delay”.
“If you are in any doubt about any symptoms you have, you should always contact your GP. Your test and GP assessment will be free of charge,” Dr Glynn said.
“If you don’t have a GP, any GP can arrange a test for you,” he said.
“The best way to protect ourselves and our vulnerable loved ones from serious illness as a result of Covid-19 infection is to continue taking the actions we know can effectively supress this virus. Keep physical distance from others, wash hands regularly, avoid crowds and wear face coverings that are fitted correctly.”
The vaccination of people aged 85 and over is set to begin from Monday in GP surgeries and dedicated centres.
It’s expected it will take a number of weeks for everyone in this age cohort to receive their first vaccine dose.
Additional reporting by Lauren Boland
No end in sight. Is lockdown even working.
@John brett: If we weren’t in lock-down it would be considerably worse.
@John brett: You’ve got to look at the 14-day incidence, the infection-numbers continue to decline over that period. Also hospitalisation and ICU numbers declining as well.
@John brett: lockdown? There is no lockdown from what I can see. Still loads of cars on the road and people moving about. When we had a lockdown back in March April of last year I couldn’t go 10 miles without a Garda checkpoint and hardly any traffic so no lockdown IMO .
@John brett: There were 55 deaths and 827 new cases last Saturday, so this is an increase. We may have to vaccinate our way out of this if numbers don’t fall, but that’s delayed.
@John brett: it’s a good indicator that plenty are acting the boll ox. So we’ll all be punished.
@John brett: why would it be and people are still climbing over each other in shops. Ffs it’s not hard to keep 2ms apart.
@paul mccoy: I had to go into Dublin City Centre today on a medication collection. There was nobody in the city, it was empty.
@David Jordan: Deaths will rise and fall for the next month at least, from the Christmas fiasco. Some people will live longer before losing their fight.
Infections are up as they are back to testing close contacts, which they had to stop as they were overloaded from Christmas.
Most of the numbers are going the right way and the others will follow.
@paul mccoy: Nail on the head Paul. This lockdown has been too soft, nothing like original one last year. And because of it we’re now seeing cases settle at a rate that is too high to even start considering lifting restrictions (was 200-300 a day before we opened up for our meaningful Christmas). Vaccines are our only hope out of this and EU procurement strategy has stung us. I’m praying J&J single dose gets green light and they can move that out quickly.
@paul mccoy: what planet are you on? Ask that question to the 800k or so people currently on PUP or employer being subsidised for them as their business is way down on this time last year.
@John brett: it doesn’t seem to be working..We will remain in lockdown till the vaccine program is done this is what Tony holohan says who is not a infectious disease person.
@John brett: No ‘lockdown’ but rather restrictions at various levels since the start, depending on current risk/numbers. No, not as much as we’d hope for, so they are either not tight enough or too many are no adhering to them. Restrictions do, can and will work but it depends on how they are applied. That said, without them, the situation would be much, much worse, of course.
@Dave O’Shaughnessy: True but we also need to recognise that the more transmissible UK strain is now the dominant strain and that is why the numbers are increasing or staying stable
@John brett: didn’t they start testing asymptomatic contacts again recently? That might explain the apparent flatlining?
@Stephen Foster: so we have to stay in lockdown forever even though its not working
@Kieran: like I said IMO .
@Gary Kearney: yeah because there’s no reason to go in, But check out the suburbs or any reasonably sized town
@John brett: no
@John brett: Firstly, RIP….Absolutely awful on the poor familes. Considering we’ve gone from 8k to to 1k cases yes, lockdowns slowly working as strains contagious and close contacts now getting tested again. Why did I just explain that all? Surely you’re aware.
@John brett: read the age profile again , and the hospitalization rate … Young people getting it, ( and spreading it ) but not giving it to their grandparents….
That’s a win
@paul mccoy: There is no lockdown?? Just because you see more cars on the road? Tell that to the thousands of business owners that might never open up again. The people who are struggling badly to live of the pandemic payment or the people that are crippled with loneliness and mental health issues.
@John brett: lots of people do not care
@David Jordan: David, I am looking the hub stats for tests and positives as published each day and last Saturday there was an under reporting of 249 cases compared to the positive tests and today there was an over reporting of 69 cases when compared to the published test results….
~
06/02 – 19497 – 1076 – 5.5% positive -249 ( 827)*
13/02 – 16414 – 1009 – 6.1% positive +69 (1078)
https://covid-19.geohive.ie/datasets/f6d6332820ca466999dbd852f6ad4d5a_0/data?page=33
I do note that these figures do get updated a small amount a few days in arrears and also that this data does not take into account any validation, However it critical not to get hung up on “high” and “low” daily figures after validation as this can give a false impressions
Below are the figures for the last week…. the figure in brackets is the ones reported in the news and the plus or minus is the difference between the 11am test report and the figures provided that evening
06/02 – 19248 – 1074 – 5.5% positive -247 ( 827)*
07/02 – 15377 – 956 – 6.2% positive +68 (1024)
08/02 – 12697 – 780 – 6.1% positive +49 ( 829)
09/02 – 15126 – 816 – 5.3% positive -260 ( 556)
10/02 – 18213 – 1096 – 6.0% positiv3 -90 (1006)
11/02 – 17207 – 861 – 4.9% positive +6 ( 866)
12/02 – 18841 – 986 – 5.2% positive -65 ( 921)
13/02 – 16414 – 1009 – 6.1% positove +69 (1078)
I have never managed to fully reconcile the hub stats positive cases compared to the new confirmed cases and I can understand that some tests are run twice and that some data validation does take place. This should mean that we could have more positive test results than validated new cases. However we should never have more new cases than positive tests unless the validated cases cover some cases from the previous day or some cases post 11am on the day of the report and included in the follow days statistics.
I do not believe in any conspiracy regarding the numbers, just that a delay validating some cases skew the numbers when comparing one day with the next.
@Dave O’Shaughnessy: 16,000 people arrived into the country in the past 14 days, they can’t all be free of covid.
@John brett: There’ll be vaccines along any day now. Just wait and see. They’re on their way, if not this month, then maybe the next month of the one after that. The Government has a pinky promise from the boss man in Brussels that we’ll be in there just as soon as it’s possible, in the very near future. No need to go looking for vaccines, like most countries. We’re in there with the big boys.
@John brett: no lockdown is not working a year been lockdown and thats all they can come up with lock them up
Seems to be stuck at around 1000. Where are people picking it up?
@Colleen: everywhere. A lot of people ignoring level 5 restrictions
@Colleen: there was a breakout among students at NUIG. That’s just one cluster I’ve heard of.
@Colleen: Ask the overseas holid makers .
@Bernie Mcgarry: Ya because everyone that’s been overseas is riddled with Covid and going around licking people so they can spread it as much as possible. What a cl*0wn
@Bernie Mcgarry: well we can’t ask them if they are overseas csn we?
@Mattress Dick: you’ve hit the nail on the head. If these people don’t comply with the guidelines we’ll be kept in lockdown much longer. These people need to cop-on!
@Mattress Dick: especially cyclist and runners
@Bernie Mcgarry: haha…. I didn’t notice you on here before. I’m sick of this lockdown.
@Colleen: about 70% of cases are the UK variant, and as it is more transmissible it takes a shorter exposure over a greater distance to be exposed to the same viral load as the original variants. Hence, for the same adherence to the same restriction levels a higher level of cases a greater number of infections would occur.
@Colleen: I agree…where are they picking it up, if everyone is following the guidelines
@Colleen: The hospitals
@Colleen: it’s the people coming back from cheltenham
@Colleen: Apparently Supermarkets are where people are picking it up now.
@Fi Wyse: close the supermarkets. open the pubs !
@Colleen: wait till after the weekend been valentines plenty of hotels allowing couples to masquerade as essential workers and stay over for food etc.
@Colleen: Tenerife
@Paddy Kennedy: you dont have to lick people ,you just have to sneeze and not wash your hands then spread germs.
@Paddy Kennedy: It doesn’t take ‘everyone’ ignoring the restrictions. It potentially takes one or two given the nature of exponential growth. If there are those travelling when they should not (and we know this to be true), what else are they not doing? Give ‘em an inch…like many at Christmas. I can, so I will regardless of consequence for others.
@D. Memery: social distancing still works as does mask wearing apperently. problem is the amount of dopes who don’t social distance anymore! Also people bring their kids into shops and let them run around and kids would come up right behind people and some parents not all but some couldn’t care less. It’s stuff like this that makes me uneasy in shops to ge honest. Also shops now seem to let more people in , what happened to the thing of only letting a small number in at a time?!
@Mattress Dick: Mind myself not a time for looking over my shoulder.
@Hugh Mc Donnell: really?
@Colleen: Tenerife perhaps
@Colleen: with this more transmissible variant, it appears that if one person in a household gets it, then most likely everyone in the house will get it.
@Hugh Mc Donnell: Thats a load of cr-ap. If you have proof of same either name them or report them to the Gardai. This is not the place. The toxicity of some of the comments on here day and night is disgusting. As a people a lot have sunk to new depths. It’s a constant shameful blame game. I have only been coming on here a few weeks but I can see it seems to be the same group all the time. That’s enough for me.
@Frances Casey: sorry not a load of crap a good friend works in a large hotel in Dublin suburb as a senior manager and he was telling during the week about the work arounds people do to stay over. Word gets around social media too and hotel advises them what to supply to just their stay.
@Michael Burke: yeah it’s a fact
@Bernie Mcgarry: ah jaysus
@Gerrard: and walkers
Thoughts with those 66 grieving families. That case figure needs to come down quick.
Rip & sympathy to all families
6 weeks into lockdown and cases are still so high. It doesn’t seem like we have control over this at all now. 66 more dead… just huge numbers for a small country like Ireland. Is there a feeling of helplessness about this now?
@lambda sensor: But only 41 of those died in February so that is a better number. RIP to all who have died of this scourge .
@lambda sensor: in comparison, Scotland has a similar population but almost 6,700 deaths, Wales has half our population but has over 5,000 deaths.
@lambda sensor: there is hope. The trend is downwards. Albeit at a slower pace. Remembering the increased transmissibility of the Kent strain it was never going to be easy to get numbers down. Vaccinations will slowly continue but normality will not return this summer sadly.
@Paul O Neill: They count roadkills as Covid deaths over there so long as they tested positive within 28 days of them departing this world & we cant even count the detail deaths we are finding people under cushions that dies weeks ago :-( haven’t we digitised out hatches, matches & dispatches yet? I reckon someone is trolling rip.ie to see who’s died.
RIP
There’s construction open everywhere, no enforcement of restrictions and builders providers open to feed the supply, no surprise the numbers are not going down, the government have made a mess again!
Rip to the 66 and condolences to the families.
@Teddy: Plus all manufacturing. :(
@Teddy: your absolutely correct. I work for a company that supplies a service to construction. We’ve be open since the very first covid outbreak and haven’t closed since!
@The Irish Bull: correct. I never stopped working, which I’m grateful for but there has been cases on the premises despite excellent precautions being taken.
@Teddy: they have exemptions. For example if the money backing it is from overseas it’s exemption.
@Teddy: bullshit, my son works on a large construction site, I work in a hospital (essential worker), he is screened every morning going into work, I’m not and no idea when I will get even first vaccination (working all the time through pandemic).
@Teddy: really, cos further down these comments someone else says it’s returning holiday makers, and another says it’s DIY stores but somebody claims it’s hotels opening for valentine’s ( have my doubts about that one) and seemingly it’s all happening in supermarkets and of course all those unparented teenagers who should be in school … There’s a few still blaming Christmas… and house parties in Longford
It’s all very confusing. :-)
Can we close the borders pls. And bring Harris back as health minister.
@Mark Twomey: should have closed them back in march 2020, but the government didn’t have the balls to do what was needed. That’s why we’re in this position now. The government still hasn’t the courage to so what’s necessary.
@Mark Twomey: you want to rip apart families who are to live in different countries then.
@Tony Humphreys: I would believe it would be better to have family members ALIVE abroad for a few short months. Then live in this state where dozens are dying daily with COVID. We will meet up again. But we need the borders closed if we are all to have the best chance to see one another SAFELY and vaccinated.
@Tony Humphreys: how are they being ripped apart seeing as they’re not meant to be travelling anyway? Silly comment
@Mark Twomey: Harris said we can’t close borders as we signed up to freedom of movement, this is a fact. All trying to be the best boy in the class and lIck EU backsides and look where it got us.
@Tony Humphreys: So no different to now but it might actually accomplish that which we need and want? I could also insert ‘counties’ for ‘countries’. A curious stance to take. Most families are sensible, so there are no ‘rips’ occurring.
@Tony Humphreys: You want to kill people just so people can meet? People can skype/zoom, etc. They will survive.
Are people ignoring the advice given as the figures aren’t dropping ?
@Keith Synnott: perhaps people are deciding to live with the risk
@Tony Humphreys: then they become the next set of 1000 that crops up here daily.
@Tony Humphreys: You mean pass away and assist in the same thing happening to others. It is not just yourself you endanger when you ignore the rules.
People who spread the virus are responsible for whatever happens to the people who caught it off them.
@Tony Humphreys: Clearly but risking one’s own self is a different matter to risking those of others. ‘Living with the risk’, when they should currently be living with public health restrictions, does nothing but extend these restrictions, notwithstanding physical/mental health, economic etc. implications. To quote others, ‘it diminishes pleasure, it’s uncomfortable, I’ll live with the risk.’
@Gary Kearney: Are you including healthcare workers in that statement you have made?
Shocking figures still. RIP.
It is not a level 5 lock down I would love the TV cameras to go around different parts of the city and see the amount of people out shopping that is not essential
@Vera Gissane: are the shops not shut?
@offtheball: Not them all the DIY stores are open and someother stores thst sell sanatizer
@Vera Gissane: so we’ve closed penny’s, IKEA, arnotts, barbers, nail bars, restaurants, banned click and collect and all along the real problem is Woddies and B&Q… Okay then!!
Deaths are shocking but the RTE,Governmentl cabal want to deflect scrutiny away from the deaths and slow vaccine roll out to Headlines about people booking dental appointments in Tenerife
@patrick o keeffe: People defying public health restrictions in the midst of what we’re going through is a deflection?
@John Kieran: while there’s no doubt that the ex pats returning at Christmas contributed to the surge, the travel thing now is just a red herring. Less people came in in February to date than on any one day in the third week of December and most are arriving from safer countries. There is a tendency to find a scapegoat group to blame.. we’ve had university students, house partying 30 somethings, migrant workers, take away drinks in sth William Street, funeral goers etc. Populist nonsense encouraged by the HSE and NPHET to deflect from their failure to protect the vulnerable in their care.
@Derdaly: People transmit the virus. There have been plenty of people who were/are not ‘vulnerable’ who remain ill due to the virus or who have died as a result of it and who are not in State care. There are plenty of recorded cases of people flouting public health advice and restrictions/legislation and if they ignore one, they’re likely to ignore all. Yes, ‘the travel thing’ is probably the least of our problems, since the the number of cases are more likely due to those here, who never left the country. Not sure if we should dismiss the contribution of ‘university students, house partying 30 somethings, migrant workers, take away drinks in sth William Street, funeral goers etc’ though.
Oh no. Not going down quickly enough.
Look at Longford last night, Gardai broke up a party with 70 people…. no wonder the progress of decreasing the cases is slow because of people like them.
Wheres your one Anna Anna these days?
@Aonghus O Flaherty: She hasn’t been here in months. :(
@Aonghus O Flaherty: caught out with the bs she spouted
@Aonghus O Flaherty: Yeah, I agree. I asked that question here in the comments, and I was told she had been blocked by thejournal.ie.
@Aonghus O Flaherty: possibly upset with the volume of negative comments directed at her directly.
@Paul Somers: No, I saw the last comment she had posted, she linked a YouTube Covid conspiracy video with a CEO of a company spreading blatant misinformation. Basically her true nuttiness eventually came to the fore and she was booted.
@Paul Somers: You mean by the bullies & general mouthpieces.
@Aonghus O Flaherty: she wasn’t a fan of the masks or social distancing…..well anything that helped to slow the spread of covid.
@Aonghus O Flaherty: Shaping tinfoil into conical headwear.
@Aonghus O Flaherty: Where is she? In your thoughts obviously
@Aonghus O Flaherty: Maybe you’re Anna Anna?
@Aonghus O Flaherty: think she is living with Gemma O’D and John waters.
Interesting to see figures once schools reopen
@kevinhunt101: give it a rest Kev.
@kevinhunt101: give your head an ould wobble there. The schools have been shut since before Christmas and cases aren’t dropping at any pace. Don’t try blaming kids on the clearly reckless actions and movement of the adults!
@Barry Evans: with the amount of teenagers hanging on the streets they might as well open the schools. Parents to lazy to parent. The kids weren’t keep it for a week during the current lockdown.
@Peter Roche: Why should he ‘give it a rest’? Is it not a question worth asking? A member of NPHET was on the radio the other morning and said that cases will rise when schools reopen. It’s just a matter of by how much.
Why do you think they are re-opening them on a phased basis?
@Barry Evans: that is a hilarious comment…. The cases have reduced from 8k to 1k!
@Sarah Cullen: so you reckon that the 8k cases a day were from schools? Despite the fact that they’d been open since the end of August??? Have a word with yourself!
Stop lockdown now. Open the schools, open the small businesses. People are suffering but all anyone seems to care about is Covid.
@Jim Smith: Yes most people are focused on covid-19 as it is a deadly virus that if not managed correctly can spiral out of control very fast and many more people will be infected and have long term illness and disability or worse.
We have kept the numbers low in comparison to others by our lockdowns. Other countries are now following the way we have done things. Open up too soon and we get what we got after Christmas.
@Jim Smith: ‘all anyone seems to care about is Covid.’ It’s kind of a hot topic at the moment in fairness. See the work of Washington Irving.
@Gary Kearney: Lockdown can be just as deadly. It’s also extremely cruel and completely against our nature as human beings.
When the dust settles we will see the true impact of lockdown. Long Covid will be least of our worries.
@Gary Kearney: Any evidence or proof to back up your claim?
How are people picking this up, are they going around licking door handles?
@Barry Curtin: asking that question myself
@Barry Curtin: it’s on the post, newspapers etc. The English version is like glue
@Criostóir McCormack: I’d say the disabled people that you are refereeing to and their families are disgusted with your public comment. You are a complete James Blunt..
@Mattress Dick: ???? Where did you get that information please ?
@Barry Curtin: It’s a respiratory illness, it’s February. People can’t go around in bubble wrap. It’s going to spread regardless at some capacity. Like it will next year and the years after. Live goes on.
@Damo: yep but they have a habit of not being very helpful explaining exactly whats happening – they are stuck trying to same ol narrative of announcing deaths cases and hospitalisation – at this stage it should be easy enough to add some more sophistication to these daily updates – they also cant seem to answer the hard questions – why is irelands health care workers and settings so bad – worse figures for infection in health setting the world and 6000 staff not working at the peak – what are doing so wrong – in terms of todays numbers half are under 45 – and most counties are less than 100 cases – these younger people thankfully for the most part do not need hospitalisation or get particularly sick – and the cases per day were 8000 daily in jan then 6000 , then 4000 , 2000 , and now 1000 – so how on earth are so many idiots saying its not working , its worrying blah blah blah can you change thee script and get with reality ffs. I know some seem to like wallowing in misery but the facts are we are making very steady progress – by any measure
Is hospital/nursing home transmission still high?
@Newto2016: We are close to completing vaccination of all care home residents and staff with the 2nd dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Results from Israel are very encouraging, so we should see a big drop in cases in case homes soon. Same goes for hospitals, as data indicates the vaccine also prevents transmission, so there will be fewer cases caught from hospital staff.
@David Jordan: do you have any idea if the Pfizer vaccine prevents transmission of the now dominant UK variant?
Why weren’t deaths recorded when they died ,not months later
And people who are dieing are not in ICU so where are they from ?
Nursing homes who they are giving vacation to .
Why is nobody asking where are deaths coming from ??
@Kipper O Keeffe: does it matter where the deaths came from? Hardly. You do know autopsy’s don’t happen the very same day someone dies yeah?
@Keith: it certainly does matter where the deaths are occurring. How can public health target resources, vaccines if they don’t know who is worst affected. If we know where deaths are and there is patterns, some consistency, then we can minimize damage to our children’s futures, economy, the lives of millions. This figure should be at the very heart of the strategy, it should inform the health service, the lockdown policy, actually everything. I can only assume they don’t have this, or they are embarrassed by it, that’s why it’s not released. One huge cover-up that is being paid for by the very liberty of over 3 million people.
@Tony Humphreys: Cover up, yeah its a world wide cover up just to lock us down here in Ireland. 2,398,090 people have passed away due to the virus and it is a huge cover-up.
Now do you see how your comments sound.
@Gary Kearney: other countries are more open with their numbers. Authorities here happy to give age breakdown for cases and we all end up blaming each other but they are very coy with similar information on deaths or on locations of infections. The truth is that despite the tragic lessons of last spring, vulnerable people are still being infected in nursing homes and hospitals and this may information is heavily obscured in the reporting.
We see similar coyness with the vaccination program, happy to report on jabs given, no information on doses recieved or on hand.
Jesus wept! Will it ever end?
@Angela Jones: it will when the people decide to live with risk. The day is coming.
@Tony Humphreys: perhaps when the elderly and those with underlying conditions are vaccinated. Coming out of restrictions will cause an interesting and lively debate later this summer.
@Tony Humphreys: So risking spreading the virus is fine with you. You could change your name to Covid-19 Tony and you would be as famous as Typhoid Mary.
In the history books, as well as the person responsible for repeated outbreaks of a deadly virus.
@Tony Humphreys: ya you wouldn’t be so brave if covid had the same effect on your age group. You might get lucky with a new varient and no doubt you’ll be hiding under your quilt.
@Tony Humphreys: Nonsense. Why would any sensible person risk the health of someone else?
@John Kieran: quare lot of nonsensible people out there so
Am I the only one who’s beginning to think there has to be a link between the vaccine roll out in nursing homes particularly and all the deaths lately? There was an article in the Times earlier this week saying a number of deaths occurred after their first vaccine. Why is nobody looking into this further?
@Lauren McKeown: Probably, the rise in fatalities and infections is due to opening for Christmas and people being ignorant of the reality of Covid-19.
The nursing homes numbers were caused by victors and the spread inside a nursing home is virtually impossible to stop. People had to see Granny or Granddad and gave the entire home the present of Covid-19
@Gary Kearney: were nursing homes not allowing family to come in?
@Lauren McKeown: It’s quite likely you are Lauren. Also, in theory, a very elderly person could die as a syringe was brought into the same room (or (in fact) at any other point on any day).
@Lauren McKeown: Definitely it needs to be questioned. Since the vaccine rollout deaths have been higher for sure. Maybe it’s a coincidence, hard to know really.
@Gary Kearney: why is the spread in a nursing home virtually impossible to stop. I really don’t get this. Surely protocols were developed between April and December to greatly mitigate such transmission. Visiting by relatives were very limited when allowed at all. Surely staff were prevented from working in different homes or as home help after what happened last April and May.
@Gary Kearney: Oh give it a rest Gary. You have no idea why it’s spreading in nursing homes. You’re still blaming Christmas?
@Lauren McKeown: If we’re going down that rabbit hole…
Isn’t it also a strange that the first covid vaccines in the world were being administered in the UK where the first ‘new variant’ of Covid was also discovered. This all happened in the same month, if not the same week.
Just to be clear I am making no assumptions or speculating in any way just stating an odd fact. I’m sure it was just a coincidence.
But on a side note, I am ordering an extra large roll of tinfoil in my Tesco online shop. I have some baking to do.
@Gary Kearney: Gary, the resident know it all. Any questions about Covid, Gary is your Man. He’s knows more about it than everyone combined & will talk down to you if you suggest something that goes against his expert opinion. What a gobshíte you are Gary.
@Lauren McKeown:
My mother got first dose of Pfizer vaccine 17 days ago and tested positive for Covid 7 days ago . She’s 87…in a nursing home and very ill now . We’ve been told to expect the worst .
@Margaret Henry: wishing your Mother all the best, I hope she recovers
34 today in Cork. Considering that there’s almost 1/2 million population in the county, about 10% of the island and we now have an incidence of 192 per 100k in the last 14 days it shows this can be brought down everywhere if we cop on and do the right thing every time we are out and about
@Threasaigh: They have no idea what the case numbers are, we aren’t testing anyone just people that are ill. In the north they are testing people at random & anyone that says they are a close contact to someone that has symptoms can also get a free text. We sit with fingers crossed because we have to pay up unless your GP sends you for a test.
New Zealand has a similar population to Ireland (just under 5 million), but a total of 25 Covid 19 deaths since the pandemic began!
Our daily death rate is often treble that.
We need to do better.
Vaccination needs to be speeded up, but at least the powers that be, have eventually realised the strategic advantage we hold as an island. Unfortunately, one of the missed clues was the word ‘airborne’.
@☘ ᕼEᖇITᗩGE STᗩᖴᖴ IᖇᎬᒪᗩᑎᗪ ᑭᖇO ᒪᎥᖴᎬ & CUᒪTUᖇᎬ: new Zealand is also 2000 miles from anywhere else. If it’s not part of a freedom of movement union, it is not part of an economic union. It does not have border workers, families. It is not integrated into is neighbors to anywhere near the extent we are. They are also in a very precarious position, they will have to open up at some point – they will be stuck.
@☘ ᕼEᖇITᗩGE STᗩᖴᖴ IᖇᎬᒪᗩᑎᗪ ᑭᖇO ᒪᎥᖴᎬ & CUᒪTUᖇᎬ: New Zealand is an Island separated by 1400k from its nearest major neighbour another island. A lot different than here.
@Tony Humphreys: True, New Zealand is further from her neighbours, but is still an island and she used that natural advantage brilliantly. As for Ireland being a ‘freedom of movement’ union, that should have been looked at much earlier, then we might not have found ourselves with a 5km ‘restriction of movement’.
Ireland’s large amount of cases, deaths and hemorrhaging economy would be deemed ‘precarious’ in some quarters.
New Zealand will exit her (insu/iso)lation at the right time, on her terms, knowing that she prioritised the protection of her occupants above open borders.
@Gary Kearney: Yes. ‘A lot different than here’. I think that the low rate of 25 deaths is a testament to that. 1400km or 14km, it doesn’t matter. Humans are the vector. When they get airborne, so does the pathogen.
@Tony Humphreys: They must have ‘notions if they think they can do so much better than us, right?!
@Tony Humphreys: Why do they have to open? Ireland can do a lot better than it is. Stop with the “it is all too hard” stuff. If Ireland had good leaders, it would be possible to do a lot better. All your points can be addressed.
The number of cases are up because they are testing more people . They have now begun to test close contacts again . So obviously the number of people they test the number of positive results they are getting . We can assume from this data that at the height of pandemic there were a lot more people who had Covid than actually were reported as close contacts were not tested . It appears to me that the testing and data is being manipulated to keep us in lockdown and to try and explain the deficiencies in this government and their inaction on other matters
@Mary Mc Carthy: Seriously, look at the numbers across the world and see the pattern. e are doing well after the Christmas mess.
So pop at the government all you want and the Christmas mess was there and all most politicians fault.
We have to have Christmas , well we had and look at what happened.
@Mary Mc Carthy: But most other nations of the world initiated it for those reasons? No need to assume anything about testing at the start. We were all there. Not everyone was tested unless they showed the relevant number of symptoms. A while ago but you still might remember? ‘The number of cases are up because they are testing more people’. Cases ares tested individuals. It seems you are arguing with yourself.
@Mary Mc Carthy: the number of cases aren’t that high in proportion of the population. Lockdown is simply there to reduce people in hospitals. Overall, there doesn’t seem much strategy to move forward, never mind the rest of the population.
Would it possible to open vaccine production facility in Ireland…. it is very possible that we could be getting jabs regularly for the rest of our life’s ….. surely Pfizer could send us the magic potion instructions and we get a plant running here.
@Max Power: No or it would have happened already, the infrastructure takes a long time to build.
Its like people wanting flour mills constructed, these things take time. Years.
@Max Power: No.
@Gary Kearney: yes is the answer and flour mills could be too….but Bam are too busy scre wing us for the children’s hospital and the government too busy trying to look busy !
@Max Power: Canada are planning to do this under license from Novavax.
The airports and ports are still wide open. Simple
In dunnes today getting groceries and it was packed and huge queues waiting to get in. I think ppl have given up on this lockdown. We are essential workers so Saturday is the only day we can get groceries so maybe it was the same for these queues but I very much doubt it.
@Christina Colling: Maybe they needed food? But seriously what happens when most places are closed? They all go to the one place that’s open, because it’s something to do. There is a lot of people who go to the shop and purposely forget something so they can go back. Just for something to do, it’s what people are reduced to at this stage.
All those fu’kers coming back from their holidays keeping the numbers high …
@Tom Bomb: Yep, partly no doubt. If they flout those restrictions, what else, I wonder? Or like the numpties in Longford last night. Plenty of that going on. It took one person to bring this down on everyone at the start.
@Tom Bomb: Given that they need a negative test to travel I’d doubt it.
How many of those positive tests were on patients already in hospital or nursing homes? It would help to know the statistics of where these people caught the virus.
52 and 49 in Limerick??
Level 5 lockdown?. Absolutely not in my experience.Drive thru Dublin City every day to work from Kildare.Drove 100km this morning not one checkpoint.As soon as the weather is unfavorable the Gardai go hiding.Anytime i have been stopped at checkpoint in the last year the Gardai just say your going to work are ya?.Never been asked for proof.never asked for letter from employer.You can tell them just about anything and you will get thru.
@Derek Mccarthy: I am very very tired of Garda checkpoints. One day I can say I am going to work and I am waved through. Next day and they interrogate me about what my job is. Next day I say physio and they barely glance at me. Next time I say food shopping and I am interrogated about where I live. Trying to be honest and informative is sometimes too much and other times never enough!
@Derek Mccarthy: maybe they know that the 5km restriction is useless nonsense
Melbourne in a 5 day lockdown. Some cases from 1 of the quarantine hotels. My question, where is the concrete proof/evidence that lockdowns work? This is the 1st time they gave been tried. Neil Ferguson, who is almost single handedly responsible for the western world’s lockdowns due to his doomsday modelling, couldn’t believe that they got away with lockdowns in western democracies.
https://unherd.com/thepost/neil-ferguson-interview-china-changed-what-was-possible/
@Verners Tess: There is a differentiation between lockdown and public health restrictions, measures etc. There is also the attitude of the specific State, population and geo-political differences. Some of the domestic (and elsewhere) evidence is that numbers, as high as they are, are still ‘only’ that high. To understand the transmission of the virus is to understand the need of and evidence for restrictions.
@Verners Tess: Lockdowns clearly work. We saw case numbers fall and deaths followed last spring. Then we are seeing a similar trajectory during this lockdown. The question you are really asking is: is the opening up of society and easing of restrictions not worth the collapse of the health service and the 1% of deaths from Covid. Once the elderly and those with underlying risks are vaccinated then we are looking at the removal of restrictions hopefully.
@Verners Tess: Melburnian here. We went from 700+ cases a day to zero. Lockdowns work. Hotel Quarantine is the issue. It is happening in a city of 5 million. It needs to happen in an isolated place. 5 days will beat this outbreak. We will be back to doing all the normal things after that like we have been for 3 months.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype: A question if you don’t mind.
1. Do you have to wear a mask to do all the normal things?
Also, it will be curious to see if there are any cases when your winter comes around.
How many of these cases are workers in the non essential sectors . For example council Clampers and Hedge Cutters ?
Desperate high numbers still.
@Richard Williamson: Richard do you think that the number of cases and deaths that fell last spring could also be attributed to the fact that we we were coming of winter? Evidence shows that these respitory viruses thrive more in winter. Our whole Covid strategy appears to be based on the premise that “what would have happened if we didn’t do this or that”. Also it will be interesting to see how the Southern Hemisphere copes this year when their winter comes around.
Amazing, how many people still think this is about a virus!
@John Kieran: Lockdown country : Ireland 4.95 million people. Currently 208,000 cases, 3,865 deaths. 1.86% of cases have died or 0.078% of the population.
Sweden not locked down. Population 10,230,000, Covid cases 608,000, 12428 deaths. 2% of cases have died or 0.12% of population. Not massively worse off and no lockdown or mask wearing. Just asking, has our response been disproportionate?
@Verners Tess: If we followed Sweden who has twice our population then we would have 3,000 more deaths going by your logic. Would you be prepared to pick the extra 3, 000?
Numbers again fluctuating, deaths now going back months, ( do we want to start exhuming bodies from graves, from years back and test for this, the flu, and other viruses), I believe a cousin of mine who died a year ago next week, may have been one of the first to contract this virus in hospital, which may have quickened her death, The thing about, all these cases from months back, are the family who spent money on funerals, medical costs etc, entitled to be reimbursed, are all who contracted this in hospital, or elsewhere, entitled to all their medical expenses returned, which they may be paying for other underlying issues, we could be looking at serious law suits ahead of us, from family members, who believing, a family member, went in to hospital, believing, they would come out, safely, now contracted this, and end up in a far more serious condition or even died. If we list this as a cause of death, outside of normal, circumstances, and there is an emergency fund available, then they would be entitled to reimbursement.
My question about, the positive cases, and how they are recorded, if every hospital, nursing home, hospice, etc, records cases, on average you would only need one, case a day, in each, to have a figure of over a thousand, many of these places are spreading amongst themselves, patients residents etc, it surprises me that there are still so many cases in these places, and still spreading, with all, the precautions put into place. ( and they would have similar with a flu, or cold virus).The other figure which may be added to these figures, are repeated tests, which where someone may have been tested a number of times, and still come up positive, and then added to these figures, when they are just one person, you may also have people, doubting, their test, and going to another test center, for a second conformation, that alone could amount to hundreds, is there any sort of cross reference, how much information is actually gathered. You also have many fearing that, their DNA, may be collected, and stored, many elderly, living at home with family members fear going, even with symptoms, as they may never see their family again, and die alone, in a hospital, away from their own home.
So all in all the actually real figures in the general public, could be hundreds below, the actual reported ones, and may always have been.
If millions of people around the world, get these viruses, cold, flu, etc, like I do, on regular or yearly basis, and get over them, without any, serious, issues, millions believe, that they caught this one as well, including me, in the winter months of 2019. (many here, where I’m living, many out of work, in many of the businesses I visited. There were higher, incidents of flu cases, needing hospitalising, and more deaths, around the world, prior to this been declared a pandemic, deaths in the US, Russia, Ireland etc. many attributed to other causes. So if millions ( many tens of millions, hundreds of millions, around the world believe they caught this, in 2019, as high as a normal flu) prior to it been disclosed as a pandemic, and recovered, we already had herd immunity.
The big issue, like all viruses, and not just this is the vulnerable, elderly, many, bedridden, needing care, same with cancer patients, obese, people, nearly anyone, who can’t get up, and about, walk around on their own two feet, have, physical, mental issues, homeless, living in poverty, etc, basically don’t have a normal healthy life. More than 95% of us survive this, and may have already done so.
Jesus christ will we ever live again in normality !!!
I’m exhausted from a year of following rules that some think don’t apply to them at all .The roads are too busy in this level 5 lockdown , nothing open and yet ! Respiratory virus Should let people know how it spreads and put us off sitting across the table maskless from friends when restaurants open but I know it wouldn’t for many even now .The crowds on the city streets with barely a face covering in sight show no real fear anymore and that is the problem that makes opening up impossible as expect others not us ourselves to stop spread . The States are starting to recommend double face coverings .Outside is less risky but maybe now less risk free . A few weeks of 100% compliance from all as in stay in your home if not essential worker, shop once a week wearing a proper mask. Freedom
@Mary O Dwyer: You want people to wear face masks outside?? And people not to leave their house? Your cherry picking a few incidences you’ve seen and automatically think these people are putting others in danger!? When in reality they are just trying to get through this as best they can. Please don’t be so judgemental.
@Joe Moore: joe I just want normal life but we can’t get that without what should have happened as soon as lock down happened so yes stay in house and yes wear a face covering outside . We put in hats and gloves and yet won’t put on Face coverings in a respiratory pandemic . Old people and people with underlying conditions or receiving treatment are dead because a significant percentage just won’t stay put and mask up . The minute restaurants open it will be off again unless all vaccinated first . I’m not judgemental just don’t understand why we are still in a pandemic a year later when we know it’s in our breath and if we stay indoors for 14 days as a nation it will get us out of this ground hog day and let the hospitals care for the poor late presentations of cancer and cardiac patients
Can the government give some roadmap for weddings.
@Edel O’Dea: Their advice is to use Google Maps,best results obtained by entering Eircode of the venue.
@Larry Betts: thanks at least it’s clearer than the government instruction…
Is this the result of the Killathon the Government introduced at Christmas?
Again many people are wearing ineffective cloth masks.
Not necessarily to close down any businesses or restrict travel. That’s all nonsense.
This is an aerosolized virus and only mandatory N95 type masks can truly stop the spread effectively.
Period. Full stop end of discussion.
Why aren’t the Journal and other “news” sources reporting on this aspect?
Why are clowns still out there in cloth masks from used undies?
@Urgencia: Why are most of the cases spreading both in hospitals and nursing homes if masks are so brilliant? I’m sure they help at some capacity but obviously not as much as you think huh?
@Joe Moore: no one wearing N95
Type masks + extremely vulnerable populations + low paid workers from the third world who can’t afford time off….if you want to know
@Urgencia: 3RD world? who that? They can go back to the 3rd world if they so wish. Join them.
Blaming people for house party’s or the few weeks over Christmas alot of pointing the finger going on blaming anything or anyone to deflect from the truth a great tactic which has been used for many years and it’s divide and conquer were all too consumed about our neighbours and blaming each other when If the truth be told the government has completely failed us.Leadership starts from the top and you lead by example and that filters down the failure to close airports, port’s and have people put on a bus when they land in Ireland and put into hotel Quartine for 2 weeks to stop the virus coming in from outside.I know there’s a border issue but surely some deal could have been struck with the UK or northern Ireland as regards hotel Quartine of flights entering the Island.
Irish people as usual showing disregard for the rules. They really are a dispicable bunch
Government responsible for 80% of deaths as UK varient is cause of 80% of deaths in Ireland. And we did not close our airports down. Blood on your hands. But you don’t care.
@Sean: 100% Sean. FFG response to this is shaping up to be a parallel of the response of the British crown to the Great Famine – the British response to the famine was to protect the free market and international trade at ALL costs, even though the solution was staring them in the face.
And here we are again. Protecting absolute unfettered access to international trade at the cost of the citizens lives.
@Marc Johns: Agree entirely and they happy to do it.
Why not say 101 cases in limerick???
@Ann Neylan: It does say it on the HSE covid-19 hum you get the numbers to the local election area level.
More bollox.. November ,dec and Jan figures in that total.. Do ya bocking research
Supermarkets are a breeding ground for this virus. I see customers picking up items and putting them back regularly. Social distancing not being adhered to. A guy put his hand right over my shoulder to get an item he was practically breathing on top of me . When I challenged him he just shrugged himself off.
@Mairead O Regan: If they are, my question is how come none of them have closed due to staff been infected?
@Mairead O Regan: They are not, otherwise us supermarket workers would be dropping like flies, noone got covid in our store since the pandemic began.
Vaccine does not garentee mortality, lockdowns is inevitable
Actual covid deaths please
have your say