Message to people of Offaly

Joint message from HSE, Offaly County Council and An Gárda Síochána

The HSE, Offaly County Council and An Gárda Síochána would like to thank the population of Offaly for the tremendous efforts so many of you have made in preventing COVID-19, including adhering to level 5 restrictions and staying safe at home.

At different times in the past year we have successfully as a community suppressed the illness and kept our rates low.

Currently however, we are experiencing high rates of COVID-19 infection in comparison to other counties.

Outbreaks are occurring in a wide range of settings including workplaces, crèches, factories, families and within vulnerable communities.

No one setting, incident or outbreak is driving the numbers – all of these events are contributing to the rate of illness.

When this happens it can be an extremely stressful time for a facility, business, family or community.

COVID-19 is spread from person to person and details on individual cases or on outbreaks cannot be provided in order to protect people’s privacy.

The protection measures are the same, regardless of where the cases are located.

It is really important for County Offaly to reverse the rate of infection and reduce the numbers of new cases occurring in our community. Everybody has a part to play and now is not the time to become complacent.

Just as there isn’t one cause, there isn’t one solution.

The HSE, Offaly County Council and An Gárda Síochána are today appealing to the whole community to please renew their effort to prevent COVID illness and to hold firm while waiting for your vaccine.

• Please take care, stay safe and do not mix!

• Isolate immediately if you have symptoms, contact your GP and get tested for COVID-19

• Do not go to work if you have mild symptoms and keep your family at home until you have the result of your test

• Avoid contact with extended family – protect the elderly and vulnerable who have yet to be vaccinated

• Wear a mask in public and in shops at all times, and stay 2m apart

• Avoid gatherings and parties

• Please stay at home as much as possible

We acknowledge this has been a worrying and difficult time for everyone. The huge improvements we have seen in nursing homes due to the vaccine shows that there are better days ahead and gives us hope for the future.

With a more infectious strain of COVID-19 circulating it is more vital than ever that we continue to do all we can to protect ourselves, our families and loved ones, and our community over the coming weeks.