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A new system will be put in place to speed up contact tracing and assist schools with their response to Covid-19 cases when they return after the midterm hiatus.
Dedicated school teams will be established and resourced in each HSE area, made up of public health specialists, who will assist schools where a positive case has been detected.
They will be backed by support from the Department of Education to help school principals find substitute teachers or special needs aides when absences arise as a result of Covid-19.
A spokesperson for Minister Norma Foley said the public health response to schools will be “further improved” by the new measures.
The spokesman said the department has been “working intensively” with public health authorities to streamline procedures and information flows to ease the administrative burden on schools.
She said that Covid-19 tests are already issued as a priority for close contacts at school through a specific school referral process within the HSE.
Swabs from school groups are sent to labs and marked with a “red flag” for processing as a priority. They are also given a specific school reference number to allow batch reporting of results for a particular school setting.
“Procedures established by public health specialists have been tested across the country as confirmed cases emerge among staff and students or in the families or close contacts of staff and students,” the spokesperson said.
“Cases cannot be completely eliminated. The priority is to provide as much information and support as possible to school leaders, staff and parents.”
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