Information on NI outbreaks should be made public: doctor

A leading public health doctor has called for information about the location and nature of positive Covid-19 cases to be made public.

Professor Gabriel Scally, a member of independent Sage, has called for health authorities to provide more detail about outbreaks, which he said will help schools take steps to protect staff and pupils.

With pupils due to return to school in a matter of days, there is growing concern over the safety of staff, pupils and their families, particularly after the health minister and his two top officials warned of a re-emergence of the virus.

And yesterday, the chief scientific advisor said children of parents who have been shielding may not be able to return to school as it may be too dangerous.

However, he stopped short on providing a definitive position, saying that the decision should be made in conjunction with health professionals and the schools involved.

“It needs to be made on an individual basis depending on the exact nature of the circumstances,” he said.

“In the case of schools opening, we know that children are less likely to catch the virus than adults, particularly younger children.

“We know they are somewhat less likely to transmit the virus and it is very rare for them to develop severe disease.

“We can’t say that opening schools will be completely safe and will not be associated with some increase in the infection.”

However, Professor Scally has said parents and schools are in a difficult position due to the current lack of public information about outbreaks and clusters.

“It’s absolutely that more information is provided about positive cases as the schools go back,” he said.

“Telling someone that there are some cases in Belfast is no use if you want to know whether it is safe to send your child to school.

“If they said, ‘There is a cluster in Divis or Short Strand or Ardoyne’, you would be more clear about the risks while at the same time protecting the identity of positive cases.

“Unless you get detailed information about where clusters are popping up, how are you going to know? Parents need that information, teachers need that information.

“Children very often don’t get symptoms of Covid-19 and so it would help for principals to make decisions on whether they should close their school for a period or for parents to know whether they should keep their child at home for a while.”

Alliance Party MLA Paula Bradshaw, a member of the Stormont health committee, said: “It is imperative, not just with regard to schools, that as much information as possible about clusters and spikes in particular localities is made public.

“This has improved markedly in recent weeks. It would also be helpful to publish the scientific advice under which schools are reopening to provide added confidence.”

Health officials have refused to provide specific details about clusters as they have argued it may result in the identification of patients. According to statistics released yesterday afternoon, 34 people had tested positive in the previous 24 hours, while the number of inpatients with Covid-19 across Northern Ireland had risen from four to seven over the 24-hour period.