A widely shared tweet by Gabriel Scally on Wednesday 22 April draws attention to an Irish Times article about the difference in relative COVID-19 death rates across the island of Ireland, and claims that “the death rate for #COVID19 deaths in hospital (and for all COVID deaths) is 50% higher in Northern Ireland”.
Continue reading Are COVID-19 deaths in Northern Ireland 50% higher than Ireland?
The health system in Northern Ireland: How is it structured and who makes decisions about COVID-19?
This article explains how the health system in Northern Ireland is structured, and who is responsible for COVID-19 planning and decision making.
[This article is part of the COVID-19 Information Dissemination (COVID-19 ID) Project — a partnership between Community Development and Health Network (CDHN) and FactCheckNI. Its aim is to improve people’s health literacy about COVID-19 by providing accurate and up-to-date information which will increase knowledge, understanding and confidence and enable people to make good health decisions.]
Summary
There is a huge amount of collaboration between health bodies around COVID-19 in Northern Ireland. But the division of responsibilities can be understood as follows:
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Community Development and Health Network (CDHN) and FactCheckNI are delighted to be working in partnership on the COVID-19 Information Dissemination (COVID-19 ID) Project to improve people’s health literacy about COVID-19 by providing accurate and up-to-date information which will increase knowledge, understanding and confidence and enable people to make good health decisions.
The objectives of the project are:
CDHN has over 2,500 members and supports tens of thousands of people across Northern Ireland. They are NI’s leading organisation working to empower communities, improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. CDHN has particular expertise in health literacy, having developed and delivered training and provided support on health literacy to communities, pharmacists and other health and social care professionals.
FactCheckNI is Northern Ireland’s first and only dedicated independent fact checking service. The organisation is verified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and works under the fundamental principles of impartiality, transparency and accuracy. FactCheckNI is also part of Facebook’s third party fact-checking programme; this is part of Facebook’s efforts to minimise the spread of misinformation on its platform. Find out more here
Please contact Orna by email or FactCheckNI online if:
Website: www.factcheckni.org • Twitter: @FactCheckNI • Facebook: @factcheckni • Instagram: factcheckni_
It’s all about the test: Counting COVID-19 deaths
by Allan LEONARD for FactCheckNI
14 April 2020
UPDATED 20/4/2020
“The figures on deaths relate in almost all cases to patients who have died in hospital and who have tested positive for COVID-19. Slight differences in reporting in devolved administrations may mean that they include a small number of deaths outside hospital.” — Department of Health and Social Care (UK)
[This article is part of the COVID-19 Information Dissemination (COVID-19 ID) Project — a partnership between Community Development and Health Network (CDHN) and FactCheckNI. Its aim is to improve people’s health literacy about COVID-19 by providing accurate and up-to-date information which will increase knowledge, understanding and confidence and enable people to make good health decisions.]
Continue reading It’s all about the test: Counting COVID-19 deaths
Pets and COVID-19
by Dr Orna YOUNG for FactCheckNI
9 April 2020
There have been a lot of stories in the news and shared online about animals and COVID-19. From tigers contracting the virus to the risk to your domestic cat, the variation in information and advice is changing on a daily basis. Continue reading Pets and COVID-19
Fighting a fire blindfolded? COVID-19 testing in Northern Ireland
by Jenny McENEANEY for FactCheckNI
8 April 2020
“You cannot fight a fire blindfolded… test, test, test.” That’s a summary of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidance to countries battling the global outbreak of COVID-19. Globally, there has been a variance in the rate of testing as countries battle to suppress and/or mitigate the spread of the virus. How does Northern Ireland fit into the global picture? How have we fared on testing to date and what is the target going forward? Continue reading Fighting a fire blindfolded? COVID-19 testing in Northern Ireland