Next Monday’s planned easing of close contact rules for primary schools and childcare facilities should be delayed until more “reliable” data is available, the country’s biggest teachers’ union has warned.
Under the changes, children under 13 who are close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases in schools or childcare will no longer be required to self-isolate from September 27th if they are symptom-free.
The move will reduce disruption to schools and means thousands of children who have been forced to self-isolate will be able to return to the classroom.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said the National Public Health Emergency Team was reassured that the reopening of schools has not led to an increase in transmission of Covid-19 among school-going children or more widely across the population.
“This is good news for students, parents and all those involved in the education of our children,” he said.
Public health sources believe an increase in detected cases among primary school earlier this month was linked to a four-fold increase in testing and say case numbers have stabilised over the last 10 days or so.
Transmission
The easing of close contact rules will not apply to children who are household close contacts of positive cases due to higher risks of disease transmission in these settings.
They will still be required to restrict movements and get tested, regardless of symptomatic status. This includes children on a sleep-over, for example.
Testing and tracing of close contacts in primary schools or childcare will be discontinued.
Due to the enhanced risk to vulnerable students, existing rules will continue to apply to primary school students who attend special schools or special classes.
Overall public health advice remains that any child aged 12 years or under who displays symptoms consistent with the virus should rapidly self-isolate and not attend school or to socialise until 48 hours after they are symptom free.
However, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation general secretary John Boyle said the changes should be deferred "until reliable data on outbreaks in primary schools is available".
He proposed that any change should be made from November 1st when the schools reopen after mid-term break. “This would allow time for better data to be obtained and sufficient time for considered analysis and to allow for the proposed changes to be implemented in an orderly fashion,” he said.
Clarify advice
By contrast, Fórsa, which represents about 14,000 school staff including special needs assistants, welcomed the changes on the basis that students in special education settings are excluded.
It said the easing of measures in mainstream schools will reduce the large numbers of students without symptoms who are currently excluded from classes.
The Department of Health reported 1,432 new cases of the virus with 30 deaths in the past week. There were 272 Covid-19 patients in hospital and 63 in ICU.
Separately, health authorities have sought to clarify advice on whether a runny nose is a symptom of the virus.
Department of Education advice lists a runny nose as an “uncommon” symptom of the disease, while HSE advice says it is “usually okay” to send a child with a runny nose or sneeze to school
Dr Colm Henry, the HSE's chief clinical officer, said parents should be concerned if a child has a runny nose accompanied by other symptoms such as a fever, a new cough or shortness of breath.
However, if a child only has a runny nose, they can continue to attend “under observation”.
