Tipperary Covid-19 rate decreasing
Covid-19 figures appeared to be stabilising in Tipperary again last week with the county incidence rate dropping from 106 to 99.7 cases per 100,000 people.
The rate had fallen further again by Monday of this week to 88.4. Tipperary was one of 14 counties with an incidence rate below 100. The highest rates last week were seen in neighbouring Limerick and in Donegal.
The cumulative chart on the Government's online Covid-19 Data Hub shows that cases in Tipperary increased sharply from the beginning of October, rising from 800 to an overall total of 1,432 confirmed cases by November 20th.
A closer look at the figures shows that there were 22 confirmed cases in the Nenagh Local Electoral Area (LEA), which includes Lower Ormond, in the period November 3rd to 16th. The LEA has a total population of 21,373. The number of confirmed cases in the Roscrea-Templemore LEA - with a total population of 16,594 - in the same period stood at 24 cases.
The Newport LEA, which includes Ballina and has a total population of 16,355, had a total of 20 confirmed cases. Cashel-Tipperary had the highest incidence in the county in that period with some 53 confirmed cases.
A new community testing centre for Covid-19 was to open in Nenagh on Tuesday of this week. HSE Mid West Community Healthcare announced that the test centre would open at Unit 7, Castle Brand, Tyone, on Tuesday afternoon.
The test centre has four drive-through lanes and one walk-through lane, and has testing capacity for 500 tests per day, if required. The test centre that was set up at the Derg Centre in Gortlandroe last spring was to close once the new centre opened.
Meanwhile, a budget document circulated by Tipperary Co Council this week indicates that the number of persons in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment in Tipperary is in excess of 7,700. A further 2,800 people are in receipt of a Covid-19-related illness benefit payment. These numbers fluctuate depending on the extent and impact of public health restrictions and the Covid-19 level applying across the country.