New figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show there have been close to a thousand cases among those aged 15 to 24 alone, equaling a quarter of all new cases.
It comes as a 20 year old student has described the “deathbed” experience he faced following a diagnosis with the disease two weeks ago.
The UCC student tweeted on Sunday that he had been rushed to hospital by ambulance as he was unable to breath and was “temporarily paralysed from the neck down.”
Two weeks ago I tested positive for Covid-19. Today I was rushed by ambulance to hospital not able to breathe whatsoever and temporarily paralysed from the neck down. I was convinced I was on my death bed. I’m 20 years old. Stuff like that isn’t supposed to happen to a 20 year 1)
— Ben Quigley (@benquigley00) September 27, 2020
“I was convinced I was on my death bed. I’m 20 years old. Stuff like that isn’t supposed to happen to a 20 year,” Ben Quigley tweeted.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin thanked Mr Quigley for sharing his “terrifying” experience and urged other young people to listen to the experiences of those who had contracted Covid-19, according to the Irish Examiner.
It comes as the HPSC figures show the median age of people with the virus is now 32 while the last two weeks saw 114 cases in children aged between 0 and 4 and another 325 cases in children aged between 5 and 14.
The HSE said there are now 108 people being treated in hospital with Covid 19, down slightly from yesterday, with 17 in intensive care.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris and acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn today announced support for a new USI campaign aimed at encouraging college students to follow public health guidelines in the new academic year.
