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HSE CEO Paul Reid at today's press conference.

HSE says just one meat plant where contact tracing is at '60-70%'

Minister Simon Harris said yesterday that there “are a number of cases in which there are contact and communications difficulties”.

THE HSE HAS said there is just one meat plant where contact tracing is only around 60-70% for those who’ve been diagnosed with Covid-19. 

At a press conference this morning with HSE representatives, director of public health at HSE mid-west Dr Mai Mannix said that workplace contact tracing is at 100% in affected meat plants and at about 90% in terms of community contact. 

“The information I have from speaking with my colleagues around the country is that this is about 90% complete in most instances – there was one facility where the estimate was 60-70%,” Mannix said.

Her comments come after Health Minister Simon Harris said that last night that contract tracing was proving difficult in around 30-40% of cases, although he didn’t specify if this was just in one plant. 

Dr Mannix said information is being provided to people in various languages, but there have been some issues in terms of phone numbers having an incorrect digit, for example, or people being reluctant to pick up the phone. In some cases, gardaí have helped to deliver information to people.

The majority of cases were male (77.6%) and aged 25-44 (58%), and most cases (88%) are out of the infectious period. 2.7% of people had to be admitted to hospital and seven patients were treated in ICU, but there were no deaths.

1,054 cases across 20 facilities have been confirmed to date – 15 facilities are still under active investigation, and in the other five it has been over 28 days since the last positive case.

Dáil

Speaking in the Dáil last night, Harris said that there were a number of cases where there are contact and communication difficulties.

In putting the question, independent TD Denis Naughten said that the lack of follow up with close contacts in an industry severely affected by Covid-19 is “creating a significant community risk”. 

In each of the last two weeks, the number of cases at meat plants has increased by over 100. In all, 27 of these workers have been hospitalised.

Union representatives and migrants rights organisation have said some workers in processing plants are not in a position to adhere to social distancing guidelines at home due to their living arrangements, with some sharing rooms with co-workers or even employees from other plants. 

Furthermore, unions have claimed that working conditions in meat plants have meant that social distancing is often difficult while at work. 

In the Dáil yesterday, Naughten told Harris: “With regard to the meat plants, I am informed that, in some instances, only about one third of the close contacts of those who have been identified as positive within the meat industry have been followed up.

“That is completely unacceptable. It is creating a significant community risk and it is, I believe, down to the failure to have an effective contact tracing system.”

Harris replied: “My information, for what it is worth, is that when it comes to contact tracing of meat plant staff, and I specifically asked this on foot of contact from the Deputy, the amount of contact tracing is much higher than one third and is between at least 60% and 70%, although there are a number of cases in which there are contact and communications difficulties.

We have a national outbreak team chaired by a very good doctor, Dr Mannix. I suggest that I put the Deputy directly in contact with her for a briefing on the work being done in regard to the meat plants, considering the Deputy has highlighted so many important issues.

With reporting from Órla Ryan

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18 Comments
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    Mute 8-Bit-Relic
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    Jun 5th 2020, 8:49 AM

    Gosh, close them and restart them once they are done… they were responsible for 153 of the cases last week. If that’s one of the main things preventing us from reopening get it done.

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    Mute Aidan O' Neill
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    Jun 5th 2020, 8:54 AM

    Absolute cop out answer by Harris also. He should be getting briefed on the situation and informing the House.

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    Mute frank_1916
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    Jun 5th 2020, 8:51 AM

    whoever owns the meat plants should know who’s working there and also where they live

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    Mute Aidan O' Neill
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    Jun 5th 2020, 8:53 AM

    @frank_1916: meat industry has a lot of Government connections, no sign of inspections or shut down. We’ve been averaging what 50ish a day for the last two weeks? So 100 per week in meat factories means about 2 out of every 7 cases is from one now. With lack of contact tracing this is clearly a significant factor for why the numbers aren’t lower.

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    Mute Eugene Comaskey
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    Jun 5th 2020, 9:38 AM

    @frank_1916: Meath Factory Owners are just that , they are not “keepers” , they cannot follow the workers home and see what they do and where they go . Isn’t the problem with the HSE and Dept of Ag, who have Dept Vets in there. Just like the Nursing Homes, HSE not really doing their job.

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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Jun 5th 2020, 10:04 AM

    @frank_1916: anecdotally, the problem isn’t in the meat plants per se, it’s not possible for employers to police behaviour once people clock off and go home. It appears that correct precautions are in place in the plants, but the employers have no power outside of the workplace to ensure social distancing etc.

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    Mute Cormac
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    Jun 5th 2020, 11:36 AM

    @Eugene Comaskey: the vets are responsible for checking the animals for diseases. They have no responsibility towards the factory employees. It is either the HSA or the HSE that should be taking charge

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    Mute Sharp Elsi Mate
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    Jun 5th 2020, 9:48 AM

    The vast majority of these workers come from a particular community (in our local plants anyway) so contact tracing you would think would be a bit easier. I also think they have a mindset of even if I am bit under the weather I am going to work anyway.

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    Mute Mary Walshe
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    Jun 5th 2020, 1:22 PM

    @Sharp Elsi Mate:
    Probably because they cannot afford not to go to work, I’d say!

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    Mute Sharp Elsi Mate
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:24 PM

    @Mary Walshe: Yes sadly most likely but is the system not supposed to allow you to get the PUP if you cannot go to work?

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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Jun 5th 2020, 9:34 AM

    All workers contacts ( colleagues and families ) should be traced . Simply no excuse. 70%?is not good enough.

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    Mute George
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    Jun 5th 2020, 10:03 AM

    Big issue is Harris & HSE not using these sites to perfect their tracing procedures. We will have clusters and they will need immediate action. Country cannot shut down again

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    Mute Michael Mcloughlin
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    Jun 5th 2020, 11:04 AM

    Close them like they have the schools and shops and dont reopen them until all the workers comply with the testing .
    I know in the Midlands some of the partners of the people working in the meat Factorys are working in Nursing homes and working as care assistants so it needs to be sorted

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    Mute DK
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    Jun 5th 2020, 9:09 AM

    27 hospitalised out of 1,048 cases is less than 2.6 percent. I think this gives a good rough guide on serious cases rate for adults in 18 – 50 age range. Also no mention of any deaths but they haven’t said there hasn’t been any either so can’t assume that’s the case.

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    Mute Sean Reddin
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    Jun 5th 2020, 10:34 AM

    People / workers are secondary once there is money to be made even in a pandemic unfortunately.

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    Mute Vladimir Macro
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    Jun 5th 2020, 12:02 PM

    1800 peolpe now trained to work in contact monitoring.

    What are they doing?

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    Mute MickN
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    Jun 5th 2020, 12:23 PM

    Has anyone asked who gave the ok for the planeloads of Brazilians than flew in during the lockdown to go straight to work in the meat factories…?
    No….?
    Didn’t think so…

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    Mute Dolores English
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    Jun 5th 2020, 1:56 PM

    Shut the meat factories down, engage with the employees and help them instead of talking about these workers as if they didn’t matter

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