Teachers’ union calls for return of contact tracing

IRELAND’S largest teachers’ union has called for contact tracing to be immediately reinstated at primary level amid a surge in Covid cases.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) also called for an ‘urgent review’ of rules governing whether children under 13 should wear a mask in classrooms.

The union said it is ‘extremely concerned’ no mass testing report in schools has been published in almost two weeks and wants all Covid restrictions in schools extended beyond Halloween.

The call comes as a Wexford primary school was yesterday forced to shut until the end of the midterm break after more than 30 pupils tested positive for Covid.

In a message to parents on Sunday evening, the principal of the CBS Primary School in Wexford town said the decision was taken by the board of management due to the volume of cases at the school and that students would be taught remotely this week. Principal Vicky Barron said it was clear to her that the disease spread within the school, with 19 pupils in the same classroom contracting the virus.

‘It was a very, very difficult decision for our board but we sat and did the maths. We were informed of case number one on Friday – in one week we had 30 cases. I got more cases in over the weekend, we’re up to 34 now… We feel it is the right call to keep everyone safe,’ she told RTE’s News at One.

Last month, close contact guidelines for those aged under 13 were relaxed, meaning they would no longer have to self-isolate if they were symptom free.

Ms Barron said the virus was clearly spread between students, and should be labelled an outbreak. She added: ‘We have 30 children in that second class.

‘We are in a 49 sq m classroom. We have problems with our ventilation and this is not just my school. This is a number of schools throughout the country.’

In a strongly worded statement, the INTO said: ‘It is not a sustainable position to expect our schools to operate as normal when infection levels in our communities continue to spiral.’

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education told the Irish Daily Mail it cannot comment on individual cases. She added that as had been the case throughout the pandemic, the approach to supporting schools to operate safely during Covid-19 has been to follow and implement public health advice, and that Covid-19 response plans are in place in all schools.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was not aware of the specifics of the case in Wexford, but that public health advice in relation to schools has been ‘effective’.