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The Department of Education has defended a communication that it sent to schools and that has been interpreted by some as an attempt to influence the Public Health response to Covid-19 cases among teachers so that schools remain open.
In a circular sent yesterday, the Department asked school principals to contact it directly by phone or email if any teachers were among the approximately 2,000 people who tested positive for the virus over the weekend and received a text message. HSE asking them to alert. your own close contacts.
The Department said it would organize “a follow-up call” from Public Health to the school principal to identify if the school requires any action, “including identifying close contacts for exclusion from the school.”
Several school principals have raised concerns about the request. One told RTÉ News that he believed it was an attempt to limit the number of teachers who, as close contacts, might need to restrict their movements, so that schools would remain open “at all costs.”
Caring people before profits TD Richard Boyd Barrett has also raised “alarm” by the circular saying that he would be “concerned that the Department of Education is trying to influence the Public Health response to positive cases of Covid, and in as to who could be in a school considered a close and excluded contact. ”
“It would be very worrying to think that the imperative of keeping schools open is somehow influencing the appropriate Public Health response in schools and therefore the health and safety of staff and students.”
The HSE told some 2,000 people who tested positive for the received virus over the weekend to alert their own close contacts.
They were asked to send a message to their own close contacts, people with whom they had spent more than 15 minutes, alerting them to restrict their movements and to immediately contact their GP to arrange a test.
It is not known if any of those affected were teachers.
The Department of Education has rejected the suggestion that its circular was somehow attempting to interfere with the Public Health response.
Defending the communication, a spokeswoman for Minister Norma Foley’s department said the message was a temporary safeguard, so Public Health would be immediately alerted to the fact that a school was involved.
“We are making sure Public Health is connected to any school in this situation as quickly as possible. This is an added safeguard. It in no way affects the public health response in any way.”
Some teachers and other school staff are concerned that different rules apply to them when it comes to who is considered a close contact of someone who tests positive for the virus. They consider that the criteria applied are too narrow.
The teacher unions seek clarification from the HSE as to the criteria used in schools to determine close contacts or casual contacts.
Commenting on the fact that the people who received the text message were asked to identify and alert their own close contacts, the Department of Education spokesman said it was a “judgment call” for people to make.
Ultimately determining who was a close contact was a matter for HSE, not the Department of Education, the spokesperson added.
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