Tag Archives: Coronavirus

Ballyvaughan  hotel facing short-term closure due to staff shortages THE Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) should be dramatically scaled back and only paid to employees whose businesses can’t operate, according to a well known hotelier. Woodstock Hotel manager, Sean Lally has called on the government to operate a more targeted PUP support for those who can’t work in view of the chronic staff shortages facing the hospitality and other industries. His appeal coincides with the revelation Gregan’s Castle Hotel, Ballyvaughan, will have to close for ten days in September and five in October, because it hasn’t enough staff to operate its business. Staff shortages in the hospitality sector in the Burren could hamper Autumn bookings, following one of the busiest summers in the region in recent years in terms of Irish visitors. Hotels and self-catering accommodation providers have reported bookings are up on last year, due to a combination of recent fine weather and the desire to holiday at home due …

THE 14-day incidence of Covid-19 in Clare is now one third of the national average and is the fifth lowest in the country, new figures have revealed. As of March 30, Limerick’s 14-day incidence rate was 105.7 per 100,000 and Clare’s was 61.4 per 100,000. However, the incidence rate for Tipperary was above the national average at 172.4 per 100,000, with the national average standing at 164.14. The 14-day incidence rate in Clare has fallen to 54.7 for the period from March 23 to April 5. This rate fell slightly in Limerick and Tipperary to 91.3 and 129 respectively. There were 178 Covid-19 cases in Limerick, 207 in Tipperary and 65 in Clare during this two-week period. To close of business on Monday, April 5, the UL Hospitals’ Group Covid-19 Vaccination Programme, has delivered a total of 22,224 first doses and 5,318 second doses of Covid-19 vaccine. The figures include vaccines delivered to frontline healthcare workers across the group, HSE …

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 12 new cases of Covid-19 in County Clare, while there have been 23 additional deaths related to Covid-19. 21 of these deaths occurred in February and two occurred in January. The median age of those who died was 84 years and the age range was 57 – 95 years. There has been a total of 3,865* Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland. As of midnight, Thursday, February 11, the HPSC has been notified of 921 confirmed cases of Covid-19. There is now a total of 207,720** confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. Of the cases notified today: 453 are men / 466 are women 66% are under 45 years of age The median age is 34 years old 414 in Dublin, 87 in Cork, 51 in Kildare, 48 in Limerick, 47 in Meath and the remaining 274 cases are spread across all other counties. As of 8am today, 959 Covid-19 patients …

THERE have been eight new cases of Covid-19 recorded in Clare over the past 24 hours as the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 52 additional deaths related to COVID-19. 33 of these deaths occurred in February, 12 occurred in January, 6 in December or earlier and 1 is still under investigation. The median age of those who died was 83 years and the age range was 55 – 96 years. There has been a total of 3,846 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. As of midnight, Wednesday 10 February, the HPSC has been notified of 866 confirmed cases of Covid-19. There is now a total of 206,801* confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. Of the cases notified today: 401 are men / 463 are women 65% are under 45 years of age The median age is 35 years old 281 in Dublin, 63 in Galway, 56 in Kildare, 47 in Meath, 39 in Cork and the remaining …

A SHANNON GP has hit out the handling of circumstances around the health minister’s Covid-19 test last Tuesday the day it unveiled the new roadmap for living with the virus. Dr Yvonne Williams said that misunderstanding over who should isolate while a contact of theirs is awaiting a test result, smacked of “chaos and confusion”. “The advice is that while someone is awaiting results of a test, their household should restrict their movements,” she explained. “If someone has a positive test, then their contacts are advised to isolate.” On Tuesday, shortly after addressing a press conference on the Living with Covid-19 plan, Minister Stephen Donnelly felt unwell and contacted his GP to arrange a coronavirus test. Following that news, the cabinet, as well as Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn, were told to restrict their movements as a precaution. The Dáil was then adjourned, at first for a period of one week, before being reconvened later on Tuesday evening. …

FAMILY doctors are braced for a challenging winter, with pressure already coming on the service just weeks after children returned to school. Already a number of primary classes have had to be suspended temporarily and at least one national school closed due to Covid-19. There is also said to be considerable confusion over what kind of symptoms should raise red flags over attendance at school. “When it comes to the public health guidelines, it seems that the advice from every source is to contact your GP,” said Dr Máire Finn of the Centric Medical Centre. “Given the pressures the service is under, we can’t be the only port of call. We are getting a large number of people with questions over whether or not children should be going to school and sometimes, we just can’t answer them. I can foresee a situation where the whole winter is taken up with people keeping kids off school when they should be in, …

NEW figures reveal that Clare had the highest rate in Munster of Covid-19 cases in nursing homes, during the first wave of the pandemic. Data presented in the final report of the Nursing Homes Expert Panel show that this county had more than twice as many cases linked to care home clusters as Limerick. This is despite the fact that County Limerick had a far higher number of cases in the population as a whole (581) than Clare (371), in the period from March to June. Reacting to the figures, the Clare-based Chair of the Dáil Committee on Covid-19 Response confirmed that it will consider calling for a public inquiry into the fate of nursing home residents between March and May. Deputy Michael McNamara confirmed that the committee has invited members of the Expert Panel to appear before it on September 16, alongside representatives of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). “I don’t want to prejudge these hearings,” Deputy …

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that two people with Covid-19 in Ireland have died while there have been 54 confirmed additional cases, including some in Clare. Before today’s announcement, 439 persons have tested positive for the virus in the county. Officials have been notified of the 54 cases in the past 24 hours and the break-down of these new cases is -Dublin (19), Kildare (8) and Tipperary (5) with the remaining 22 in Clare, Carlow, Donegal, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Wexford. There has now been a total of 1,775 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland while the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 27,547. Of the cases notified today 24 are men / 29 are women, 67% are under 45 years of age, 27 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case and eight cases have been identified as community transmission Acting …