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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has suspended testing for Covid-19 at food and meat processing plants due to capacity issues and increased demand for testing.
Meat processing plants are among the most vulnerable environments in terms of the spread of the coronavirus in the state. There are currently four clusters in meat plants across the country, while more than 1,500 cases of the virus have been confirmed in those facilities.
The increased surveillance of meat plants was announced last month in response to an increase in Covid-19 infections at four meat factories that contributed to the closure of Kildare, Laois and Offaly.
In a statement to Sinn Féin, HSE’s Midwest public health director Dr. Mai Mannix said a nationwide decision had been made to “postpone” testing for the virus at food processing plants.
This was due “to the increased capacity needed at this time to treat people with symptoms.”
“The decision to resume testing for Covid in food processing plants will also be made at the national level,” he said.
“The HSE takes all necessary actions when positive cases are reported in a workplace; cases and close contacts are excluded from the workplace and are provided with appropriate counseling and testing.”
In a statement to The Irish Times on Wednesday, an HSE spokeswoman said testing would resume at the plants next week.
“Covid-19 testing of personnel at food and meat processing facilities will be rescheduled for next week,” he said.
“This is a precautionary measure that allows us to focus our resources on meeting the significant increase in demand for testing among people with coronavirus symptoms in the community.
“Demand for testing nearly tripled on Monday with the need for more than 13,000 community tests and more than 3,000 hospital tests.
“We are communicating directly with the facilities scheduled for testing and will reschedule the planned tests next week. It is important to remember that when an outbreak occurs in a plant, normal bulk tests will continue to be performed on meat plants.
“Public Health will be in contact locally in those situations. In the meantime, if a staff member develops symptoms of coronavirus, we will ask them to isolate themselves and call a GP for a referral for a free coronavirus test. “
He added that serial testing at the meat plants, which began Aug. 21, has so far yielded 40 positive cases and a 0.28 percent positivity rate.
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