Search Results for 'Infectious diseases'

The so-called ‘Spanish Flu’ of 1918/19 came in three phases, leading to the false hope that as each phase appeared to be on the wane, it only returned with a vengeance, creating misery and fear throughout the country.

[Week II. Read Part I.] The 1918 General Election on December 14 was the most significant election in modern Irish history. Following the events of World War I, the Easter Rising, and the Conscription Crisis, the whole island was caught up in fierce debate as to its future. The result was a sweeping victory for a radical Sinn Féin, which promised to establish an independent Irish Republic. The moderate Irish Parliamentary Party, which had dominated the Irish political landscape since the 1880s, was wiped out; while in Ulster the Unionist Party took power.

The Galway Expess was one of the first local newspapers to notice that the increasing numbers of people succumbing, some very suddenly, to the so called Spanish ‘Flu that swept across the world in the early summer of 1918, was ‘virulently infectious’. It speculated that it first reached Ireland through Belfast, and in many cases ‘entire households have been seized,’ industries have been closed, and schools ‘although children suffer less than adults, they spread infection’, have also been closed. ‘Sudden collapses are the most striking feature, the victim being struck down almost immediately.’

The escalating number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units (ICUs), combined with high levels of staff absenteeism due to the virus, is putting severe pressure on local hospitals.

The local acute hospital system remains under “severe pressure”, the like of which it has never experienced before, the chief executive of the Saolta University Health Care Group, which runs the seven public hospitals in the west and north-west of the country, said this week.

Q. I’ve just lost my job because my employer had to shut their business during the COVID-19 pandemic. I got a redundancy payment but I’m not sure what social welfare payments I can get. What are my options?

Delivering major infrastructure projects, such as the Port of Galway, and extending the waiver on commercial rates to 12 months for businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic are essential if the west of Ireland is to thrive in the future.

The Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19 Response is calling for changes to the current Covid-19 testing and contact tracing system to make it more robust and efficient.

The prolonged period of social distancing and self-isolation will have mental health ramifications which the Government must take this into account as part of its response to Covid-19.

Minister for Rural Affairs Seán Canney has urged everyone to observe social distancing in the fight against the coronavirus.