Covid-19 outbreaks on the rise in hospitals and nursing homes

The number of Covid-19 outbreaks in hospitals and nursing homes has risen again, according to the latest weekly figures on HSE coronavirus clusters.

There were 29 new outbreaks reported in hospital in the week to November 13, up from nine the week before, and eight new outbreaks in nursing homes, up from three a week earlier.

Fifteen of the new hospital epidemics were located in the east of the country.

There were 72 open outbreaks in hospitals with 56 new weekly cases linked to outbreaks at the end of the week and 60 open outbreaks in nursing homes with 18 new linked cases reported.

An epidemic or cluster is defined as two or more related and laboratory confirmed Covid-19 cases.

An epidemic is considered “open” if new infections emerge from it. It is considered “closed” if there have been no new infections for 28 days.

There have been three other outbreaks in community hospitals and “long-stay” residential units with 43 new cases linked in the most recently reported week.

Overall, there have been 130 nursing home deaths in the fourth wave of infections since June and another 10 in outbreaks in community hospitals and long-stay residential units.

There have been 159 people hospitalized associated with these outbreaks in nursing homes and community hospitals, but none have been admitted to intensive care units.

There have been 152 outbreaks in acute care hospitals since June with 796 linked cases, including 240 health workers. Twelve people were admitted to intensive care and 66 died.

The number of new outbreaks overall fell from 19 to 151, according to the latest weekly figures.

The number reported in schools fell to 16 from 34 the previous week, but rose from two to nine in daycares.

There were 37 new cases linked to epidemics in schools and 22 linked to childcare facilities. There were 1,543 related cases of Covid-19 in schools during the fourth wave.

There were 29 new family outbreaks reported, up from 34 the week before.

Household clusters account for the largest number of outbreaks during the fourth wave of the pandemic. There have been 792 family homes since June.

There has been only one new ad-related outbreak, up from three a week earlier.

There were six new outbreaks associated with workplaces, up from 24 the previous week. The affected locations included two construction sites and a meat processing plant.

Among the vulnerable groups, there were 13 new outbreaks in the Traveler community with 17 new cases.

By the end of the week, there were 94 homes open within the community. There have been 894 cases linked to 160 outbreaks, 24 hospitalizations and less than five deaths.

There were three new outbreaks in the Roma community with 10 new cases notified.

No new outbreaks were reported in prisons, but a further 23 cases related to an open prison outbreak were reported during the week. There have been three outbreaks in prisons since June.