Return to classes blamed for tracking delays
Concern as health agency says increased workload is causing backlog in system for tracing infected people
THE reopening of schools has resulted in delays to tracking down people potentially infected with Covid-19, it has emerged.
According to the Public Health Agency (PHA), a delay in getting test results and a “significant increase in workload as a result of more cases and schools returning” has led to a backlog of highrisk close contacts who need to be told to self-isolate.
It’s a worrying development, coming as the number of positive cases is significant enough for the Executive to introduce even stricter measures in a bid to suppress the virus and avoid a wholesale lockdown. What is more concerning, however, is the fact that this has happened in the first place.
Throughout the pandemic, the experts have been clear — an efficient test, trace and isolate system will prove crucial in keeping a lid on Covid-19 infections.
The science behind the scheme is obvious — when a person tests positive, they speak to specially trained PHA staff who identify those people with whom the infected person has come into close contact.
Those people are then contacted and given expert advice over what action they should take, including the requirement to self-isolate in case they are unwittingly spreading the virus.
In order for the programme to be effective, however, there must be adequate testing capacity to meet demand and enough tracing staff working to quickly identify close contacts. This clearly isn’t the case currently, so what has gone wrong?
The circumstances that have led to the failings are unclear — on one hand the PHA has said there are “some contact tracing delays”, but on the other hand, it is insisting there is a “sufficient staff complement trained and available to manage contact tracing and meet demand”. Both of these cannot be correct.
This isn’t the first time there has been confusion over the ability of the tracing system to deliver. In May, it emerged that only 60 people had been trained to work in contact tracing — one month after the head of the PHA said 500 people were being trained.
And of course, this isn’t the first time there have been failings. There were issues with the supply of personal protective equipment as Covid-19 swept into Northern Ireland, while officials were far too slow to respond to problems in the care home sector.
This was put down to the fact that SARS-COV-2 was an unknown entity — an explanation that won’t wash this time around. After all, we’ve known for months that pupils would return to school, and that this would result in more positive cases. We also knew September would bring with it more respiratory illnesses and the need for more tests. So, why is the capacity not there to deal with demand?
The PHA has refused to state how many contact tracing staff have been working in recent weeks, despite repeated requests for the information. They have also refused to say how many extra staff have been recruited and are being trained, or when they will be available to start work.
They also won’t reveal the current number of people who have been identified as close contacts but have yet to be told they should self-isolate, or the length of time it will take to work through the backlog. The reason for the reluctance to release this information is unclear but it doesn’t inspire confidence.
Perhaps Stormont health committee members Paula Bradshaw and Colm Gildnernew, who have both raised concerns, will be able to get answers.
In the absence of this information, is it really fair that the public is being blamed for the rise in cases while crucial tools in the fight against Covid-19 are clearly not delivering as they should?
‘Is it fair the public is being blamed, when the tools in the fight against virus are not delivering?’