Tag Archives: Clare Covid-19

A SENIOR intensive care clinician has warned health services are on a “war time” footing due to increasing cases of Covid-19. The head of the intensive care unit at University Hospital Limerick, Dr Catherine Motherway, has also stated some healthcare services will have to shut down, if Covid-19 figures continue to rise. Her warning came before official figures revealed the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Mid-West totalled 5,381 from November 9 to November 22. There were 1,361 new cases of the virus in Clare, 1,975 in Tipperary and 2,045 in Limerick during this 14-day period. The 14-day incidence for November 22 is 1,145 in Clare 1,237 in Tipperary and 1,049 in Limerick per 100,000 population. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland earlier this week, Dr Motherway said that healthcare staff are “stretched and operating on a day-to-day basis” and noted that patients may not receive the same level of care as they would “in peace time”. She also revealed …

    UL HOSPITALS’ Group vaccination teams will be holding scheduled walk-in vaccinations clinics this weekend for people aged 12 years and older who have not yet received a first or second vaccine dose. The group has revealed the total number of Covid-19 vaccines delivered under the vaccination programme has now exceeded 400,000. These walk-in clinics are strictly for Dose 1 and Dose 2 vaccines, and should not be attended by anyone seeking a third vaccine dose. Walk-in clinics administering Pfizer Dose 1 and 2 will be held at the Mid-West Covid-19 Vaccination Centres in Limerick on Saturday and Sunday, and Nenagh on Sunday. There will be no walk-in clinics in Ennis this weekend, due to that centre’s temporary relocation from the West County Hotel to the grounds of Ennis Hospital. Clinics will be held in Limerick Racecourse for Pfizer Dose 1 and 2 on Saturday between 4 and 7pm and Sunday from 3 to 6pm. People can also receive …

THE Clare Covid-19 vaccination centre is relocating on a temporary basis from from Treacy’s West County Hotel to the grounds of Ennis Hospital. Vaccinations at the former outpatients department in the hospital grounds will commence on this Saturday, November 20 and it is expected the centre will move back to the West County in early 2022. Parking availability on the grounds of Ennis Hospital has improved since the relocation of the outpatients department to the Kilrush Road. Disabled parking is available at Ennis Hospital. Patricia O’Gorman, Clinical Lead for the Area Vaccination Centres in the MidWest, said: “Our vaccination teams have to date delivered over 400,000 doses as part of this historic vaccination campaign. As society and the economy have reopened, we have had to secure a temporary new location for our Ennis centre with the agreement of our partners. We are grateful to the West County Hotel for their support over the course of vaccination campaign” The current national requirement is that Covid-19 …

A SOCIAL lifeline for hundreds of people from Clare, and beyond, may have had its last dance, due to new rules on e-ticketing, writes Fiona McGarry. Members of the Dancing for Pleasure group have had to sit it out over the long months of lockdown. As restrictions eased for the live events sector, they were keen to dust off their dancing shoes. Organisers were dismayed, however, to find out that the rule on advance ticketing applies, not just to nightclubs, but to their social dancing outings. Regular attendees, who range in age from 60 to 90, are unlikely to take to the e-ticketing system, organisers believe. “We love our dancing,” said Ennis-based committee member Andy Carmody. “Now, we have completely lost our exercise and our social life. A lot of people are not into the internet. I just don’t think that having to buy a ticket by email, at least an hour before the dance, will work for us. “It’s …

DEPUTY Michael McNamara has predicted Clare people will experience another national Covid-19 lockdown this winter following a spiral in confirmed Covid-19 cases, writes Dan Danaher. Speaking to The Clare Champion, Deputy McNamara said he always expected there would be another lockdown after the introduction of the most severe restrictions in Europe during the summer when other countries had deemed this was a time the virus would be less transmissible. The East Clare Deputy criticised the government for not working to find a different alternative to lockdown to protect the country’s struggling health care system. One of the more practical solutions, he said, was to dramatically increase ICU capacity with extra beds and staffing, which wasn’t done in the required numbers. He recalled a major hospital to deal with Covid-19 patients was built in Wuhan, China in 14 days, yet Ireland only followed part of their response in terms of restrictions without properly addressing the chronic shortage of ICU bed capacity. …

IN LINE with national guidance on Covid-19, U Hospitals Group is now asking all patients attending its acute hospitals about their vaccination status. The group stated today that the move was to keep all patients and staff in their hospitals safe from Covid infection, as numbers with the virus remains stubbornly high. All patients will receive care and treatment whatever their vaccination status, a spokesperson for UL Hospital said. “Knowledge of vaccination status enables safer management of patients, and assists with contact tracing either in the hospital or afterwards in the community, if a patient comes into contact with a COVID-19 case in any of our hospitals,” UL Hospitals Group Information on the vaccination status of patients in acute hospitals would be determined and recorded, either prior to admission or as soon as possible thereafter. The request for the information applies particularly for unscheduled attendances at the Emergency Department in University Hospital Limerick. People attending acute hospitals can present the …

A SO-CALLED “convention of people with broken hearts” met up for a late night rendezvous in a parked car in the west Clare village of Kilmihil during a Covid-19 lockdown, a court has heard. At Kilrush District Court, Garda Niall Donegan stated that when he approached the car and reminded the three occupants of the Covid-19 travel restrictions, driver, Finbar O’Gorman (27) replied that the three “were out of bad relationships and were meeting up for a chat”. Garda Donegan stated that the two other occupants of the car were female and the car was parked up in the forecourt of a filling station in Kilmilil at 12.05am on February 18 last. A Covid-19 travel ban outside 5km was in place at the time and Mr O’Gorman had driven 29km on the night from his home at Bruach na hAbhainn, Ennis, to meet his two friends in Kilmihil. Mr O’Gorman pleaded guilty to breaching the Covid-19 health regulations by being present in …

THE HSE has elected to suspend walk-in Covid-19 testing at its Ennis Test Centre due to high volumes of people attending. Testing is still available at the Covid-19 Test Centre in Ballymaley Business Park, but only by appointment. Tests can be booked via the HSE website, or through your GP. The centre’s opening hours of 11:10 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. are unaffected. The changes take effect from tomorrow, Tuesday, September 7, and will be kept under review. There has been an increased demand for testing over recent weeks, and the past few days have been very busy in Ennis with over 2,000 tests conducted in the last week alone. Exceptionally high demand has also been reported in the Ennis test centre this Monday, September 6). Norma Quirke, Community Testing Lead with HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare says: “We are appealing to the public for their patience and assistance while our staff deal with high numbers presenting for Covid-19 testing. “While it …