Over a quarter of a million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the Republic since the pandemic began, with over 4,500 of those being in Kerry.
Yesterday, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre reported a further 453 cases, bringing to over 250,000 the number of confirmed cases in the country.
Up to Saturday, May 1st, there have been 4,529 cases reported in the county.
During late summer last year, there were calls to declare the county COVID-free, after we went a number of weeks in a row with no confirmed COVID cases.
However, in line with the national trend, that changed in September and October.
By early November, North Kerry had the third highest rate of COVID-19 in the country, with a 14-day incidence rate of 565 per 100,000 population.
The county also had the other end of the scale at the time: Chorca Dhuibhne had the lowest rate in the country.
Unfortunately, in the New Year, all previous highs were broken: in January, the Killarney LEA had a rate of 713 per population; Tralee’s rate was over 670; and Kenmare’s was over 600.
Over the fortnight after Christmas, Kerry recorded 843 cases alone, as COVID raged nationwide.
Since then, the trends have changed: as of last Friday, Kerry had the lowest rate of COVID-19 nationwide, with an average of one case per day being reported.
As the country passed the quarter of a million mark yesterday, Kerry’s total accounts for less than 1.8%, well below the average per population.
