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CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER Dr. Tony Holohan has reiterated that health officials do not believe that Covid-19 is being accelerated by children attending school.
Speaking tonight, Holohan said he “disagrees” with a statement by the Fórsa union that schools should remain closed after next week’s midterm break.
Fórsa represents more than 15,000 non-teaching staff members in the education sector and said that schools today are not being adequately informed about the confirmed cases of Covid-19 among students.
When asked about the suggestion that they remain closed, Holohan said “the data disagrees” that schools are amplifying the transmission of Covid-19.
“We believe that the data regarding school-age children does not lead us to believe that we are experiencing accelerated transmission caused by people’s attendance at school,” Holohan said.
What we have seen so far in terms of data transmission reassures us in that regard. We will continue to monitor that situation, and if something were to change in relation, we would obviously report on that.
Deputy Medical Director Dr Heather Burns provided more details on testing and positivity rates in Irish schools, which she says “reflects the current international position that schools are not key drivers of Covid- 19 in the community. ”
Burns said close contact testing has been conducted at 519 schools and childcare centers to date, with a total of 12,658 adults and children.
From that test, 352 additional cases have been detected above the initial case, leading to a positivity rate among close contacts in schools of 2.8%. Burns said this compares to the national positivity rate, which is 7.2%.
Deputy Medical Director Dr. Heather Burns.
Source: Saxony Lazarov
Last week, the Department of Education cited similar figures related to positivity rates in schools as evidence that schools remain open under Level 5 restrictions.
“The data supports the position that schools are not high-risk settings for Covid-19,” Burns said.
Where our public health physicians, who are doing such an excellent job on the ground trying to determine the chains of transmission, where they have discovered that there have been cases perhaps in children or adults who have become symptomatic at school, with quite What they often found is that they have had exhibitions in the community. So in your own home or in another social setting.
“Public health will ask detailed questions and often they may discover that maybe that child has a parent who has become a confirmed Covid case, or a sibling, or has been in a social setting where there have been confirmed cases.” .
Burns also said that schools are “relatively controlled environments” where public health measures can be implemented, but that, like workplaces, people should not attend if they exhibit symptoms of Covid-19.
The deputy CMO added that increased restrictions will also reduce the risk of a child or adult bringing Covid-19 to schools.
“The Irish experience reflects the international position that schools are not key drivers of Covid transmission in the community. And in fact, what we see is community transmission reflected in schools, so the more we can control it in the community, the more we can protect the school environment, ”he said.
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School closure
Meanwhile, a Co Kerry high school that closed following a spike in Covid-19 cases was ordered to reopen by the Department of Education and Skills.
A letter from Tarbert Comprehensive School principal Richard Prendiville informed parents and students that the school will reopen tomorrow following the department’s instructions to do so.
The school remained closed today as a health precaution, a decision Prendiville said was made “based on the autonomy given to the school to make such decisions.”
Prendiville also claimed in the letter that the department had directed the school not to provide materials for students to study from home if they wanted to stay out of class for fear of infection.
In a statement to TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson said the Department would not comment on individual cases, but that current advice for all directors is to follow public health advice.
The spokesperson added that when a confirmed case arises in a school, a local public health team will conduct a risk assessment and the Health Department will inform the school on what to do.
With reporting by Stephen McDermott.
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