Top cop warns gardaí will break up house parties

The region’s top garda is warning against house parties following a rise in Coronavirus cases nationally.

Chief Supt John O’Reilly confirmed that gardaí have responded to a number of complaints about house parties in estates across Cavan and Monaghan in recent weeks.

He was speaking to The Anglo-Celt while cabinet ministers were meeting on Tuesday to consider new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 including restricting the movements of the over 70s once again and increased garda powers.

In a bid to halt house parties, gatherings are now restricted to groups of six from no more than three households.

Chief Supt O’Reilly from the Cavan Monaghan Garda Division welcomed the measure and said gardaí will be enforcing the restrictions.

“If we are made aware of parties, we will visit the houses. We will engage with those present at the house and will encourage them to comply with the Garda directions. To date, we have been very fortunate that people have acted in a responsible manner when asked to do so by the gardaí,” he said.

“In all cases when we visited the houses in question, the parties stopped, broke-up and people went home,” added Chief Supt O’Reilly.

He’s concerned that the median age of those affected by the virus has fallen.

“The statistics are now beginning to show that people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are the group of people that are being infected. It has moved from the elderly category to the younger groups. This younger cohort of people need to be mindful of adhering to social distancing and all the other advice that is being imparted by the HSE,” encouraged the top cop.

Yesterday (Thursday) saw the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in County Cavan in 10 days reported.

It was among the new cases confirmed yesterday - 136 in all and sadly one death. The figures are up to date as of midnight Wednesday, August 19, a further 136 confirmed cases in the Republic.

That last reported case in County Cavan had been on August 10, which brought the number of confirmed cases to 882.

Of the cases notified yesterday: 51 are in Dublin, 24 in Kildare, 12 in Kilkenny, 11 in Tipperary, 7 in Cork, 6 in Limerick, 6 in Wexford, 5 in Meath and the remaining 14 cases are in Carlow, Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Offaly, Roscommon, Waterford and Wicklow.

The analysis also showed that 54 are men / 81 are women; 78% are under 45 years of age; 57 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case; 11 cases have been identified as community transmission.

Last weekend, an additional 266 cases were reported between Saturday and Sunday.

However a local GP is warning Cavan is not over the worst of the virus yet. “It’s impossible to predict what will happen next,” Cavan GP Niall Collins says of the current situation.

He suspects no county will escape COVID-19 outbreaks in the coming months as the government attempts to strike the balance between public health and economic disaster.

“Every part of the country will be affected in the way that Kildare is affected at the moment,” predicts Dr Collins.

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