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HSE CEO Paul Reid apologized to the 2,000 people who were asked to alert their own close contacts after testing positive for Covid-19.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Mr. Reid said it was a “disturbing” development for the HSE.
He said the executive has been recruiting 70 people per week for contact tracing and 220 people have been employed in tracing in the past two weeks, with a total of 500 people involved in testing and tracing.
He said: “The big increase that came up in the last ten days surprised us this weekend,” and “our recruitment has not caught up with the increase in cases.”
Reid said they will get 70% right and 30% wrong, but the most important thing is that the decisions are made because if you expect perfection, nothing will get done.
He said he stood firm on the operational decision made regarding contact tracing and estimated that between four and five contacts per person (who tested positive last weekend and were subsequently asked to call their close contacts) were lost. .
He said the HSE is continually transparent and his team was yesterday explaining why these decisions were made.
Mr. Reid said that he takes full responsibility for not informing the Minister of Health about the situation.
He added that the story appeared in the media when staff were trying to deal with the problem.
Reid also said the decision on contact tracing over the weekend “was not a decision we made lightly,” but was based on risk.
He said: “40% of the resources to be hired must be from allied health professionals.
“It is not a contact call center. It is a clinical call that is the first call, and during the last weeks the nature of the cases is increasingly complex and the calls are taking “much longer”.
Reid said GPs have been asked to provide testing for people affected by the move.
As The Irish Times first reported, the people involved were supposed to receive a text message, which could be sent with advice for anyone they consider to be a close contact.
In the message, people who tested positive for the virus were asked to send a message to their own close contacts, people with whom they have spent more than 15 minutes, to alert them to restrict their movements and immediately contact their doctor. bedside organize a test.
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Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan said that it is not sustainable to allow the contact tracing system to become overwhelmed again and that the state has an obligation to ensure that there is an effective tracing regime in the future as otherwise it will undermine the Covid-19 test system.
Also speaking to RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, she said that it is a very difficult job for the HSE, but that NPHET has been able to model the spread of the virus in the coming weeks “so that no one is surprised by the increased number of cases.”
He said that, looking to the future, we must ensure that we have adequate resources for contact tracing.
Earlier, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said it was wrong to say that contact tracing had dropped, adding that in the past six weeks contact tracing teams have made 400% more calls than before.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said that for a short period last weekend there was a unique situation where demand exceeded supply and a one-time operational decision was made to reset the system.
Donnelly said he has no problem apologizing to those who were asked to call their own close contacts, but said it was important to remember that we are in the middle of a global pandemic and things are not working normally.
He defended HSE’s testing and tracking system, saying the organization has been “working around the clock” and, despite mistakes, has established one of the highest testing regimes in the world, backed by a tracking application.
The minister said the HSE has increased testing to 122,000 tests per day and has been informed that contact tracing can now deal with 1,500 cases of positive tests per day.
Each and every country is struggling to make testing and tracking work properly, he added.
Testing and Tracing the Cornerstone of Virus Efforts – ECDC
The test and trace regime is the cornerstone of efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 and it is vital that it is working well, said an expert in emergency preparedness and response at the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Dr Agoritsa Baka also said that the ECDC does not see the spread of the virus being driven by school settings, but that larger clusters have emerged in work settings where there are meetings and events indoors, such as factories, mines and businesses. .
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said the second wave was expected and his colleagues in the US report that the outbreaks among young people, which may have occurred in the summer, did not lead to too many hospitalizations.
However, he said, they suggest that the virus then gradually spreads through age ranges and progresses over 130 to 150 days to reach the elderly and the most vulnerable groups.
Dr. Baka said that between any wave people “want to get back to normal” and while it is really difficult, they must maintain their physical distance.
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