One in five nursing homes deaths since beginning of January resulted from Covid-19 infections

Just under one in five deaths in Irish nursing homes since the beginning of January resulted from Covid-19 infections it has emerged.

Of 3,244 deaths in such residential settings since the beginning of the year, 586 resulted from either confirmed or probable cases of the coronavirus.

Kathleen MacLellan, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health, told the latest briefing by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) that a census of mortality in long-term residential care settings, conducted between April 17 and 19, was done in order to gain insight into whether or not a spike in deaths in such settings towards the end of March was purely attributable to Covid-19.

She said that the Department is “reasonably confident” that the increase in deaths seen compared with previous years is indeed due to the outbreak of the virus.

The news comes as the briefing revealed that

Read More:

Meanwhile, 376 additional confirmed cases have been noted bringing Ireland’s overall total of confirmed infections to 20,253.

In terms of the mortality census, Ms MacLellan pointed out that Ireland “is one of the few countries” to have collected and officially reported data from such residential settings since the start of the pandemic.

“As we continue to collect and report mortality data coming from this sector we will have a greater understanding of the behaviour of the disease in this setting and it will help us to inform public health actions and clinical care,” she said.

It was likewise reaffirmed that the policy on testing for people seeking to access, or return to, a residential care setting is that they return two separate negative swabs for the disease before that can be allowed.

Separately, there have been 16 deaths in disability care settings as a result of infections, and 14 in mental health treatment facilities. A second death of a person in the age 15-24 cohort has been recorded, Dr Tony Holohan, the chief medical officer, said.

He added that Ireland now has a 70% recovery rate from the illness, split between 64% of cases recovering in the community and 6% in hospitals.

The current restrictions started on Friday, March 27. They mandate that everyone should stay at home, only leaving to:
• Shop for essential food and household goods;
• Attend medical appointments, collect medicine or other health products;
• Care for children, older people or other vulnerable people - this excludes social family visits;
• Exercise outdoors - within 2kms of your home and only with members of your own household, keeping 2 metres distance between you and other people
• Travel to work if you provide an essential service - be sure to practice physical distancing

Regarding the crisis seen in the nursing home sector, Dr Holohan said that there have now been 369 clusters (that is, two or more cases in the same place) in long term residential care settings, an increase of nine from 24 hours previous.

All told 697 of the deaths seen to date, or 59%, have resulted from infections noted in such settings. In nursing homes alone, the number is 593.

Regarding the pending meeting of NPHET this Friday, at which the various measures and timings regarding a lifting of the restrictions that are in place will be finalised, Dr Holohan said that “if I’m honest I don’t see the restrictions being lifted, no”.

He said that the percentage daily growth rate in deaths continues to drop, while patients currently in critical care has dropped to 129. Asked how low he wishes the intensive care numbers to be before he would feel in a position to drop restrictions, Dr Holohan said “I want it to go as low as it can go”.

He said that the change in the case definition for Covid-19 testing, which went live on Tuesday, had given rise to a “substantial, though expected” increase in test referrals from GPs.