Sir, – I have had an incident where two children in my early childhood care and education service recently tested positive for Covid-19. Our service has been following all protocol and HSE guidelines in relation to prevention of Covid-19.
We have implemented all health and safety measures regarding Covid policies and procedures, social distancing, hand hygiene, cleaning schedules, and operating a play-pod system where children remain in their own bubble both indoors and outdoors. We have separate entrance and exit points for each play-pod. We ensure that parents and staff wear facemasks at drop-off and collection.
I have been operating a childcare business in my town for the past 33 years and cater for 120 children per day.
Childcare services, by their nature, are completely different to primary schools. They require hands-on contact to care for the needs of young children. Where primary school teachers can implement social distancing between them and their pupils, the same is not possible in the childcare sector.
If the Government want us to remain open, we deserve to be classed as frontline workers, because that is what we are. They have vaccinated the healthcare workers and rightly so, but who is looking after the children of those healthcare workers? We are.
If they want childcare for the frontline staff then they should ensure that the childcare providers and staff are vaccinated also.
This must be done not only for the health and safety of the childcare staff but also for the protection of their families.
My own situation is that I have a special-needs daughter who has undergone two major heart surgeries.
Last Wednesday evening I walked back into my home, and I was sick with worry in case I had brought the virus to her.
This is just my story but for our thousands of childcare staff there are many similar stories, and it is disgraceful that we are made keep our services open to keep this country running, without a care or consideration for our health and safety or that of our families.
I honestly feel that our sector should refuse to continue working unless we are given the vaccine. – Yours, etc,
MARGARET SEERY,
Edenderry,
Co Offaly.
Sir, – My colleagues and I (a special-needs assistant and a teacher) wipe the tears, noses and even at times bottoms of our junior infants. I suspect this does not happen in the Convention Centre, despite the theatrics and immaturity we regularly witness there.
Based upon the age profile of said TDs, most will be vaccinated before this 40-year-old teacher. – Yours, etc,
NEASA NÍ LIONÁIRD,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.
Sir, – The Tánaiste defended the decision to switch vaccination priorities from those more likely to catch or transmit Covid by virtue of their employment to a purely demographic base on the grounds that the health consequences of Covid worsen with age.
The differences between those aged 25 to 44 and those aged 45 to 64 are, however, small.
Taking the most recent weekly numbers for Covid cases, deaths and hospitalisation, and the estimated population age structure for 2020, it is true that there have been no deaths in the 25 to 44 age group. But there have been only 17 deaths per 100,000 in the 45 to 64 age group, 14 of which have occurred since Christmas. For comparison, there were 358 deaths per 100,000 in this age group in 2019.
The number of Covid cases requiring hospitalisation since the start of the pandemic has been 268 per 100,000 for the 45 to 64 age group, compared with 130 for those aged 25 to 44. This compares with 683 per 100,000 for the 65 to 79 age group and 2004 for those aged 80 and over.
This seems a slender justification for what in my view is a misguided change in vaccination priorities. – Yours, etc.
TIMOTHY KING,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.