Nphet shouldn’t ‘give up’ routine contact tracing for people with Covid-19, says Kingston Mills

An immunology expert said he would be “surprised and disappointed” if routine contact tracing for people with Covid-19 ended from next month.

The Irish Times reported on Saturday morning that most contact tracing of adult cases will end on October 22, according to proposals to be considered by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) in October.

But Kingston Mills, professor of experimental immunology and academic director of TCD’s Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, said: “I think Nphet is thinking, I don’t think they’ve decided it yet. I would be very surprised, I would be very disappointed, if they decided that.

“The problem is that Ireland still has one of the highest case rates per 100,000 in Europe, if not worldwide. So we are not yet at the stage. We’re getting there … the disease is now moving to the younger population, which is less serious in terms of hospitalizations, but I don’t think we’re still at the stage where we can give up testing.

“The problem has been, and this is part of the problem in schools over the last few weeks, they’ve done so many tests, I think 157,000 tests in a week but the positivity rate is still over 5% and so on. is huge.

“So we can’t at this stage throw in the towel on testing and hope for the best.”

Professor Mills was speaking to Katie Hannon on RTÉ Radio One on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health said on Saturday afternoon that there were 1,335 other confirmed cases of Covid-19.

At 8 a.m. on Saturday, 282 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized, including 65 in intensive care.

Under the proposed change to the current arrangements, public health specialists could still initiate contact tracing after a risk assessment of a particular case or group of cases. However, the routine use of contact tracing would end.

Nphet officials want to monitor this week’s decision to end contact tracing of asymptomatic classroom cases before making the final decision to end contact tracing of adult cases. Travel-related cases are also being monitored following a decision earlier this month to end contact tracing of the flights.

However, it is certain that the infection rate among primary schoolchildren will stabilize over the next few weeks, despite the decision to allow close contacts without symptoms to attend school rather than having to restrict their movements at home.

According to Professor Philip Nolan, Nphet official, on Friday the incidence of the disease in children aged five to 12 is “at least stable and probably declining”, with test levels still high.

The plan to end most contact tracing is part of a larger movement towards normality in this phase of the pandemic, when more than 90% of the population is largely protected against Covid-19 through vaccination or a previous infection.

The government has set October 22 as the date to remove most restrictions related to Covid-19, provided the incidence of the virus remains stable or decreases. Another criterion, the target of 90% of adults vaccinated, has already been reached.

The scale of the state’s contact tracing operation is significant, with nearly 1,000 people in the Health Service Executive. By mid-August, that involved contacting more than 13,000 cases per week, with 31,000 close contacts notified to staff.

Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive (HSE) described Saturday opening hours for more than 20 walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centers across the country.

People attending walk-in centers can be vaccinated without an appointment, although the centers are limited to people aged 12 and over, and children aged 12 to 15 must be accompanied by a parent or a tutor.

Most walk-in clinics offer the first or second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. If a person has received a first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and does not want a second dose of AstraZeneca, they may choose to receive an mRNA vaccine as a second dose instead.

Saturday drop-in centers include the Kilmore Hotel, Co Cavan (8:30 am-4:00pm); City Hall, Dublin (11 am-2pm); Clonakilty GAA Club, Co Cork (9:15 am-3pm); Letterkenny IT, Co Donegal (10:15 am-5:30pm); Citywest Convention Center, Co Dublin (8:15 am-6pm); and the National Show Center, Co Dublin (8.30 a.m.-12.30 p.m. and 1.40 p.m.-6.30 p.m.).

Elsewhere, drop-in centers will be open at Galway Racecourse (8:30 am-4:30pm); Punchestown Racecourse, Co Kildare (9 am-5pm); Cillin Hill Conference Center, Co Kilkenny (8:15 am – 12:30 pm); St Fintans Portlaoise Campus (11:30 am-3pm); Breaffy House Resort, Co Mayo (11:30 am-5:30pm); Fairyhouse Racecourse, Co Kildare (10 am-4pm); and Simonstown GAA Club, Co Meath (9 am-5pm).

Finally, drop-in centers are open at the Glencarn Hotel, Co Monaghan (10 am-4pm); Offaly Vaccination Center (10 am-3pm); Kilbride Community Center, Co Roscommon (9:15 am-4:10pm); Sligo IT (10 am-4pm); Abbey Court Hotel, County Tipperary (9 am-6pm); Clonmel Park Hotel, Co Tipperary (9 am-1pm); Waterford IT (8.30am-12.30pm for over 16s only and 1.30pm-5.15pm for 12-15 years old); Westmeath Community Vaccination Center (9:30 am-11:00am for Pfizer and 9:30 am-12:30pm for Moderna); Astro Active Center, Co Wexford (9 am-1pm); and Shoreline, Co Wicklow (10 am-4pm).