NEW figures show that four per cent of children aged under 18 contracted Covid-19 in schools in Ireland last year.
A HSE study, published on Monday, shows that since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and July 10 2021, a total of 46,470 cases of Covid-19 were reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
The study also found that the proportion of close contacts of a confirmed case that later tested positive for Covid-19 was significantly lower in schools, compared to the general population.
The report’s authors, Dr Abigail Collins and Dr Kevin Kelleher, said that it was “reassuring” that case positivity among close contacts is low, despite high levels of community transmission at various times throughout the school year.
They recommend that schools should reopen in September as a “high priority” and suggest that linking testing results to the ending of restricted movements should be reconsidered in schools.
The report states: “The evidence shows that educational facilities can be low risk settings for Covid-19 with the clear focused attention to the exclusion of those with symptoms consistent with Covid-19, mitigating measures in place and infection, prevention and control measures as laid out in the national recommendations.”
Between August 2020 and July 2021, 1,737 schools saw testing of identified close contacts take place.
Over 100,000 people were tested as close contacts in school settings.
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In primary schools, 2.5 per cent of close contacts tested positive for Covid-19.
In secondary schools, that same figure was 1.8 per cent, while in special education settings the figure stood at 3.4 per cent.
“It should be acknowledged that the response to schools dominated much of the work for Departments of Public Health, and this needs to be set alongside the competing areas of higher clinical need for Departments of Public Health to deal with,” the report says.