Galway Bay FM Newsroom – The Incidence rate for Covid 19 in Galway Electoral areas has seen a marked increase since August according to the Central Statistics Office with a dramatic increase throughout the month of December,

According to information released by the CSO, the incidence rate remained low in the county throughout the month of August with a slight increase reported in the Tuam and Connemara South Electoral Areas in Early September.

By the 21st of September, this increase in the Incidence rate had spread to The Loughrea, Kinvara and Athenry/Oranmore Local electoral areas with all reporting an incidence rate of 60-120 cases per 100,000.

At the end of Seprtember, Galway City reported an incidence rate of 120-240 cases per 100,000 bringing it in line wiith all other areas bar the Ballinasloe electoral area that still showed a low rate.

Throughout October, the numbers would rise throughout the county but fell throughout the month of November during which period, the country was in Level Five Lockdown.

However, the lifting of restrictions which began on the 1st of December, saw another increase in the incidence rate in the city and county and on the 11th of January, three areas, Tuam, Ballinasloe and Gort/Kinvara had incidence rates of over 960 cases per 100,000 with the remainder between 480 and 960 per 100,000.

Currently, the Incidence Rate For Galway Electoral Areas (per 100,000 people) is as follows:

Gort/Kinvara – 1467.8

Tuam – 1334.6

Galway City – 1090.4

Ballinasloe – 1077.9

Athenry/Oranmore – 974.6

Connamara South – 731

Loughrea – 577.1

Connamara North – 407.2

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Galway County Council has been criticised in the Dáil for an alleged lack of urgency in addressing its historic links with the Tuam mother and baby home.

It’s as the local authority is due to discuss the issue at its plenary meeting on Monday and issue a statement.

Previously, the council said it was important to take time to read and consider the final report, while affording all those with a personal connection to the former home a similar opportunity.

However, Junior Minister and Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte told the Dáil she was ‘horrified’ to see the matter was way down the list of items on Monday’s agenda.

Addressing the Dáil, Fianna Fail Deputy Anne Rabbitte says the level of priority being given to the matter is unacceptable.

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 52 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

50* of these deaths occurred in January.

The median age of those who died is 82 years and the age range is 39-99 years.

There has been a total of 2,870 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Thursday 21st January, the HPSC has been notified of 2,371 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 184,279** confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. 

Of the cases notified today:

• 1,129 are men / 1,194 are women
• 57% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 40 years old
• 757 in Dublin, 237 in Cork, 154 in Waterford, 123 in Wexford, 114 in Louth, and the remaining 986 cases are spread across all other counties***. 

As of 2pm today, 1,931 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 219 are in ICU. 78 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer said: “We know that the ongoing restrictions are very challenging for people but, through the hard work and sacrifice of the vast majority of people, we are starting to see the first signs of a lower prevalence of the disease in the population. Strictly adhering to the public health measures is the key to making real progress in terms of flattening the curve and lowering the current trends in our hospitals and ICUs.

“The ‘COVID-19 find-test-trace-isolate’ process is vital to our efforts. Our data is telling us that for a third of people, it’s 4 days or more from the time they first experience symptoms of COVID-19 to the time they get tested. We all need to contact our GP as soon as symptoms occur, so we can trace our contacts and prevent further infections.

“This weekend, we need everyone to stay the course with hand washing, covering coughs, wearing face coverings and keeping a 2m distance. In order to take care of each other, we need all to stay at home, except for essential reasons, to minimise the spread of COVID-19 to ourselves and our loved ones.”

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.

ENDS//

*There are 2 deaths where the date of death is under investigation.

**Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 14 confirmed cases. The figure of 184,279 confirmed cases reflects this.

***County data should be considered provisional as the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting System (CIDR) is a dynamic system and case details are continually being validated and updated.

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 21 January 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

7-day incidence 372.6

5-day moving average 2,315