Galway COVID-19, local news and discussion

ben.schlomo

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

It's a complete fallacy to say retail amount for a minute number of cases because contact tracing can not ascertain where the virus was originally contracted in majority of cases known as community transmission.

Social distancing is key in association with proper face coverings ( not plastic visor alone) to prevent transmission and unfortunately social distancing it is lacking in many retail outlets I visited and on the streets. You need only be besides an infected person for a short period to contract the virus, you may also contract it via airbourne route indoors in poor ventilation.

My supposed fallacy is based on numbers released weekly, if you've numbers to show that retail is a prime transmission hotspot then please share them otherwise you're just disagreeing with no evidence to back it up.

Bobeagleburger

I'd be surprised if retail has contributed much to the rise in numbers tbh.

Indoor pubs yes, but retail? Doubt it.

Panda5000

ben.schlomo wrote: »

My supposed fallacy is based on numbers released weekly, if you've numbers to show that retail is a prime transmission hotspot then please share them otherwise you're just disagreeing with no evidence to back it up.

No evidence either way. The retail numbers would come up in community transmission as we don't log who is in shops and when, so we don't trace back to others that were shopping with a later confirmed case.

Bobeagleburger

Was in Dunnes knocknacarra clothes section yesterday. Quiet and everyone keeping their distance. Had zero concerns.

Storm 10

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

The potency of the disease hasn't changed

It's the cohort of those infected which has changed, younger less risk factors for an adverse outcome

That you Nox

ben.schlomo

Panda5000 wrote: »

No evidence either way. The retail numbers would come up in community transmission as we don't log who is in shops and when, so we don't trace back to others that were shopping with a later confirmed case.

https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/surveillance/covid-19outbreaksclustersinireland/

The numbers there seem to be quite clear on the settings where clusters/outbreaks occured in the different periods. Community transmission appears to be recorded separately in those numbers. Unless of course I'm misreading it.

Panda5000

Your misreading it as community transmissions aren't attributable to an outbreak/cluster. Unknown source from people going about their day. We don't log what customers were in shops and when so only transmissions between staff would be traceable.

A shop staff member could unknowingly have Covid for days. They could pass it to 20 random customers that they spent longest dealing with. That'll not get picked up as a cluster... that'll be 20 community transmission cases.

ben.schlomo

Panda5000 wrote: »

Your misreading it as community transmissions aren't attributable to an outbreak/cluster. Unknown source from people going about their day. We don't log what customers were in shops and when so only transmissions between staff would be traceable.

A shop staff member could unknowingly have Covid for days. They could pass it to 20 random customers that they spent longest dealing with. That'll not get picked up as a cluster... that'll be 20 community transmission cases.

Fair enough. But said staff member would need to be in close proximity, not wearing a face covering and spend a long period with the person, all fairly unlikely really. And anyway the point I was making is that there haven't been wholesale outbreaks in retail settings, shops closing etc in comparison to the closures across pubs and restaurants. Largely down to the limited time people spend in shops, the wearing of face coverings, the procedures in place around cleaning etc.

Panda5000

ben.schlomo wrote: »

And anyway the point I was making is that there haven't been wholesale outbreaks in retail settings, shops closing etc in comparison to the closures across pubs and restaurants.

But we don't know that as we can't attribute cases to shops like we can pubs/restaurants.

Bobeagleburger

Great to see the market still open.

thecretinhop

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/first-batch-of-covid-19-vaccine-may-be-ready-to-go-within-weeks-39662915.html

I really feel we are so close now..

Panda5000

"already has 100 million doses manufactured and ready to go"

I was wondering why there is such a shortage of flu vaccines this year!

inisboffin

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Fair enough. But said staff member would need to be in close proximity, not wearing a face covering and spend a long period with the person, all fairly unlikely really. And anyway the point I was making is that there haven't been wholesale outbreaks in retail settings, shops closing etc in comparison to the closures across pubs and restaurants. Largely down to the limited time people spend in shops, the wearing of face coverings, the procedures in place around cleaning etc.

Yes I still don't get the long period of time thing. If someone sneezes on something, you pick it up and touch your eye, that can happen in a matter of minutes. I am not saying it is super common, but I don't like the way the goalposts are different for each setting. They changed what 'close contact' is in a school for example. It's like comparing figures with apples and oranges now.

inisboffin

6 wrote: »

Great to see the market still open.

How was it? I meant to get in.
Is it only foodstuffs, veg etc?

Panda5000

inisboffin wrote: »

Yes I still don't get the long period of time thing. If someone sneezes on something, you pick it up and touch your eye, that can happen in a matter of minutes.

I agree. I guess the 15mins rule is that you're statistically much more likely to have picked it up over that duration. But I'm sure with the wrong droplet landing in the wrong place you could be unlucky and pick it up with very short contact.

Panda5000

4 further deaths. 859 new cases, 55 in Galway.

Wompa1

Panda5000 wrote: »

"already has 100 million doses manufactured and ready to go"

I was wondering why there is such a shortage of flu vaccines this year!

Big part of it is also likely that the flu shot doesn't usually have a big uptake here. Hopefully one silver lining to this BS is that it gets wider uptake in future. Apparently only 1 in 3 healthcare professionals in Ireland took the shot last year.

inisboffin

Wompa1 wrote: »

Big part of it is also likely that the flu shot doesn't usually have a big uptake here. Hopefully one silver lining to this BS is that it gets wider uptake in future. Apparently only 1 in 3 healthcare professionals in Ireland took the shot last year.

I wonder if that will change because of this. My parents are in their 80s and have never had the shot. One woman in my Mother's circle gets it but none of their other friends have ever gotten it apparently.

amandstu

inisboffin wrote: »

I wonder if that will change because of this. My parents are in their 80s and have never had the shot. One woman in my Mother's circle gets it but none of their other friends have ever gotten it apparently.

I think I have heard that vaccines can be less effective with older people.

That ,it seems is one of the major hurdles that an effective vaccine needs to surmount-being effective at a reasonable dose (so safe ) with ,in particular that cohort of society.

The very people who stand most to benefit from a vaccine may be the same people who it may be hardest to provide with a safe vaccine.

(Medical workers are a different story and I think they and similar groups will be the first to be offered vaccines if or when they become available)

Edit: I can't say whether or not a vaccine that was "ineffective" in older people might not still reduce the likelihood of a severe illness. That might still be worthwhile for many.

saabsaab

Panda5000 wrote: »

I agree. I guess the 15mins rule is that you're statistically much more likely to have picked it up over that duration. But I'm sure with the wrong droplet landing in the wrong place you could be unlucky and pick it up with very short contact.

Yes. like the 'magic' 2 Metres or wearing masks it is much less likely.

Mrs OBumble

inisboffin wrote: »

Yes I still don't get the long period of time thing. If someone sneezes on something, you pick it up and touch your eye, that can happen in a matter of minutes. I am not saying it is super common, but I don't like the way the goalposts are different for each setting. They changed what 'close contact' is in a school for example. It's like comparing figures with apples and oranges now.

Concentration. One or even a few particles aren't enough to make you sick.

But in a medium time at close range (our guideline is within 2m for 15 mins), or a longer time at longer distance (2 hours in the same room), there's a greater chance you'll get enough to sick.

This article from May describes the state of knowledge about Covid concentration then. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/health/coronavirus-transmission-dose.html I'm sure there are better ones since, but don't have link.


And it's not a given: I recently saw a HSE document (no link, it wasn't on line) saying close contacts have a 10% chance of catching it. Yes - ONLY 10%.

bodhrandude

1,025 cases nationally and 77 cases in Galway.

https://twitter.com/newschambers/status/1320419873021956096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1320419873021956096%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3%2Ccontainerclick_1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.boards.ie%2Fvbulletin%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D2058123629page%3D131

inisboffin

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Concentration. One or even a few particles aren't enough to make you sick.

But in a medium time at close range (our guideline is within 2m for 15 mins), or a longer time at longer distance (2 hours in the same room), there's a greater chance you'll get enough to sick.

This article from May describes the state of knowledge about Covid concentration then. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/health/coronavirus-transmission-dose.html I'm sure there are better ones since, but don't have link.


And it's not a given: I recently saw a HSE document (no link, it wasn't on line) saying close contacts have a 10% chance of catching it. Yes - ONLY 10%.

Yeah I get this, and like yourself, have also read contradictory information that friends shared from work and emm 'other' sources.
I feel like the whole thing with the schools may explode any day though - the way the definition of a 'close contact' has been redefined, the goalpoasts moved etc. There are of course the variables of if a person expels more air, sprays (yep) etc.

zell12

Nationally, 990 pupils at 631 secondary, primary, preschool settings have contracted Covid19.
634 schools, as of 23 Oct, have undergone mass swab testing by the HSE, which is done when a case is detected in a setting
In the Daily Mail yesterday

_Whimsical_

zell12 wrote: »

Nationally, 990 pupils at 631 secondary, primary, preschool settings have contracted Covid19.
634 schools, as of 23 Oct, have undergone mass swab testing by the HSE, which is done when a case is detected in a setting
In the Daily Mail yesterday

Seems like a lot over an 8-9 wk period. Without closures would we expect that rate of infection to remain at best constant?

The guy who does the modeling spoke about it a few weeks ago at one of the conferences and said that while the numbers look large that when adjusted for the entire school going population it translated to roughly the same level of infection as seen in the wider community so they did not regard schools as a problem.
Then again you'd have to wonder if we really know what drives numbers.

There was an article in NYT this weekend about Long Covid in children and teens. Seems to be emerging evidence that despite mild initial symptoms kids can be left with lingering illness of varying severity. There isn't much research done on it yet however because as children present with very mild illness on contracting Covid, they may never get tested for it, and parents might not associate long term malaise/illness with Covid at all. That picture will become clearer in time. It's concerning though.

bodhrandude

939 cases and 3 deaths nationally and 53 cases for Galway.

Stewball

Are they not giving Hospital numbers anymore?

I know they're giving a total number - but I haven't seen a breakdown of which Hospitals have x number of covid admissions.

Happyilylost

Stewball wrote:

Are they not giving Hospital numbers anymore?

Stewball wrote:

I know they're giving a total number - but I haven't seen a breakdown of which Hospitals have x number of covid admissions.

From a briefing earlier:

"There are 21 coronavirus patients in Galway hospitals today – with 16 attending UHG and five at Portiuncula Hospital Ballinasloe.

Meanwhile, six further patients are undergoing general treatment for suspected cases of the virus in the city and county, with five at UHG and one at Portiuncula Hospital."

Cluedo Monopoly

Happyilylost wrote: »

From a briefing earlier:

"There are 21 coronavirus patients in Galway hospitals today – with 16 attending UHG and five at Portiuncula Hospital Ballinasloe.

Meanwhile, six further patients are undergoing general treatment for suspected cases of the virus in the city and county, with five at UHG and one at Portiuncula Hospital."

I am also hearing about a surge in cases around Galway.
We are already 5th in the 14 day rate.

CruelSummer

Happyilylost wrote: »

From a briefing earlier:

"There are 21 coronavirus patients in Galway hospitals today – with 16 attending UHG and five at Portiuncula Hospital Ballinasloe.

Meanwhile, six further patients are undergoing general treatment for suspected cases of the virus in the city and county, with five at UHG and one at Portiuncula Hospital."

Could someone who works in a hospital clarify these figures. On the main Covid thread, it seems suspected cases are people in for other medical procedures & put down as a suspected case until their test comes back.
Also it has been suggested that somewhere between 30-45% of all cases listed as ‘hospitalised’ Covid cases, are actually people in with something else & who happen to test positive for Covid. I think the HSE should clarify this.