Choppy waters for businesses as new wave of Covid-19 causes staff shortages

Calls for a reduction in the isolation period for close contacts

Mike Ryan of the Cornstore restaurant. 'We’re suffering staff shortages but, on the other side of that, business isn’t flying at the moment. I think a lot of people have Covid-19 and are isolating.' 

The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) said there should be a reduction in the isolation period for a close contact of a person with Covid-19 as the industry battles staff shortages.

The most recent wave of Covid-19 is causing staff shortages across all sectors and RAI CEO Adrian Cummins said a reduction in the recommended isolation period from seven days to five days would somewhat ease this pressure.

“The seven-day isolation rule needs to be reduced to five days, I think," he said. 

"I’ve always said we’ll be guided by public health advice but it now seems that other countries have different stances on the isolation period,” he said, noting that some EU countries are recommending a five-day isolation period for vaccinated Covid-19 close contacts.

On Friday, there were 19,866 newly recorded Covid-19 cases in Ireland. Of these, 9,324 were PCR-confirmed cases while 10,542 were positive antigen test results registered through the HSE portal.

“Every sector is suffering. The Covid-19 numbers now are so large that they are underreported because people are just staying at home sick,” said Munster restaurateur Mike Ryan.

Not only is Covid-19 causing staff shortages but it is also impacting footfall into Mr Ryan's Cornstore and Coqbull restaurants in Cork.

“We’re suffering staff shortages but, on the other side of that, business isn’t flying at the moment. I think a lot of people have Covid-19 and are isolating and in a lot of city centres people aren’t back to work yet fully,” said Mr Ryan.

“We’re lucky that we have a good volume of staff so it’s not interrupting what we do but if we were busier, it would,” he added.

Although there is a push from some groups to lower the isolation period, others think it is a bad idea.

Kingston Mills, a Trinity College Dublin professor of experimental immunology, told Ireland AM that people could be infectious for up to 10 days, but they might experience symptoms for only three days after which they may return to work and potentially spread the virus.

However, Damien McCarthy of HR firm HR Buddy said businesses are at the "end of their tether" with the current self-isolation recommendation. 

'Guidelines don't make sense'

“Current guidelines do not make sense for businesses trying to keep their doors open. Will there be increased supports for loss of turnover due to businesses being unable to staff their operations or do we need to relax current isolation guidelines? We need timely leadership and guidance from Government ahead of what is becoming another covid-19 crisis for employers,” said Mr McCarthy.

Despite the spike in Covid-19 cases, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar recently said there would be no mainstream introduction of pandemic restrictions.

In addition, the intention is to proceed as planned with the phased unwinding of business supports such as the employment wage subsidy scheme (EWSS), said a spokesperson for the Department of Finance.

Yet, on Friday, it was reported that the Dáil bar will be the first hospitality venue in Ireland to reintroduce Covid-19 measures such as mask-wearing for guests.

“Any sniff of an increase in restrictions should trigger the EWSS to be extended,” said Mr Cummins.