It’s more relatively good news for the people of Wexford…
Wexford – Per Capita:
New figures released by the Department of Health this evening shows that there’s now 212 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in County Wexford.
This does not represent any increase of Covid-19 cases in Wexford in the past 24 hours.
Wexford, with a population of approximately 150,000 has the second lowest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Republic of Ireland. Our coastal neighbour, Waterford, is the only county with less Covid-19 cases per-capita than Wexford.
Some counties with a similar population to Wexford are Kerry, Wicklow and Donegal (plus or minus 10,000 people). Kerry have 307 cases, Donegal have 475, and Wicklow have reported 657 cases, though this is likely due to their proximity to Ireland’s Covid-19 hotspot, Dublin, which accounts for 49% of Ireland’s overall cases.
Meanwhile, there are no Covid-19 cases in the Intensive Care Unit of Wexford General Hospital and the unit remains empty.
Republic of Ireland – Fallen cases:
The overall figures across the Republic of Ireland have notably started to decrease. Today, Monday 18th May, the same day that Ireland entered Phase 1 of the ‘lockdown’ exit, seen the country’s new Covid cases fall to less than 100, 88 to be exact.
Meanwhile, four Covid related deaths were reported in the last 24 hours which is the country’s lowest Covid-19 related death toll since March 27 – almost seven weeks ago.
It doesn’t feel like too long ago since shocking – and scary numbers – were broadcasted daily across our mobile phone screens and on our television screens. 936 cases were reported on April 23rd, and new daily cases in their hundreds became a common feature of each daily news bulletin.
At the time of writing, the Republic of Ireland has 24,200 confirmed cases, while 1,547 Covid-19 related deaths have been confirmed by health professionals.
19,470 people have recovered from Covid-19. This accounts for 80.4% of the Irish public who contracted the virus.
If we were to place that overall domestic figure over Wexford’s current cases, approximately 170 people have recovered.
Republic of Ireland – Per Capita:
However, if we were to look at the Republic of Ireland’s cases per million, the same way we assessed Wexford’s cases per 100,000, it does tell a somewhat bleak story too.
Even though there is a 80% recovery rate in the Republic of Ireland, when we compare ROI’s cases with the cases around the world, the handling of this virus is not something to be overly-proud of either.
Per million, the Republic of Ireland have 314 cases, which at that at the time of writing is higher than the USA (277), while this data also shows that Ireland has the eight highest Covid-19 related death toll per-million in the world.
A new normal:
Questions still remain in place as the world continues to battle with this virus. As we have now entered Phase 1, some restrictions have been lifted and some people have returned to work.
Some shops have started to reopen for business, and the new normal, where social distancing is observed and where people are wearing face masks, has now started.
Let’s hope that this process through the five phases is a smooth one.
