Calls for seven-day public health support for schools to deal with Covid-19

Scoil Bhríde, Eglantine. 

Calls have been made for the HSE to establish a dedicated public health team to support schools and assist with communications when Covid-19 cases and outbreaks occur.

The calls by the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) for a seven-day out-of-hours public health service specifically for schools, come as the first case of Covid-19 was detected at a primary school in Munster over the weekend.

The case of Covid-19 was confirmed at Scoil Bhríde Eglantine primary school on the south side of Cork City late on Sunday night when parents were advised to attend school “as normal” on Monday unless otherwise informed.

In the letter school principal Eoin Kennedy confirmed the case among the “school community” and that he was liaising with public health officials and had contacted “relevant families”.

The Irish Examiner understands the case relates to one pupil and has impacted on one class out of 550 pupils attending the all-girls primary school.

While there are standard guidelines to respond to Covid-19 cases each school will respond differently depending on the advice of public health officials.

Confirmation of the case at the Cork City school was met with a mixed reaction among parents, with some expressing concern over a lack of information and others content that the situation was being well managed.

“We need to know what class the confirmed case relates to so that we, as parents, can identify any interactions with our children and whether we need to stay at home,” one concerned parent told the Irish Examiner.

Others were happy that the school remained open. While waiting for her daughter Edel Salazar said: “I feel we were given plenty of information by the school and that it’s going by all of the public health guidelines. I didn’t get a phone call so I knew the case didn’t affect our daughter or her class”.

Also waiting for her daughter, Neranjala Jayaweera said she was happy with the arrangements in place: "I think the school is handling this well. 

I will be keeping an eye on things but we have to try to get back to normal and we can’t expect everything to close down.

The school was not available for comment. The Department of Education also declined to comment on the case at the Cork City school.

Where cases are confirmed, public health officials carry out a risk assessment and make recommendations on a “case by case basis”, the Department said.

IPPN chief executive Páiric Clerkin, however, said more support was needed for schools dealing with new cases and outbreaks of Covid-19.

Mr Clerkin said some schools faced difficulties accessing the HSE and public health services on weekends in particular and that a dedicated team was needed to provide support and assistance with communications outside of normal working hours.

“We need a team that is dedicated to supporting schools that are dealing with these situations, which all won't arise during working hours,” Mr Clerkin told the Irish Examiner.

“We are going to be living with this for the foreseeable future and a dedicated team is needed to deal specifically with schools and that team will also need to be in place seven days a week and available until late at night,” he added.

“There needs to be that level of support to schools to ensure that in every situation there is consistency and that every situation is managed appropriately, right across the country,” he said.