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Dr. Tony Holohan has said that he expects the schools to reopen next week after the midterm break.
The medical director was responding to suggestions that schools across the country could remain closed beyond this week.
However, Dr. Holohan stated that there was no evidence in the figures to support keeping the schools closed, and he does not expect to make that recommendation.
He said: “In terms of the data that we are analyzing, we do not anticipate being in a situation where we are advising the minister and the government for public health reasons that schools should not reopen next week as planned.”
While HSE expert Dr. Siobhán Ni Bhriain alleviated parents’ fears about possible outbreaks among students.
He added: “If there is any concern about an outbreak in a school, there are public health teams across the country to deal with each school.
“We accept that each school can be different, smaller schools and larger schools, etc., but those supports come from public health.”
It comes after the ASTI president said that teachers are “very fearful” and “full of concern” before returning to school.
Speaking in Morning Ireland, Ann Piggott said they hope the schools will reopen next week and that “the teachers are very scared and full of concern.”
When asked about the updated contact tracing system for schools that will be implemented, Piggott said teachers would like to know more about how many cases are in their school.
Discussions have been held between the Department of Education, HSE and teacher unions about plans to accelerate testing and tracing once positive cases have been identified in schools.
“We would like to have more confidence in him. We would like to make sure that all the details are open for all to know. Because even if there is a case in the schools, the teachers currently rely on the rumors. I would like to know for sure: is there one case, there are three cases, how much risk are teachers and students at? “
Piggott said they are concerned about the amount of time it takes to identify a positive case and that teachers have reiterated their concern about rapid testing in schools.
She adds: “It can take two to four days for the results to come back and then the contact tracing after that is also very slow, maybe another four days. We would appreciate any quick tests, but we would certainly like them to be accurate.”
As part of the plans, teams made up of public health professionals and education officials would help speed up the process, as well as help find substitute teachers when needed for teacher absences linked to Covid-19 cases.
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