Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Covid-19: Infection Rate among Healthcare Workers (Resumed)

Dr. John Cuddihy:

That is right. The health protection surveillance system looks separately at the infection rates of patients and healthcare workers associated with outbreaks and at the rates of sporadic cases. With regard to those healthcare workers the Deputy mentioned whose cases were not linked to outbreaks, there are a number of likely sources of transmission. These may be related to their work settings or to close contact with a confirmed case either in the workplace or in the community. Some are also related to travel. A proportion relate to community transmission. Despite our intensive contact tracing process and investigations-----