Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Special Committee on Covid-19 Response
Briefing by HSE Officials
Mr. Paul Reid:
I will say two things and then may ask Ms. O'Connor to give some wider evidence.
On the first assertion the Deputy made that the transmission of the disease can be tracked back to - I am paraphrasing, excuse me, but this is what she may have said - people moving from a hospital setting to nursing homes, there is no evidence whatsoever for that. I think it would be misleading to say that that is where one can track back transmission in these in nursing homes to. It would be unfortunate that that would be perceived because there is no evidence. In fact, the evidence in terms of where the transmission within nursing homes can be identified or tracked back to is still something that NPHET is working through and trying to get a better level of understanding. It is not just us in Ireland. Just today the ECDC published a report on transmission of the disease in congregated settings. It too is learning. In every country mentioned in that report today there are learnings about how the disease may-----
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