Galway COVID-19, local news and discussion

Neachtains back open again today

O'Reilly's in Salthill were closed yesterday, sign on the door said it was due to a case among the staff.

Just wondering about the reported current high rates of incidence of infection in Galway.

Looking at the Covid app I can see that Connemara North's 2 week rate is now around the national average (up from zero from before the system was hacked) and also that Galway Central is 2 or 3 times higher.

Is that tied into the University as I remember noticing this in the past?

If so would it be reasonable to exclude the shopping centre in Shop Street etc from those Galway Central figures,If they are really more reflective of actual student accommodation in the town?

I revisited this establishment and again was not asked anything for indoor dining .

Different employee and I am not know to them, so they could not claim they knew my status

A misunderstanding,I think.I just meant to mentally exclude them so as to better understand what the figures represented.

Ie ,the infection rate in the centre of town might not be as high as the 2 week rate for Galway Central might otherwise indicate.

Not open.

I know I saw an announcement that they'd some building work to do, and hope to be open in September. Cannot find it now though.

No builders have been seen around the building.

There are some rumours around the town about the building. Not gonna put them here because I have no idea how true or otherwise.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Clinic at Clifden Community School will close next week after the last appointments there have been fulfilled.

2074 cases nationally today Sat Aug 14th 2021

Are students already back?

Yeah, but it's not 300, it 5,000 and the grass is getting trashed and littered with broken glasss

It's funny I passed through the Square this morning and noticed in some places how poor the grass areas were and thought to myself isn't it strange it hasn't been mentioned on Boards.

Was in the Square a couple of weeks ago during the day. It was a pigsty. Wouldn't be too bothered by the dead grass. Eyes were drawn more to all of the litter and vomit around the place. It was 11am on a Saturday morning too. Posted on here before that I brought my inlaws into the city, walked down by the waterways and then up to cross street, there were bottles all f*cked into the canal and shattered glass along the grass. Couldn't let the kids sit down to look at the ducks. The city has always had a litter problem though. Seems the smart bins have made f*ck all difference.

To be fair, they do usually clean up in the mornings. It just seemed they either did a poor job of cleanup that morning OR the mess was made after they cleaned up. My bet is the latter. There was a crowd of drunks around.

UHG is dealing with an outbreak (defined as two or more positive cases of COVID 19) and therefore some visitor restrictions are now in place.

I saw the 800 health workers getting Covid in August on RTE but they didn't mention they were all vaccinated. I know they should be, but are they sure those are all breakthrough cases?

I can't track down Phil Ni Sheagdha's quote anywhere.

She was interviewed on TV3 news last wk and said exactly that. It's not Galway, it's countrywide.

As she is the head of the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation I'd imagine she's not talking about general hospital staff and is specifically speaking about patient-facing roles.

That's why I wasn't assuming they were 100% vaccinated. I don't remember them specifically saying they were in the report.

Has it ever been confirmed that 100% of healthcare workers took the vaccine? I'm assuming they did but then before COVID-19, only 1 in 3 healthcare workers got the flu vaccine each year so who knows.

Israel is now offering a booster to all who got their 2nd dose 5+ months ago.

Not 2/3rds of them though.

I worked for a group of private hospitals overseas. Flu vaccine was mandatory. If someone genuinely couldn't get the vaccine for a valid reason, they had to wear a mask at all times in the hospital. 96% of staff got the flu vaccine..while they said you could work but with a mask, your hiring manager would have a word with you if you didn't get the jab or even didn't get it before a set deadline. I worked remotely for my last 2 years and even so, I was expected to get the vaccine each year or show proof that I couldn't get it.

How is the demand so high when most people have the vaccine?

Because the vaccine's stated primary benefit is reducing the severity of infections rather than preventing infections.

Because people are following health advice and getting tested when they have symptoms, even if those symptoms could turn out to be something other than Covid-19.