Cavan ‘luckier than many other places’

Thomas Lyons

After weeks of unrelenting panic about the progression of COVID-19, one of the most valuable commodities in the world at present is optimism.
“It’s early days yet, but it does appear that the curve is beginning to show signs of flattening. The aim is to get to a stage where there are no new cases. That’s the first part of the fight. When that happens, hopefully over the next month, then we can see a lifting of restrictions.”
Dr Collins says location has an advantage: “From a Cavan perspective, we are probably luckier than many other places. If you look at other countries for models, you see that when areas are recognised as hotspots they close them down. Rural areas, like Cavan, which have a lower population density have a tendency to throw up less hotspots. If we hang in there, we will continue to flatten this curve.”
He continued: “If we get our numbers under control and go with what the HSE is suggesting there is a fair chance that the cycle of ‘lockdown’ to ‘ease restriction’, which will characterise our lives for the next 12 months, will probably be less in Cavan than other places. From a selfish perspective, being rural will probably be better for us.”
‘Mistake’
The measures taken so far have not been flawless: “There has been some confusion over the last week. For example the change in the criterion for testing last Tuesday. The bar was made very high from Wednesday on. That created a massive amount of confusion among patients. They made a mistake in initially thinking they could test everyone, that would be ideal, but it wasn’t realistic. We don’t have the staff and we don’t have enough kits to do that.”
Dr Collins says overall the Health Service Executive are taking well considered measures: “Nobody is perfect. If you look at the HSE’s response to the pandemic it is infinitely better than the UK or America. I’m not an expert, but I think their response was designed to protect the economy and not the people.
“Our health care planners made a relatively small mistake in the grand scheme of things.”
The number of ‘worried well’ patients seeking advice appears to have tailed off in the last seven days: “We are not getting as many calls. People think they should only call if they think they qualify for a test, the reality is that people should still be calling us for appropriate, professional advice. That’s not to be worried about things, just to seek advice.”
Medics say they have seen a troubling reduction in patients outside of COVID-19 related queries. Dr Collins agrees that some people must be “ignoring the signs of cancer, heart attack, strokes or diabetes”.
“We are just not seeing these patients. People have to realise that there is a number of other illnesses that will affect them more over the next six to twelve months. The reality is that doctor’s surgery is a safer place than a supermarket, and that is that way it has to be.”