One Offaly area is fifth worst in country in last fortnight for COVID-19 cases

One Offaly area has the fifth highest rate in the country of new COVID-19 cases per population over the last 14 days.

Official figures released tonight (Thursday) show that the Tullamore electoral area had a rate of 538.4 per 100,000 population for the period from February 2 to February 15 after 157 new cases were confirmed in the area.

It’s the fifth highest of all 166 local electoral areas in the country.

All four areas with worse levels of COVID-19 per population than Tullamore are city based. Galway City Central topped the list, with a 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population of 951.2, followed by Ballymun-Finglas (819.9), Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart (606.1) and Galway City East (579.1).

The national average is 269.3 per 100,000 meaning that the rate of new cases in Tullamore local electoral area is almost exactly double the national rate.

Given that Offaly was recorded as having the second worst 14-day incidence rate per population in the country earlier this week, it’s not unexpected that some of the three local electoral areas in Offaly would feature among the worst-hit areas.

Elsewhere, the rate in Birr was also above the national average. There were 83 cases reported in the area in the last fortnight, representing a rate per 100,000 of 325.8.

Edenderry was the only local electoral area in Offaly to record a rate below the national average. There were 56 new cases giving a rate of 240.1 per 100,000.