1,413 new cases as number of children aged five to 12 tested for Covid quadruples
The Nphet meeting also discussed advice from the Health Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) around mask-wearing in primary schools. It was decided to continue to advise against this for under-13s.
Health officials have confirmed that 1,413 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded today as a senior health official said the number of children aged five to 12 tested for the virus has quadrupled in the last three weeks.
It comes as Nphet gave the go-ahead for restrictions to ease on Monday as planned.
From September 22 the phased return to workplaces will begin and there will be a relaxation on the rules around indoor activities and outdoor events.
Nphet also considered whether guidelines for close contacts can be eased.
They have agreed these rules might be eased for children by the end of this month and by the end of October for adults.
It means children may be able to stay in school even if they are close contacts depending on levels of transmission in schools.
Up to 1,200 children a day being identified as close contacts and there have been calls for primary schools to be better supported to tackle Covid-19.
Currently, if you are a close contact and you have symptoms, you are asked to get a Covid PCR test and self-isolate by staying in your room.
If you do not have symptoms, you still need to get a Covid test but you only have to restrict your movements by staying at home.
If you are a close contact, fully vaccinated and do not have Covid symptoms you do not need to restrict your movements or get a test.
For children, if they have symptoms of Covid they will need to isolate from others immediately and their GP should be phoned, even if they are fully vaccinated.
If they are fully vaccinated and have no signs of Covid, they do not need to restrict their movements.
For children who do not have symptoms but are not vaccinated, if they are a close contact they should restrict their movements for 14 days.
They can stop restricting their movements when both apply:
- They have a negative test (Covid-19 not detected) 10 days after they were last in contact with the person who tested positive.
- They do not have any symptoms of Covid-19.
The HSE has said about 10,000 children in settings including creches, primary schools and secondary schools are out of school on any given day. HSE lead for testing Niamh O’ Beirne has said about 1,200 such contacts are identified daily.
The Nphet meeting also discussed advice from the Health Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) around mask-wearing in primary schools. It was decided to continue to advise against this for under-13s.
Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the Epidemiological modelling advisory group, said data shows “ a slow improvement in the overall epidemiological situation” He said numbers in hospitals and daily admissions to hospital are decreasing.
However, posting on social media after the meeting, he warned: “The number of people in ICU remains high”, and it will take “ a number of weeks” for this to change.
Referring to schools, he said: “We have seen a huge demand for testing of asymptomatic children who have come into contact with an infected person.”
Testing for children aged 5 to 12 has “quadrupled over three weeks” he said meaning that now 1% of that age group are being tested daily.
We have seen a huge increase in demand for testing of asymptomatic children who have come in contact with an infected person; testing in children aged 5-12 has quadrupled over the last three weeks, so we are now testing 1% if that age group every day. 3/5 pic.twitter.com/GIFwGC5c8e
— Professor Philip Nolan (@PhilipNolan_MU) September 16, 2021
He said: “The massive increase in testing has yielded a much smaller increase in the number of infections detected and it is likely that there is at worst a modest increase in incidence in children of primary school age coincident with the opening of schools.”
Prof Nolan said the low incidence rates are due to the extremely high vaccination uptake and the public’s following of restrictions.
“Incidence will decline further, reducing risk for all, if we stick with these measures,” he said.
Meanwhile, the number of patients with Covid-19 in hospital is under 300 for the second day in a row.
Some 290 patients with the virus are in hospital, down from 292 on Wednesday.
However, the number of patients with the virus in ICU has jumped for a third day. There are 67 Covid patients in ICUs around the country, up from 58 on Monday.
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