Galway’s Covid numbers begin to fall from October spike

The rampant rise in Coronavirus numbers in Galway last month saw Covid-19 cases almost treble – meaning that October alone accounted for two thirds of the county’s total confirmed cases since March.

And as cases spiralled, so too did the economic misery as the number of Galwegians in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment soared by almost 3,000, a jump of 23% in just a week, reflecting the massive hardship inflicted by Level 5 lockdown closures.

New hospitalisations and ICU admissions continue to put pressure on local hospitals. UHG is not yet overwhelmed but nearing capacity, according to HSE figures, and Portiuncula is suffering overcrowding – on Wednesday morning there were ten patients on trolleys in the Ballinasloe Emergency Department waiting for a bed to become available, the INMO nursing union said.

A total of 1,521 people tested positive for the deadly disease in the month of October, representing about 66% of the running total of cases as of the end of the month (2,307).

But there are signs that the Level 3 restrictions introduced in Galway and nationwide, as of midnight October 6, are beginning to impact on numbers.

The incidence rate per 100,000 population in Galway fell to 283.3 as of Saturday, and fell further on Monday when it stood at 256.9 per 100,000 or 663 cases in the previous fortnight.

Though that’s still higher than the national average incidence rate (228.0), and the seventh worst out of 26 counties, it is a steep reduction in just two weeks. The previous fortnightly incidence rates in Galway stood at 385.6 and 313.9.

See full Covid coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or download our digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie