Tag Archives: Covid-19

MANY small businesses around the county are said to be playing a waiting game over their futures, with some cautious optimism that a new focus on supporting local companies could provide a life-line. While Phase Three of the re-opening of the economy brought a welcome upturn in footfall in towns across Clare, some businesses had already made the tough decision to keep their doors shut. “The future is less uncertain, but it is still is uncertain,” said Margaret O’Brien, CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce. “We’re very sad to see one our members who have already taken the decision not to re-open. Pandora had a very attractive shop on O’Connell Street, with a lovely offering and great staff. They had renewed their membership in March, so they certainly didn’t expect that they would be closing down for good. For the retail sector as a whole, there is a lot of concern about how things will go and it will be …

It has been three weeks since the last positive case of Covid-19 was diagnosed in Clare. However over the last five months, 32 people have died from virus in the county while a total of 368 people have tested positive. The Health Protection Surveillance Centre confirmed this evening that there had been two further deaths nationwide from Covid-19 bringing to 1,740 the total number of people who have died from the virus. The HPSC has also been notified of nine confirmed cases of Covid-19. There is now a total of 25,498 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.  Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said; “Ireland’s 14 day incidence of Covid-19 is now less than three cases per 100,000. This is amongst the lowest in Europe and demonstrates that the disease remains suppressed in our communities. The key to maintaining this status is responsible individual behaviours and avoiding any complacency.” “HIQA’s report on mortality today demonstrates that …

THE future of the Ennis Musical Society is in doubt having suffered “substantial” losses after this year’s highly-anticipated production was shut-down due to Covid-19. However, the society is doing all it can to ensure that the show must go on and have launched an on-line fundraising campaign with a colourful, sing-along video. Ennis Musical Society were due to perform a run of Seussial the Musical last March, however Covid-19 forced the show to be cancelled after just one night. Chairperson Rachel Culligan tells us, “It was really heartbreaking to a lot of us to have put so much into the show and for the wider audience never really have gotten to see it and while we can all take comfort in the knowledge that we did the right thing it has unfortunately left Ennis Musical Society in a very critical position.” She explains that musicals cost tens of thousands of euros to put on, with sets, costumes, light, sound and …

UL Hospitals Group is reminding members of the public that the ban on visiting across its six hospitals remains in place. The activation of Phase 3 in lifting the Covid-19 public health restrictions will allow us to gradually increase elective activity across our sites. However, the visiting ban remains in place to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid-19 and to help protect the safety of patients and staff during the ongoing public health emergency. The visiting ban was introduced in early March at University Hospital Limerick, University Maternity Hospital Limerick, St John’s Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, Ennis Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. The ban also applies to the Intermediate Care Facility which opened at the UL Arena on June 8. Nor is visiting permitted to patients attending the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick or at the Injury Units in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s. “We regret the distress or inconvenience our visiting ban causes for patients and their loved …

While 11 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the last 24 hours, none were detected in Clare. Consequently, it is all of 19 days since the latest person in the county was diagnosed with the virus. The Health Protection Surveillance Centre was informed that one person with Covid-19 has died and there has now been a total of 1,736 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland. As of midnight Monday, the HPSC has been notified of 11 confirmed cases bringing to 25,473 the number of confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland. Over the past week, 24,607 tests were carried out and 116 tests were positive, giving a positivity rate of 0.5%. Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said; “Today marks six months since the WHO first received reports of what we now know to be Covid-19. Since then, there have been 10 million cases and 500,000 deaths reported worldwide. “We know more about this virus and …

The innovative work carried out by the staff of Clare County Council during the Covid-19 crisis will be highlighted on #YourCouncilDay, which takes place on Wednesday, July 1. Clare’s swift reaction to the demands of lockdown saw the Library Service introduce several initiatives including a contact and collect service, a cocooning book delivery service and more than 40 online story-time, drawing and craft workshops for children. The library also offered its 75-piece toy and sensory collection to parents of children with complex needs, and distributed 500 wellbeing packs to those that are cocooning. A writing competition for children and teenagers was launched on May 4 and more than 100 entries were submitted under the theme ‘County Clare 2020: A Day in My Life’. The competition was offered as an alternative creative activity for children and teenagers by the Clare Library Service after the schools were closed on March 15. The winning and highly commended stories were selected by award-winning children’s …

Clare has gone 18 consecutive days without a confirmed Covid-19 case but on a national scale 24 additional cases were diagnosed. To date, 1,735 lives have been claimed as a result of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland. The Department of Health have stated that nobody has died in the last 24 hours from the virus. However, an additional 24 cases have been notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). It comes on the day after the lowest amount of daily confirmed cases in June were recorded and brings to 25,462 the total amount of individuals to have tested positive. Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “We are starting to see a worrying trend, with the number of reported cases increasing, and some new clusters. As restrictions are lifted and people move about more, it’s important that we use the tools that have helped us suppress the virus to date. “Hand washing, physical distancing, cough/sneeze …

SOURCING staff during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic became a real challenge, according to Mid-West Community Healthcare chief officer, Maria Bridgeman. In a wide-ranging presentation via Zoom for members of the HSE West Forum earlier this week, Ms Bridgeman outlined the huge volume of work undertaken by the HSE and partner agencies to combat the spread of the virus once the first case was confirmed on March 4. “We had to start from scratch and identify areas that would be suitable for isolation units. The turnaround for these were required quite quickly. These units had to be kitted out in line with infection control guidelines. “One significant piece of work was setting up the community testing and swabbing teams. This involved a lot of significant work, which was resource dependent,” she said. It involved a lot of staff setting up a new information technology system called swift queue. We had to get staff to upload all the names of …