Covid-19 - Thurles Information

Influenza & Covid-19 Cases In Ireland Increasing.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) are warning that an increase in influenza and Covid-19 cases will lead to increased pressure on hospitals and the wider health service in the coming weeks.

This warning comes following a rise in the number of people with respiratory illnesses attending emergency departments this week.

This news also comes as Health Minister Mr Stephen Donnelly admits that there can be no end in sight to the trolley crisis at University Hospital Limerick, latter the medical facility serving North Tipperary.

On last Friday, December 29th at University Hospital, Limerick 14 persons were on trolleys in corridors, 22 were on trolleys in wards; in total 36 patients altogether on trolleys within UHL.

New Variant Of Covid-19, Named ‘Eris’ Detected In Ireland.

A new variant of Covid-19, a descendant of Omicron, designated EG.5 and named ‘Eris’ has been detected in Ireland, according to the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The World Health Organization (WHO) has not designated EG.5 as a variant of concern or while being closely monitored, is not a variant of interest. The HSE have stated that ‘Eris’ however is more transmissible than previous circulating variants and has been associated with recent outbreaks in hospitals in Ireland, the USA and in England; in the case of the latter classified as a variant on July 31st last.

The symptoms of ‘Eris’ are as follows: Sore throat; Runny nose; Blocked nose; Sneezing; Dry cough; Headache; Wet cough; Hoarse voice; Muscle aches and Altered smell.

**New variant of Covid-19, a descendant of Omicron, designated EG.5, on the rise.**
*Pic. G. Willoughby*.

The Public Health Agency said that the Sars-COV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, remains in circulation and is constantly evolving, with new variants arising frequently. With summer holidays the rise in cases at home and internationally is being driven by greater indoor interaction, increased international travel and obviously waning immunity.

There remain currently known, some 408 cases in hospitals with the virus, up from 121 two weeks ago, and of these, 12 people remain in ICU.

However it should be kept in mind that sadly, since the pandemic began, there have been some 1.7 million PCR cases confirmed as having Covid-19 and 9,125 deaths recorded in Ireland.
Globally, some 1 million new covid-19 cases and more than 3,100 deaths were reported in the 28 days up to August 3rd last, according to the latest World Health Organization report. This brings the death toll to almost 7 million since the pandemic began.

Covid-19 Infections Rise Last Month.

The Heath Service Executive (HSE) has said it is currently seeing a slight increase in Covid-19 infections here in the Irish State, which in turn is causing a slight increase in hospital admissions.

During May and June infection indicators had shown a downward trend, however same began to increase again at towards the end of June, possibly due to overseas travel; as a similar trend is also occurring in the UK.

The number of patients in ICU, with Covid-19 infection did increase slightly during the month of July, but remained relatively low. Currently this month saw ten patients in ICU’s, compared to three patients one month earlier, at the start of July.

St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny has acknowledged that it is dealing with an outbreak of Covid-19 infections resulting in the suspension of visitors, except for their maternity unit and in other exceptional circumstances.
St Luke’s Hospital has stated that there are a number of Covid and non-Covid patients presenting to its emergency department and while all urgent care cases should still attend the hospital, it did urge people to consider other options, if possible, before coming to their emergency department.

Several outbreaks are also being managed on inpatient wards at University Hospital Limerick.

Earlier this week, University Hospital Galway said it was also dealing with a Covid-19 outbreak, with 39 Covid patients in the hospital; thus leaving five wards affected. Visiting restrictions are fully in place in areas of the hospital affected by these outbreaks.

Judge Rejects Legal Cost Request From Three Claimants Re. Covid-19 Vaccine Abuse.

A High Court judge, Mr Michael Twomey, has ruled that the Irish taxpayer will not be required to bear the burden of legal costs by three individuals each seeking court orders, demanding the mass exhumation of all people under 80-years, who sadly died suddenly after getting Covid-19 vaccinations.
The granting of such an order, by the judge, would have meant that same claimants would not have to pay the legal costs of taking their proceedings, if they were unsuccessful in their upcoming legal action.

The three claimants, named as Mr Emmanual Lavery, Rear Cross, Co Tipperary; Ms Sharon Browne Garryowen, Co Limerick and Mr David Egan with an address in Galway City, also were claiming that the vaccine was a bio-weapon and compared the administration of same to the actions of the Nazis, during the second World War. Other claims made by the three individuals included assertions that Covid-19 vaccine inserts nano-chips into recipients, and that the use of the bioweapon is part of a plan by US tech Billionaire Mr Bill Gates to depopulate the world.

The three above named persons also wanted the court to make orders preventing children aged between 5 and 11 years from receiving future Covid-19 vaccination, while all bodies exhumed should undergo a post-mortem examination by pathologists who specialise in understanding the nature and causes of disease.

The court proceedings had been sought against An Taoiseach, the Health Service Executive and the Minister for Health, each of whom oppose the action, claiming same as being alarmist and scandalous.

Mr Justice Twomey stated that while the outcome of the case was a matter for the judge, hearing the full action, the court was not convinced that the claims by the three named individuals had any real prospect of success and neither did the claimants have the right to make extraordinary broad and scandalous claims, same based on what he described as “internet speculation”, incurring a cost to the Irish taxpayer.

The judge, presiding at the pre-trial application, said that he deemed the action, which includes baseless claims of mass killings and comparisons to Nazi Germany, as an abuse of legal process.

Adjourning the matter to a date next month; Mr Justice Twomey stated that he was taking the provisional view that the costs of the one day, High Court preliminary hearing, should be measured and paid for by the three claimants.

Visiting Restrictions Introduced At Nenagh Hospital, Due To Resurgence Of Covid-19.

Visiting restrictions have once more been introduced at Nenagh Hospital, Nenagh, North Co. Tipperary, following a new outbreak of Covid-19.

The UL Hospitals Group latter made up of 6 hospital sites in the Midwest; have stated that they regret the inconvenience which this restriction will cause to inpatients and visiting loved ones, but same restrictions are indeed necessary to protect the health and safety of both patients and staff while keeping essential healthcare services open for patients.

Exceptions to the restrictions will be made on certain compassionate grounds i.e. patients critically ill or at end-of-life, and patients with dementia.

All appropriate infection control precautions, we are informed, are being followed to control the further spreading COVID-19 infection amongst the immediate and wider Nenagh community.

News of an increase of Covid cases in Thurles has also been confirmed, per local Knowledge.

Back in China, some three months past, same country experienced an unprecedented surge in cases that fuelling global concern over a newer Covid variant.

Leaked details from an internal NHC medical network meeting suggested that as many as 250 million people in China had been infected in early December, including 37 million persons in just a single day.
Same news saw the response of countries, latter who clamped down restricting entry from Chinese travellers.
Professor Daniel Lucey at the US Dartmouth Geisel Medical School of Medicine, has warned that the medical community should be on the lookout for what could become Pi, Rho or Sigma — a variant that’s potentially more immune-evasive and more virulent than current Covid strains.

Note: All Supermarket outlets, and Thurles Shopping centre, with the exception of Lidl Thurles, daily maintain the presence of hand sanitiser, despite some complaints made to Lidl’s head office’s Customer Care Service at Tel. No. 01 9203010; latter which failed to fully rectify the situation.

Best to hold on to those face masks, well for the time being at least.