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Tag Archives: Covid-19

Public urged to remain cautious

THE Mid-West Major Emergency Management Group is asking people in Limerick, Clare, and North Tipperary to enjoy the Bank Holiday Weekend safely and responsibly to halt the spread of COVID-19 in the community. In the two weeks leading up to June 2, there has been an increase of more than 800 cases in Limerick, 48 cases in Clare, and 32 cases in North Tipperary. While COVID-19 situation remains stable in Clare and North Tipperary, weekends and occasions with increased activity have led to significant increases in infection levels due to intensified social mixing and organised social gatherings. The vast majority of new COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks have been associated with indoor gatherings, house parties, household visits, family gatherings, and largely indoor activity. With the current high incidence rate in the Mid-West, indoor gatherings outside Public Health guidelines are considered high-risk and have had significant knock-on effects in the community, including in workplaces and schools. As Leaving Certificate …

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Brian Ború team pivots to save festival

THE Féile Brian Ború committee does not want another year to go by without twin towns Killaloe and Ballina, celebrating their annual festival, so they are organising a slightly different series of events this year. Denied numerous entertainment events as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, locals and visitors are looking forward to the return of this festival, which runs from July 7 to July 11 next. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, last year’s Féile Brian Ború did not go ahead as planned from July 8-12. It was really disappointing for the committee to be take a break from the annual festival for the first time since 1993, but they acknowledged at the time everyone’s safety was far more important. To ensure the festival isn’t postponed for two successive years, the committee has decided to pivot towards online workshops, classes and talks. The committee has already organised historical talks; self guided historical walks; online art and drawing classes; a dog photo …

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Life in the fast lane for Clare CIT during Covid

UNLIKE some health services that ceased during the Covid-19 pandemic, the workload for the Clare Community Intervention Team (CIT) increased dramatically for its ten staff members over the past 14 months. Clare Community Intervention Team (CIT) is a specialist nurse-led health professional team, which provides a rapid and integrated response to a patient with an acute episode of illness who requires enhanced services for a defined short period of time. This may be provided in the patient’s home, CIT clinic and in both public and private nursing homes. The aim of the CIT is to support patients in their own homes and promote hospital avoidance. It also facilitate the early and prompt discharge from hospital. It provides a quick response to a medical need and can provide a fast track nursing service from 8 to 8.30pm seven days a week that is not available in the generic community service. Some of the key services it provides are IV antimicrobial therapy …

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Indian community looks to Covid-hit home with sadness

Local Sikh and Baha’i people thankful for solidarity as coronavirus runs riot in their homeland SHANNON has a significant Indian community and its members have been watching with trepidation as Covid-19 spreads throughout their home country. Paramjit Neote first arrived into Shannon 33 years ago, and established a factory, Shannon Aircraft Motorworks, which he subsequently sold. Some of its employees formed the first wave of people from India to live locally. “When we set up in 1988 there was huge unemployment here, but then things changed very quickly after the Gulf War and there weren’t people available, so we brought 15-20 families here to work for our company and that was the first batch of Indians that came to Shannon,” he recalls. He said that Covid restrictions had become relaxed in India, which led to a huge spread of the virus. “They had precautions like we have had here, social distancing, masks. But when things were under control they dropped …

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Clare retailers urged to review security as shopping resumes

WITH non-essential retailers reopening this week gardaí have urged Clare businesses to be security conscious. According to Clare’s Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks investing a little time and finances into security measures can deter criminals from targeting businesses. Measures introduced by businesses to prevent Covid-19 such as screens could obscure CCTV or alarm sensors, she explains, advising businesses to review their security systems. She said, “As retail premises open up again after Covid-19 restrictions it is even more important to ensure that your premises is secure. “Criminals like easy opportunities. If they have to make a lot of noise, spend a lot of time or risk being seen, the chances are they won’t bother. If they are aware staff are security conscious they will be less likely to attempt a criminal act. “A small investment of time and money can make your business premises more secure and less likely to be targeted by criminals.” She advises that businesses look …

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Group Seeks More Access For Partners In Limerick Maternity Hospital

TOO many Covid-19 restrictions are still imposed in University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) limiting access for partners, the Irish Birth Movement (IBM) has claimed. The Irish Birth Movement staged a protest calling for maternity restrictions to be lifted immediately outside University Maternity Hospital Limerick recently. A group of women, including mothers, midwives, doulas and other birth activists have protested at various locations nationwide in recent weeks. Leigh Brosnan of the IBM said there are still too many restrictions being imposed in UMHL. She said that partners were still not allowed to be present in the early stages of labour in UMH and can’t attend for early scans when bad news is sometimes delivered to a couple. Ms Brosnan said a few weeks ago, a woman who attended the protest had a miscarriage on her own without her partner, which was very distressing for her. Stating more creative solutions must be introduced in UMH to increase access for partners, she referred …

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Four times as many seek refuge than report abuse

THE number of people accessing the refuge provided by Clare Haven Services during the Covid-19 pandemic was four times higher than the reported incidence of domestic abuse to gardai, The Clare Champion can reveal. Figures released to by Justice Minister Heather Humphreys to Deputy Michael McNamara show the incidence of domestic abuse crime and non-crime incidents that were reported to the Clare Garda Division increased by 5% from 638 in the period April 2019 to March 2020 to 670 between April 2020 to March 2021. Crime incidents include any incident with a recorded motive of “domestic abuse”. Non-crime incidents are of the PULSE incident type “domestic dispute – no offence disclosed”. Clare Haven Services manager, Dr Siobhan O’Connor has confirmed there was a 21% increase in the number of people accessing their refuge from December 2019 to December 2020, which covers a large portion of the Covid-19 pandemic. There was also a similar hike in the number of people using …

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Thousands of hospital appointments cancelled

Thousands of appointments fall foul of HSE cyber attack PUBLIC hospital appointments for thousands of Clare patients have been cancelled amid fears it may take weeks to fully resolve the serious disruption caused by the cyber attack on the HSE’s information technology systems. Waiting lists for in-patient and outpatient procedures look set to soar over the coming weeks following the cancellation of all outpatient clinics and all elective inpatient and day case procedures except time-critical cases, diagnostic investigations including radiology and endoscopy services. This major unexpected disruption to health services in the Mid-West coincides with the release of official figures from the National Purchase Treatment Fund, which revealed the number of in-patients on waiting lists in the region increased by 34% from 4,798 in January 2020 to 6,465 in April 2021, while the number on outpatients jumped 6.4% from 47,134 in January 2020 to 50,189. There are currently 41,035 patients on the out-patients waiting list at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) …

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