10,000 close contacts slip the net in testing debacle
:: Thousands not informed of potential exposure to virus
BETWEEN 10,000 and 15,000 people who may have been exposed to Covid-19 were not informed over three days due to the latest HSE tracing fiasco.
This increased the chances of some of these contacts, who caught the virus, being at risk of passing it on to others.
Dr Denis McCauley, GP lead in the Irish Medical Organisation, said the 2,000 to 2,500 people who tested positive over three days could have between 10,000 and 15,000 contacts.
It followed an admission by the HSE that thousands of people who tested positive over the weekend could not have their contacts traced because its public health departments were overwhelmed.
Instead, they have been urged to alert people they believe to be close contacts themselves.
Dr McCauley said he did not believe all the people who tested positive for the virus on Friday, Saturday and Sunday heeded the HSE advice and notified their close contacts.
The Government said last night that the current staff of 400 tracers would be boosted to 620 next week, with further increases thereafter to a target of 800. It could ultimately rise to 1,000.
Meanwhile, as the second nationwide Covid-19 lockdown comes into force today, gardaí will be mounting hundreds of rolling checkpoints on primary and secondary roads to ensure people do not travel further than 5km from their homes.
This is in addition to the more than 130 static checkpoints in place on the country’s motorways.
BETWEEN 10,000 and 15,000 people who may have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus were not informed over three days due to the latest HSE tracing fiasco which caused its contact tracing service to be swamped.
This increased the chances of some of these contacts who caught the virus being at risk of unknowingly passing it on to others.
A proportion of these contacts, who were at close quarters with a person who was positive, may be in danger of developing symptoms and also unwittingly spreading the disease.
Dr Denis McCauley, GP lead in the Irish Medical Organisation, said the 2,000 to 2,500 people who tested positive over three days could have between 10,000 and 15,000 contacts.
It followed an admission by the HSE that thousands of people who tested positive over the weekend could not have their contacts traced because its public health departments were swamped.
Instead, they were yesterday urged to do the tracing themselves and advise their close contacts by phone to inform their GP and ask for a test.
Dr McCauley said he believed a proportion of these people are still unaware they are at risk.
He did not believe all people who tested positive for the virus over Friday, Saturday and Sunday heeded the HSE who asked them to inform their close contacts.
Dr McCauley said the HSE’s actions yesterday would have mitigated the risk of virus spreading – but it would not have eliminated the chance that people who have the virus, and were in contact with someone who was positive, still being unaware they pose a danger of developing symptoms or passing it on.
It followed revelations by the HSE yesterday that its public health departments and contract tracing systems were so swamped with a surge in infections on Friday, Saturday and Sunday they could not inform all close contacts of positive cases they needed a test.
Dr McCauley said: “A decision was made by the National Public Health Emergency Team that only one test was needed among this cohort.”
He said the outcome would not be as good as if contact tracers in the HSE made contact with all of them, and there would be a percentage who would be missed and would
be in danger of spreading the virus.
“There are more than there should be if the system was perfect, but there are less than if they asked us to do this hybrid method,” he added.
The HSE’s contact tracers have been alerting close contacts of those diagnosed since Monday as normal.
However, the system continues to come under intense pressure.
Another 1,167 new cases of the virus were reported yesterday. Of these, 263 were in Dublin, 142 were in Meath, and 137 were in Cork. There were 86 new confirmed cases in Cavan, which remains the county with the worst 14-day incidence of the virus at 1,013.4 per 100,000 of the population.
The HSE said the decision to ask people who tested positive to personally alert their close contacts was a “one-off temporary measure as a response to an unprecedented rise in the number of positive cases confirmed across the country”.
A spokeswoman said: “Over the past six months, we have rapidly built a robust testing and tracing capacity to meet Irish demand.
“We increased our laboratory testing capacity both on and off island.
“We implemented major process and technology changes on how we do our testing and tracing, deployed our Covid Tracker app and automated major elements of the process.
“A significant recruitment campaign for testing and tracing, requiring engagement and negotiations with trade unions and role profiles, was initiated.
“Some 600 new contact tracers are through the interview process.
“We plan to recruit up to an initial 800 contact tracers, and then review the requirement for further recruitment. At present we are increasing our contact training staff by 70 per week.”
She said more than 130 new community swabbers are now in place, with another 226 due to start “imminently”.
“In addition to complex contact tracing which is undertaken in the public health departments, our national contact tracing centres now have 400 staff working seven days a week, 12 hours a day,” she added. “All staff are provided with comprehensive contact tracing training.”