Dáil debates

Wednesday, 21 October 2020

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:20 pm

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The only guaranteed way of preventing lockdowns in the future is human behaviour. The virus spreads when people congregate. That is, unfortunately, the truth of this virus. It is very challenging for people generally because we all have to do things we would not normally do. It has upended our lives when it comes to the normal practices of daily life. That is the unfortunate reality of the virus and that has to feed into any strategic approach towards it. I have been honest and candid about this. I do not believe a zero-Covid approach is the correct approach. I do not think we can do that given our geographic location. I do not think we can seal the Border and we have very close relations with the United Kingdom. That is a view I have and NPHET shares that view. NPHET has said to us that it does not believe a zero-Covid elimination strategy is a doable proposition.

Likewise, herd immunity is something no one wants to contemplate for obvious reasons in terms of its impact. Therefore, we are in a suppression strategy, and that is dependent on a number of factors. Testing and tracing is very important, and I do not want to understate that. Human behaviour is also important, as is learning from the earlier phases of the pandemic, and constantly evaluating what is happening within our treatment situation, hospitals and acute settings more generally. For example, we started the serial testing of nursing homes as far back as August 2020. We have done 234,000 tests, with very low positivity rates. We did that to keep on top of the virus in an area of acute vulnerability, as we had learned from the first phase of the pandemic. We then extended the testing to meat plants because there was an outbreak in those plants during the summer. We learned from that serial testing the likelihood is that the actual origin of the virus was outside of the meat plants, but that when it came in, it spread. The positivity rate from the serial testing is low. This is also the case in respect of testing in direct provision centres. Such serial testing statistics are important as they enable us to keep on top of the pandemic. That is the overall strategy.

On the recruitment side, there is a hell of a lot of recruitment going on for community swabbing and contact tracing. As regards recruitment for community swabbing, more than 1,000 people have gone through the interview process and are now at the compliance checking stage. That started before this month. As regards recruitment for contact tracing, 700 people have been through the interview process. Deputy Catherine Murphy attended the briefing held last week by the HSE. It stated that it is recruiting and is hoping to take on 70 to 90 people per week. The ultimate objective is to recruit close to 800 people on the community tracing side, and 1,000 on the swabbing side, and those numbers may grow. We should have a briefing from the HSE on this particular situation.

I have been in touch with the people directly responsible for, and overseeing, testing and community tracing within the HSE. What I am imparting is the information I have been given by the HSE on this matter. There is no issue with resources or funding on the Government side, because it has to happen.

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