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All students and staff at a school in Co Kerry will be screened for one of the largest Covid-19 outbreaks at any school yet, and all children will be asked to stay home until December 30, according to a letter sent to parents from the Department of Public Health tonight.
So far, 17 cases have been registered in Scoil Mhuire Killorglin, a coeducational primary school of 386 students, “and contact tracing is ongoing,” according to the HSE-Sur department.
The school is in the constituency of Education Minister Norma Foley.
“In the Irish experience with Covid-19 so far, it has been rare to see an outbreak of this scale among the school population,” the letter says.
The school management had implemented and continued to implement the appropriate Covid control measures. And the cases and close contacts have been isolated.
“After further review today, based on current evidence, the decision was made to extend testing to the rest of the school population (children and staff),” the letter says.
“Any child who has not previously been identified as a case or a close contact is now advised to restrict their movements until Wednesday, December 30,” the letter warns.
The children are being referred for two tests, several days apart, by the HSE.
Restricted movement means “the child does not go to school,” the letter says.
They should also stay away from older people and not have home visitors.
Meanwhile, a class of young children in Tralee were asked to stay home until after Christmas.
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