Written answers

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

Photo of Seán CroweSeán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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513. To ask the Minister for Health if the roll-out of instructions supposedly being given to drivers on public transport by management to allow family groupings to sit together on buses creates health concerns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13375/20]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is no doubt aware public transport should only be used for essential journeys and it is advisable to avoid peak-time travel whenever possible. It is also important to note that you should not use public transport if you are experiencing any symptoms of Covid19. You should self-isolate and contact your GP immediately.

The Deputy may wish to note that when travelling on public transport with people who are not from the same household, current public health measures such as keeping 2 metres apart from other people when boarding, alighting and while on board and observing proper cough and respiratory etiquette should be adhered to.  When travelling on public transport with people from the same household, however, it is not considered feasible that the 2 metre physical distancing measure be observed.

On 15 June, the Government and the National Transport Authority launched a national communications campaign which outlines best practice for the use of face coverings in retail outlets, on public transport and in other public locations in which it is difficult to maintain social distancing or where this distance cannot be guaranteed, and will communicate to the public about:

- who should wear face coverings

- in what settings, and

- how to wear and remove face coverings correctly.

Guidance on how to make and safely use face coverings is available on gov.ie/facecoverings and on the HSE website

Further information on  public transport and Covid19 is available on the Department of Tourism, Transport & Sport at the following link: and from the National Transport Authority's website

Photo of Louise O'ReillyLouise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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514. To ask the Minister for Health the reason Ireland has one of highest Covid-19 infection rates among health workers in the world; if a lack of personal protective equipment and lack of clear guidance on mandatory wearing of face masks in the early days of the crisis has contributed to the huge rates of infection amongst healthcare workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13379/20]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Data on cases in healthcare workers is published by the HPSC and is available here: 

The Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group has developed a methodology to determine the recovery rate by considering the number of hospitalisations, ICU admissions, deaths and the dates of confirmation for each case. They have advised the Department that as of 3rd June, our recovery rate in healthcare workers is 93%. This is a higher recovery rate than in the general population, because relatively few healthcare workers have been hospitalised and very few admitted to ICU. 

It is worth noting that Ireland, in contrast with many other countries, maintains a very wide definition of a healthcare worker for surveillance purposes and hence international comparisons should be interpreted with caution.  In Ireland, a healthcare worker is anyone who works in any area of healthcare across community and hospital settings. It includes, for example, administrative staff, catering, maintenance, IT etc whereas in many other countries it is a considerably narrower definition of frontline workers or even just doctors and nurses. Our very broad definition of healthcare worker along with extensive testing contribute to our proportion of all COVID-19 infections that have been in healthcare workers.

There have been several studies worldwide of healthcare worker COVID-19 infection rates which have shown an infection rate of 5 to 10% of HCWs, whereas in Ireland this rate is close to 3-4% of HCWs based on estimates from the CSO Labour Force Survey of between 225,000 and 250,000 people working in Ireland who would identify as healthcare workers or as working in a healthcare setting.

In an article published by Hunter et al in the Lancet, on 2nd of May 2020 referred to a study in Newcastle (UK) on the 10th and 11th of March, where a random sample of hospital healthcare workers were tested and 5% were COVID-19 positive. This random sample testing was repeated on the 30th and 31st of March and 20% of healthcare workers were COVID-19 positive.

In a Dutch study (Eurosurveillance, Reuskin et al,26/03/2020), 400 healthcare were tested between the 27th of February and the 6th of March 2020 and 2.5% were positive for COVID-19. Between the 6th and the 8th of March 2020, 1,100 HCWs were tested and 4.1% were COVID-19 positive.

As such, it would not appear that the rates of infection among Irish healthcare workers are out of line with the experiences of comparator countries.

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