Tag Archives: pandemic

JUST over 352,000 people used Shannon Airport in 2020, a 79% drop on 2019, Shannon Group has revealed. Shannon Group’s heritage sites, which include Bunratty and King John’s Castles, had 302,000 visitors last year, which was down by almost 69% on 2019. CEO of Shannon Group Mary Considine said that while Covid-19 did huge damage to its business, there is a basis for recovery. “Covid-19 had a devastating impact on two of our three business operations, but with the right supports, the foundations for recovery exist within Shannon Group, namely our improved core airport infrastructure, vibrant property portfolio, strong tourism offering and vibrant aviation cluster.” Aviation is on the floor now, but she says there are positive signs for Shannon. ““With Ryanair set to reopen its base and operate 14 new routes from Shannon for Summer ’21 there are green shoots, but we recognise that recovery will be slow, rebuilding will take time, but we will get there. Crucial to …

The Department of Public Health Mid-West is strongly urging Clare people to review their Christmas plans, as Covid-19 infections continue to increase at an “alarming” rate. Over the past eight days, there have been more than 300 Covid-19 cases in the region. The vast majority of these cases have been recorded in Limerick, which has seen one of its largest spikes in infections since the start of the pandemic. Unlike any other period in the pandemic due to the nature of the festive season, the Department of Public Health pointed out there have been approximately three weeks of large social gatherings that have continuously intensified to date. Preliminary evidence indicates that gatherings among families, in private households, organised events, and in the hospitality sector, are now associated with outbreaks. The Public Health Mid-West team is managing outbreaks and new cases in extended families, private households, residential care settings, workplaces, the hospitality sector and in the community. Dr Rose Fitzgerald, Specialist …

LATEST figures show that there are 7,513 Clare people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. The figure has increased marginally over the last week, but is significantly lower than the peak number of 14,600 receiving it in early May. Across the country there are now 352,000 people in receipt of the PUP, a number that has increased by over 145,000 since the start of October. The pandemic is wreaking destruction on the domestic economy in particular, and has shut down the county’s hospitality sector, which is particularly important in the west of Clare. Kilkee-based Councillor Cillian Murphy said this week that his home town is very quiet. “There’s nowhere open, nowhere open. There’s probably two places in Kilkee to get coffee, just on a takeaway basis. “When you have a big reliance on seasonal tourism that’s what can happen. At this time of year you’d have weekend trade, Monday to Thursday would be harmless enough especially in the run up to …

AS CLARE’S Covid-19 infection rate continues to rise, a busy family doctor has warned that many people, who should be self-isolating, in line with public health advice, are failing to do so and putting others at risk. Dr Yvonne Williams from Shannon said she was concerned that people who should be restricting their movements, while they have potential symptoms, are not listening to the advice of their GPs or the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). ‘What I am finding is that people are still going out and about with coughs and other possible symptoms,” she said. “The truth is that you can’t say that something is just a sinus infection, or just a chest infection or a just a sore throat until you have a negative Covid-19 test. If you are unwell in any way, we have to treat that as Covid until it is proven otherwise.” Dr Williams also expressed concerns over turnaround times for tests which she …

A VERY homely and comfortable bar, O’Neills in Newmarket on Fergus has been in Ann McNamara’s family since 1900. Having come through wars, recessions and storms over the years, Ann was determined that Covid-19 wouldn’t finish off the business. Not on her watch. ” I don’t know how many people used to ask will it open again, but I said that after 120 years in the family, I wasn’t going to be the one to close the doors. I do my best to accommodate our regulars, and that’s what I love to be able to do,” she said on Monday, one week on from its reopening after six months. Looking from her home across the road at the locked up pub was difficult, and she’s delighted to be back. “It was unbelievable, we are 120 years in business and for the first month or two it was a grand break, but after that…” As is the case with many rural …

THE number of people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment in the Banner is now down to 4,521. At its height in early May, it was more than three times this number with 14,664 people receiving it. At this stage, many companies have resumed operations, although obviously aviation related companies in Clare are still under serious pressure. While the lack of international tourism certainly hit parts of the country hard, most of Clare’s tourism sector seems to have escaped the worst of it, with a boom in staycationers compensating for the lack of foreign visitors. This week the payments people receive were adjusted, with the top rate falling to €300, while a new rate of €250 was introduced for those whose pre-Covid earnings were between €200 and €300. There is also a lower rate of €203 for those who were earning less than €200 per week. In its recently launched Resilience and Recovery document, the government stated that there may have …

THE government is being warned that more people will die from delayed and missed cancer diagnoses, than from Covid-19, unless funding for oncology treatment and screening is properly supported over the course of the pandemic. Medical card campaigner John Wall, who himself has Stage IV cancer, was reacting to a briefing from The Department of Health outlining reduced services, as well as major increase in waiting lists. “Obviously, the pandemic is absolutely catastrophic,” he said. “But, the fact is that more people are dying every day of the week from cancer than from Covid-19. Covid cases must be dealt with in conjunction with oncology services. There is no doubt but that those delivering health services are doing their very best, but the reality is that people are already going undiagnosed and cancers are being missed, and that before you factor in the impact of Covid-19. I see, every day, the issues that people are having when they don’t get a …

FIVE new cases of Covid-19 are among a total of 92 confirmed today (Thursday, August 13) by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). Eight cases have been confirmed in Limerick. There have been no new deaths reported. There has now been a total of 1,774 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. As of midnight Wednesday August 12, the HPSC has been notified of 92 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 26,929 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. Of the cases notified today; • 43 are men / 48 are women • 72% are under 45 years of age • 43 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case • 12 cases have been identified as community transmission • 24 in Dublin, 24 in Kildare, 8 in Limerick, 6 in Carlow, 6 in Kilkenny, 5 in Meath, 5 in Clare, and remaining 14 cases are in Cork, Donegal, Kerry, Laois, Louth, …