Free mass testing for Mary Immaculate students after Covid spike

Almost 50 cases of Covid-19 have been linked to an outbreak among students living in off-campus accommodation in Limerick City

Mary Immaculate College president Professor Eugene Wall said the majority of the cases were recorded in the past four weeks, with a sharp increase in recent days. Picture: Brian Arthur

Free mass testing is to be offered to all students at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) in response to a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. 

Almost 50 cases have been linked to an outbreak amongst MIC students living in off-campus accommodation in Limerick City since the start of the year, with a sharp increase recorded in the last week.

The Department of Public Health Mid-West is now encouraging all MIC students to avail of the mass testing to be rolled out this week, in order to protect themselves, their households, and their community.

“Since the B117 variant has become the dominant strain in Ireland, single cases are escalating quickly to whole households being infected and then quickly spreading to others,” a spokesman said.

In a message to students, Professor Eugene Wall, MIC president, said the current strain of B117 circulating in the community is far more transmissible than previous variants of the disease.

“Current evidence suggests that these cases occurred as a result of increased social mixing between houses, resulting in multi-household outbreaks among the student population in the city centre.” 

This new variant means that a single case can lead rapidly to whole households becoming infected. 

“If one member of an affected household visits a friend in another house for a cup of tea or a chat, the infection quickly spreads to the next household and, so, simple day-to-day social interactions are leading to significant increases in positive cases.” 

Many young people with the virus may have no symptoms, and may unwittingly spread it, he added. 

Meanwhile, a further 321 Covid-19 cases have been linked to a separate outbreak among the student population in the Castletroy area of Limerick since the start of the year. The vast majority of which were recorded since February.