Covid cases on the rise again

STILL LINGERING 24 patients tested positive for Covid-19 in Mayo University Hospital on last Sunday, June 26.

Anton McNulty

A RURAL GP has asked people who have yet to receive the Covid-19 vaccine to do so after saying that the virus is once again rampant in the community.
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Mayo has started to increase since the beginning of June with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre confirming 576 new cases since the start of the month.
This figure includes only PCR tests and with the HSE reducing the number of PCR tests in the county, the real figure is expected to be increasingly higher.
There has been no up to date official figures on Covid-19 cases in each electoral area in Mayo since mid-May but there has been a recent surge in the number of cases recorded in Mayo University Hospital in the last two weeks.
The latest figures released by the HSE on Covid cases in hospitals throughout the country show that as of 8pm on Sunday, June 26 there is 24 confirmed cases in Mayo University Hospital, an increase of four cases from the previous Sunday. On Saturday, June 25, there was 27 cases confirmed in the hospital which was the highest figure of the last seven days.
None of the 24 confirmed cases in the hospital are in the Intensive Care Unit of Mayo University Hospital.
Mulranny-based GP Dr Jerry Cowley told The Mayo News that from his experience Covid is once again spreading through the community and the only reason hospitalisations are not as high is because of the vaccine.
“It’s rampant,” he said of the coronavirus. “But thanks to the vaccine people are not dying of it. They are not hugely affected by it, but it is everywhere,” he said.
Dr Cowley also feels that the vaccine has made a difference in preventing long Covid and urged people who have yet to get vaccinated to do so.
“Get vaccinated. It’s an imperative,” he said when asked what advice he had for people during the current surge.
“Thanks to the vaccine, it has made a major difference. People have been wise in taking the vaccine. It has been the difference between life and death, between a life disability and a life of ease.”