Covid cases to hit 6,000 today as pressure grows on health service
Such is the pressure on the system, Cork University Hospital (CUH) confirmed that 100 of its nurses are unable to work due to “Covid reasons” and one of its wards has been shut as a result. Picture: Larry Cummins
The head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) has warned that the daily number of positive Covid-19 tests will reach 7,000.
Paul Reid said the HSE is now currently meeting the demand that is “coming at us at an absolutely phenomenal rate”.
Mr Reid added: “We have seen cases (at) almost 5,000 (yesterday) and would expect to see those cases in the next few days reaching 7,000, certainly over 6,000 this evening.
“Some of the backlog is being washed through but the minimal rate is certainly above a base of 5,000 people. That’s what we are dealing with. This is now rampant in terms of transmission levels.
“We probably have seen a massive multiplier effect – we have seen rapidly growing cases, rapidly growing positivity at 30% yesterday, multiplied by numerous contacts that people have, and that comes together in a very congested period of time.
Around 3,000 healthcare workers are currently unavailable because they either have the virus or are close contacts.
Mr Reid said steps will be taken this week to scale back non-urgent care in our hospitals, as covid will have to be prioritised.
He said: "We'll be taking a range of actions in discussions today with our hospital group's CEOs and during the course of this week we will have to significantly wind back on what we call elective care."
People who are close contacts of a confirmed case aren’t being offered a test at present because of the huge demands in the system.
Mr Reid said there may come a point where the system is overwhelmed and they will have to prioritise who gets a test even further.
Just four days into the new year, the country’s hospital system is near breaking point following an “explosion” in Covid-19 cases.
Such is the pressure on the system, Cork University Hospital (CUH) confirmed that 100 of its nurses are unable to work due to “Covid reasons” and one of its wards has been shut as a result.
The hospital's intensive care unit is not currently full, but is “extremely busy”, according to a spokesman.
The news came as two Government leaders — Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan — said the current Level 5 restrictions could be extended beyond January 31.
Mr Ryan also said the current travel limit of 5km from one's home could be reduced to 2km when Cabinet meets on Wednesday.
On foot of the sharp spike in positive Covid cases, the HSE has warned doctors that testing may not soon be available to all patients showing symptoms.
A letter to GPs from Dr Nuala O’Connor of the Irish College of General Practitioners, seen by the , said: “It is possible in the coming weeks that we may revert to targeted testing of symptomatic groups rather than testing everyone with symptoms as we did in the first phase of the pandemic.”
With a record 4,962 new cases reported yesterday, deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn delivered a stark appeal to the public to act as if they have the virus, and avoid all but essential movements outside the home.
“Sticking with the letter of the guidance will not be enough at this point — we need everyone to stick once again to the spirit of the guidance, to stay at home,” Dr Glynn said.
"We're asking all employees across the country that don't absolutely have to be in the workplace to work from home tomorrow.
"Equally, we believe it's essential that employers facilitate employees and so far as is possible in working from home. We all need to act as one now. We all need to act as if it's March 2020 and that's a very difficult message,” he said.
Yesterday, Dr Colm Henry, the HSE's chief clinical officer, said the virus is “out of control” in the community, and that as many as 400 beds across the hospital system are currently out of action because of infection control measures and a lack of staff.
In a statement, CUH confirmed that over 100 nurses at the hospital are out due to Covid-19.
“The ICU at the hospital is not currently full but is extremely busy," CUH stated. "In order to manage the situation, aside from emergency surgery, only time-critical elective cancer surgery has been scheduled for next week. Outpatient services are also greatly reduced next week.”
Speaking about the situation in CUH, infectious diseases consultant Professor Mary Horgan said critical care capacity was really important “not just for Covid, but for non-Covid care".
Prof Horgan said: “The hospital has prepared for this for the last few months.
“We weren’t as busy as we anticipated in October/November, and that afforded us the opportunity in the last few weeks to prepare for increased numbers of admissions.”
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Varadkar said all the main indicators are showing dramatic increases which, he said, is very concerning.
“We can see hospitalisations increasing at a rapid rate," the Tánaiste said. "What we're seeing is an explosion of cases beyond any of our modelling or any of our projections from only a few weeks ago.”
Mr Varadkar said that, despite the worrying rise in the numbers, it is not inevitable the hospital system will be overwhelmed.
Regarding schools, he said it is the firm intention of the Government to open schools and preschools on January 11 as planned.
“We certainly don't have any advice from the public health experts that we should close schools,” he said.
Mr Ryan said travel restrictions may be tightened further.
"It's always in our hands the level of contact we have ... whether that's reducing the travel restrictions from 5km down to 2km — which we did last March and April — and there's a range of different measures we could look at," he told Newstalk.
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