There are no immediate plans to change the Covid testing regime

Health Service Executive said there are no immediate plans to change Covid-19’s mass testing system.

Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry confirmed that the discussion paper was submitted to the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), emphasizing the need for a more focused testing system in the coming months.

A discussion paper written by Professor Martin Cormican, a leading HSE infection control expert, was submitted to the team in late July. Dr. Henry confirmed that as the pandemic progressed, the document suggested a shift to a more selective testing regime.

Dr. Colm Henry said: From the pandemic stage to the endemic stage, the disease is no longer considered exceptional, but is considered part of the profile of other seasonal viruses. “

But he said the transition depends on the number of cases, positive rates, hospitals and intensive care units, and impact on vulnerable groups.

Currently, there are no plans to change the Covid-19 testing system, Dr. Colm Henry said.

He added that NPHET is considering a transition from a pandemic to endemic as the vaccination program takes hold. read more: https://t.co/W56zDLVwlT pic.twitter.com/iiLzJP2eUo

-RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 13, 2021

“These are the measurements we constantly monitor and show signs of stability in the last few weeks,” he said.

When moving to the endemic stage, Dr. Henry said he would consider intensive examination of the outbreak situation.

But he said “it’s still some journey” before NPHET gets the guarantee from the numbers that the country is starting to move from a pandemic to endemic.

Asked about the Covid-19 epidemic among children, he understands people’s fears, but in their experience, classroom infections are largely not a major factor in the Covid-19 epidemic. Said the school remained open with minimal disruption. Until this summer.

He acknowledges that outbreaks in school can increase, but NPHET needs to balance that risk with the risk to children through interruptions in education.

“Covid-19 is not a serious illness for children. Of the 1,700 cases received in the intensive care unit since the beginning of this pandemic, less than 30 are in this age group.”

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Earlier, Dr. Henry said today at RTÉ with Claire Byrne, the number of cases is still high, but the link between cases and harm is diminishing.

He said the country has entered different scenarios in connection with Covid-19 as a result of vaccination promotion and coverage, which “may open up options.”

He said the policy of “following the case” would continue as there are still high-level cases left.

However, he added that a 5-day moving average of 1,200 to 1,400 cases per day showed some stability, and the number of hospital cases also had some stability.

In addition, the number of new cases per day has declined slightly, declining in all vaccinated age groups.

He said he was aware of the secondary consequences of the measures that had to be taken as a result of the pandemic, and the new HSE discussion paper states how to view Covid-19 when the disease enters an endemic environment. He said he was pointing out how it could be changed.

So far, he said, there have been many steps that must be taken to prevent the health care system from going too far.

Dr. Henry said the HSE wants more vaccinations, especially among young people.

He said learning from children so far is that classrooms are not Covid-19 incubators and that child-to-child transmission is rare in a school environment.

Dr. Henry said that if the positive rate of cases continues to decline among children, and there are no significant school outbreaks. This opens up the option of staying in school while asymptomatic children are being observed.

He wouldn’t have to rule out students with asymptomatic close contact, but medical professionals would need to check the warranty in the first few weeks after returning to school before making any changes. Said there is.

“In the first few weeks, there was no significant increase in delta cases among school children, no multiple outbreaks, and confirmation of good signs so far, the need to return to school. there is.”

He agrees that Professor Clíona Ní Cheallaigh’s prediction that the majority under the age of 12 will be infected with Covid-19 by spring is just one prediction and interpretation, based on the expert advice he received. Said not.

Dr. Henry said most outbreaks in schools were associated with infections in the community rather than in schools.

We expect more cases to be seen in children, he said, and we will see outbreaks. But I hope we don’t see the surge in cases that Professor Ní Cheallaigh predicted, he added.

He said parents vaccinated of symptomatic Covid-positive children are no longer designated as close contacts because the vaccine infection is reduced and the vaccine significantly reduces the disease.

He said this advice was totally correct, and he couldn’t give someone who was fully vaccinated a close contact designation-whether parents or not.