COVID surge continues in Limerick as 202 cases recorded over weekend

coronavirus
Stock photo: CDC/Unsplash.

NEARLY 700 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Limerick in the past two weeks, fueling further concerns over the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last weekend alone 202 cases were recorded in Limerick, which is the sharpest rise in the city and county since late last year, including 90 cases last Friday, 53 cases on Saturday and 59 cases yesterday, Sunday.

Much of the recent surge in cases in Limerick has been linked to indoor social gatherings and workplaces.

Last week the department of Public Health Mid West, which investigates outbreaks and clusters in the Limerick region, said it was conducting contact tracing at 23 workplaces involving 32 cases and around 60 close contacts.

The department has so far managed a total of over 5,000 covid-19 outbreaks in the mid west, of which hundreds of which have been linked to workplaces.

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The main causes of the spread in workplaces in the Limerick region have been linked to “inconsistent mask-wearing, poor social distancing, inadequate ventilation, staff members working while infectious, and a lack of robust COVID-19 workplace policies”, stated Public Health Mid West.

However, despite the surge in cases at the weekend, health chiefs have said they remain positive that the numbers can be reduced by isolating cases through increased testing.

Figures released by the HSE Mid West Community Healthcare, for a free walk-in test centre which opened at St Jospeh’s health Campus last Wednesday, show that 1,014 people got tests there in the first 48 hours.

In the past week or so, over 5,500 people have been tested at a HSE second centre based in Ballysimon.

According to informed sources the increase in cases locally can be explained partly by the increase in numbers attending test centres.

“The most important thing is that we are catching asymptomatic cases, and that’s very important because catching them could be the difference between these people unknowingly going on to infect others and possibly lead to other people being hospitalised,” a source said.

Last week Dr Sarah O’Connell, clinical COVID lead for the UL Hospitals Group, said they were seeing adults, in their 40s and 50s, being treated at University Hospital. Limerick for severe effects of the virus.

“We do see some very severe cases from time to time in people who don’t have underlying conditions, and that is something I think the public should know,” Dr O’Connell said.

“It’s something that is very worrying for us, when we look after patients who have deteriorated, and who would have considered themselves to be well prior to becoming sick.”

“The majority are much younger now than what we would have seen previously, and for the most part some people have some underlying conditions”.

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