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The owner of a Co Offaly child care service affected by a Covid-19 outbreak has said the government must do more to support day care centers and other child care providers during the pandemic.
Sharon Moyles said she felt “vilified” over the past 24 hours by the news of the Covid-19 cases among M & As staff and children. [Music and Arts] Montessori in Tullamore Co Offaly, leaked.
She told The Irish Times that eight staff members tested positive for Covid-19 and that there were 15 cases among the children.
It is understood that the majority of children affected by Tullamore are asymptomatic and in good health, with some exhibiting mild symptoms.
One staff member is quite ill, although not in the hospital.
Ms. Moyles said, “Our main concern is that all of our children, parents and staff are healthy.”
She also said the “big picture” is that child care staff, who she says are front-line workers, should be vaccinated and daycare should be tested for antigens.
“The government must be held accountable. If they want us to open up, they need to protect us. That is my message. “
Moyles said his service had been reopened since the end of the first shutdown last summer and he had had no cases of Covid-19 until last week.
He said the first cases were reported to him on St. Patrick’s Day and contacted the HSE helpline immediately as part of Montessori’s Covid-19 response plan.
Ms. Moyles said that “we follow all of our policies and procedures” and commended the HSE public health team for their response.
She stressed that her child care service had followed all public health guidelines since it reopened last June. This includes daily questions to staff about whether they are experiencing symptoms or if they have had close contact, the use of masks by staff, or visors for a small number caring for children with special needs, and a capsule system for children. .
There are designated play areas for the different capsules, separate entrances for different groups, and a “robust cleaning regimen.”
Ms. Moyles said she has felt “vilified” by people who comment on the situation online and even call her anonymously.
He said he has received calls from private numbers “blaming me for Covid in Tullamore” even though transmission in the area is among the highest in the country in the weeks leading up to the outbreak.
Ms Moyles said that parents whose children attend montessori have been supportive, but that the government “must stand up.”
He said an outbreak could affect any business, adding that “the new variant is extremely contagious.”
She said: “I am an entrepreneur, a young woman who is employing 13 women and I also have amazing families and I need to take care of their children.
“How are parents supposed to go to work if they don’t have childcare?”
She suggested that child care workers should be prioritized for the vaccine and said, “If we had antigen testing as well, it would really help.”
“The Government needs to listen to the childcare sector. If they want us to be open to essential front-line parents, then they have to protect us. “
Ms. Moyles said: “I am in a very stressful situation where I have done everything possible to protect my team and my children in the service and this is my livelihood.”
The montessori is closed at the moment and will be awaiting the results of the close contact tracing before deciding when to reopen.
Ms. Moyles’ call for child care workers to move up the priority list for vaccination was supported by the Federation of Early Childhood Providers (FECP).
Recent outbreaks
Federation spokeswoman Elaine Dunne said she was aware of several recent outbreaks in daycare centers and that it is “a matter of time” before more occur.
In a statement referring to the Tullamore case, the federation said: “Despite following all guidelines regarding the use of masks, hand hygiene, containing children inside capsules and limiting access to parents and others, the virus has spread rapidly in this county daycare currently with the highest national incidence of the virus. “
Ms. Dunne added: “The staff and provider [in the Tullamore Montessori] They did everything they were supposed to do; nobody changed pods or crossed and that is what is scary.
“It is concerning that they are in this position and it is only a matter of time before there are more.”
According to the federation, many nurseries and nurseries have become 90 percent occupied again and workers are concerned about the spread of new variants.
This is particularly the case, he notes, due to difficulties in controlling the spread of the virus among young children who cannot easily adhere to public health guidelines, such as social distancing.
“Vulnerable people work in the child care sector, including pregnant women and some with underlying health problems, or living with a family member who has underlying problems. They need to be protected while providing an essential service, ”he said. The federation estimated that its members would not be vaccinated under the current strategy until mid-summer.
Ms Dunne said that a growing number of child care providers are now using their own antigen tests with weekly supplies of 27 individual tests available to their members for € 187.
Data from the Health Protection Surveillance Center (HPSC) shows that daycare centers are not areas of great concern when it comes to virus transmission.
In the week ending March 13, eight outbreaks out of a total of 339 were associated with daycare, or just over 2 percent. And although it is closed for much of the time, these environments are not even mentioned in the breakdown of the total outbreaks (4,384) recorded since the beginning of the third wave last November.
Yet for many in the city of Co Offaly, the daycare outbreak is an extension of local concerns about the high number of cases: Last Friday, the latest health data indicated that Tullamore has the highest incidence rate in the world. country with 484 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The Midlands city, which has a population of 29,159 people, recorded 141 new cases in the previous two weeks.
Fianna Fáil TD for Laois-Offaly Barry Cowen is seeking a higher level of data and said he has raised the issue with HSE CEO Paul Reid.
“Local councilors are eager and eager to help and address the increase in every way possible. They are contemplating holding a special meeting to attract the public, “he said in a statement Monday.
“Relevant statistics and information related to the high number of daily cases in Offaly [should be made available]. It can be helpful to share such information on the details of the clusters and the contributing factors. “
Local Councilman Tony McCormack said the weekend’s numbers were again a cause for concern and asked people to cut back on personal contacts.
“The last thing we want to do is stay behind when the rest of the country reopens,” he said. “We do not know [where it is coming from]. We are getting messages from the HSE and they say there is no particular cluster as such; which is spreading throughout the country. “
Councilmember Declan Harvey voiced similar local concerns that Offaly could be trapped in lockdown if the situation did not calm down.
“Nobody seems to know where this is coming from,” he said, adding that both the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) and the Health Service Executive (HSE) have been asked for answers. “I am terrified that it will delay everything for the reopening.”
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