HSE close on alternative Covid test site
LEASE New site could be a long-term option
The Health Service Executive (HSE) is close to securing an alternative Covid testing centre for County Cavan.
A number of sites have been examined in recent weeks following a surge in demand for testing caused by several community outbreaks that almost brought the existing testing and tracing system to its knees.
At one stage the testing facility at Ballinagh Health Centre was processing up to 300 swabs a day.
The HSE want a more permanent base for Coronavirus testing locally going forward and are understood to have a preferred site in mind.
Feelers were put out among high-ranking health officials for appropriate locations, and a shortlist of options has been drawn-up.
The HSE says a lease will be prepared once appropriate plans for the proposed new testing centre are signed off.
Whatever is agreed could be in place for a number of years.
“We can confirm that the HSE has looked at a number of locations for an alternative testing site for county Cavan,” a spokesperson for the HSE informed The Anglo-Celt this week when quizzed on the matter.
“Plans are been drafted for one of these locations and it is intended an application for lease will be prepared,” they added.
The number of Covid-19 tests carried out last week has fallen by almost half and to its lowest since the start of last month.
Last week (October 26-November 1) saw 643 people tested in Ballinagh, compared to 1,259 the week before (October 19-25), down 49%. Before that (October 12-18), the numbers tested peaked at 1,525.
The most recent figures available from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), midnight on Wednesday, November 4, show less than five new cases of Covid infection in the county.
There have been 224 cases reported in the past two weeks and the 14-Day incidence rate for Cavan now stands at 294.1, dramatically down from 1013.4 in figures released on the day Level 5 restrictions began.
For the first time in weeks, Cavan no longer has the unenviable title of having the highest incidence rate in the country. The Breffni county has slipped to second place with Donegal back in the top spot.