Testers brace for close contact spike as schools reopen

Niamh O'Beirne, HSE National Lead Test and Tracing, said children might have a stuffed nose or a cough, so they go forward for testing because they can’t be symptomatic in schools. Photo: Leah Farrell / Photocall Ireland

Testing sites are bracing for an increase in close contact numbers coming forward as the schools return since Covid-19 and other viruses are circulating.

Niamh O’Beirne, the HSE lead for testing and tracing, told the Irish Examiner that as schools open, there tends to be an increase in the numbers of people coming forward for testing. 

“What it doesn’t necessarily mean is that positivity levels will be higher, or case levels because we’ve historically had very low transmission in schools. It doesn’t necessarily translate into more positive cases, there can be a combination of other viruses that parents want to get checked.” 

For example, children might have a stuffed nose or a cough, so they go forward for testing because they can’t be symptomatic in schools, she added.

Before schools closed at the start of summer, her department would have been carrying out between 8,000 to 10,000 tests a week in school settings. 

“We had lower case levels at that point than we do today. We would expect that to be up to two or three times that, if you just went purely on the case levels. We still have 30% of all cases in people below the age of 18," she added. “They are, largely speaking, of school-age.” 

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“We are going into this wave with 30% of a bigger number [of cases] going into school. Let's say the case numbers average at 1,800 per day, and if you have 30% [under-18], those children are going into schools and this will cause increased testing of close contacts.”

Schools have been shut for a few months so there has been very limited close contact testing in schools, she added. 

“Our expectation is from our testing sites that we will be busy in the next couple of weeks, as both non-Covid type viruses are circulating and close contact testing increases as that setting is opened.”

The impact of Delta, which arrived here at the end of June when schools were closed, remains to be seen, she added. 

"But the advice remains the same for the schools: mask-wearing for the senior schools, and [for all] social distancing and pods, and all the same advice as for the children last year. Ultimately it is really important for children to stay in school, and that is the imperative really to keep children in school, and support the schools to keep them there because it is best for them."

There are 150 employees from the Department of Education supporting school principals with the admin involved in the public health assessment of who is identified as a close contact. "We are preparing for increased activity and contact from schools."