Figures show how many Cork people stayed within 10k of home in recent weeks

A CENTRAL Statistics Office’s (CSO) publication has revealed the percentage of people in Cork who remained within 10km of their homes in recent weeks.

The ninth publication of an insight series on mobility, Covid-19 Insight: Mobility During the Pandemic, revealed that 63.6 per cent of people in Cork remained within 10km of their homes in the week ending March 19.

The following week, the week ending March 26, a total of 62.7 per cent of people in Cork remained within 10km of their home, a decrease of 0.9%.

Cork had the sixth-highest percentage of the population staying local in the week ending March 26.

Dublin the highest at 79.2 per cent, Louth had the second-highest at 64.8 per cent, Wicklow the third-highest at 63.9 per cent, Limerick the fourth-highest at 63.1 per cent, and Waterford the fifth-highest at 62.9 per cent.

The Staying Local Indicator (SLI) used to collect the data provides daily estimated percentages of county populations that have stayed within 10km of home, averaged over the preceding seven days and is based on a statistical analysis of anonymised mobile phone activity records.

The SLI showed that nationally, an estimated 64.2% of people stayed within 10km of their home in the week ending March 26.

With the exception of Monaghan, which shows no week-on-week change, all counties showed SLI decreases from the week ending March 19 to the week ending March 26.

The publication of the new figures came as Ireland this week marked 100 days of the Covid-19 vaccination programme

Speaking on Wednesday, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said: 

“Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have faced incredible challenges. Families have lost loved ones and there is no one in our society whose life has been untouched by the economic, social and personal impacts of this disease.

“While we continue to follow the public health restrictions required to suppress this virus in our communities, the impact of our vaccine programme is growing in strength and is already having a very positive effect on the lives of those who have been vaccinated,” Minister Donnelly said.

He said that the early days of the vaccination programme focused on safeguarding the most vulnerable with people aged 85 and older now representing fewer than 1% of all cases, down from almost 6% at the end of January.

“We begin the next 100 days with a positive outlook and an upward trend in vaccines administered,” he said.