A Shannon GP envisages that a large cohort of the population will have contracted Covid-19 by Christmas based on current transmisison rates.
Clare now has the fifth highest incidence rate in the country.
It comes as the Health Minister has warned elective surgeries may have to be cancelled if ICU numbers continue to climb.
853 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Clare in the past two weeks, with the incidence rate here per 100,000 people more than doubling in that timeframe.
This county’s prevalence of the virus is the fifth highest nationwide as of Monday, standing at 717.9, which is nearly 25 percent higher than the national average.
A Clare GP has warned that most of her patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past fortnight are quite ill or have required hospitalisation.
Dr Yvonne Williams says immunity is beginning to wear off for many of the people who reveiced their first dose early on in the pandemic, which has led to a number of outbreaks in nursing homes in the county.
The Shannon GP believes that while there’s no current Government plans to re-intoduce resstrictions, it’s not entirely off the table yet.
Clare’s Fine Gael Senator says reimposing COVID restrictions to combat rising cases would be a ‘last resort’ though.
Senator Martin Conway, who’s his party’s Seanad Spokesperson on health insists that people need to exercise personal responsibility where possible.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said the Government doesn’t have a red line of hospitalisations that will lead to increased Covid restrictions.
He says the modelling indicates the number of people in ICU could reach 150 to 200 on the current trajectory.
Minister Donnelly says such a rise would have implications for the Health Service.
