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THE CHIEF CLINICAL Officer in the HSE has said the advice from the Health Protection and Surveillance Centre (HPSC) is “clear” that people travelling to Ireland from a non-Green List country must restrict movements for 14 days.
Colm Henry told the Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19 today that a person in this situation must self-isolate “irrespective” of whether they’ve been tested for Covid-19.
At this morning’s committee session, Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Mick Barry asked representatives from the HSE, including Henry and HSE CEO Paul Reid, if EU Commissioner Phil Hogan broke HSE guidelines for not observing 14-day quarantine advice.
Both men spoke generally about the guidelines when asked by Barry.
Yesterday, Hogan released a timeline of his recent visit to Ireland which included attendance at the controversial Oireachtas Golf Society event.
Based in Brussels, Hogan travelled back to Ireland on 31 July. As Belgium is not on the Green List, the public health advice is that you should restrict your movements for 14 days.
Hogan told his superior – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – that he “adhered to [Covid-19 requirements] at all times” and said he was not required to “self-isolate or quarantine” because he tested negative for Covid-19 after a hospital appointment.
During an interview with RTÉ News yesterday, Hogan said he “self-isolated for the days up to the 5 of August. I was required to go to hospital. I tested negatively for Covid-19, so I was Covid free. My doctor said I was free to go.”
When asked about the HSE advice that people returning from abroad should continue to restrict movements even if they get a negative test in the first 14 days Hogan said: ”Well, I don’t accept that … I did everything possible to ensure that I was no risk to anybody.”
The senior HSE figures today reiterated this advice while at committee.
Henry said the “advice is clear in this regard” and that a person must restrict their movements for 14 days when returning from a non-Green List country “irrespective of a test being performed either abroad or here”.
Committee
During this morning’s session, HSE representatives were pressed on a number of issues on the current situation with Covid-19, including testing and tracing, plans for the winter and the situation in a nursing home in Louth.
In his opening remarks, Reid stressed that the HSE is preparing for the busy winter months ahead.
“There are currently 22 patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, 6 are in ICU and 3 are currently ventilated,” he said.
“This lower rate of admission may be attributable to the lower age profile of patients that has characterised the resurgence in the disease over the past months. There is no room for complacency, however, and we have plans in place to deal with a surge in hospitalisations.
We are facing into a very difficult period ahead in our health services. In an ideal world the elimination of the virus would make our work somewhat more straightforward. However, this isn’t our reality. We must live with this virus in a very new way, and this requires a carefully balanced approach.
Reid admitted there would be “significant peaks” of the virus, but also “significant troughs” as we live through the virus. He said it was the job of the public health teams to respond to spikes of the cases where they are identified.
On testing and tracing, Reid was pressed by Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane on the previously expressed goal of reaching 100,000 tests a week.
Last week, 55,000 tests for Covid-19 were carried out. The highest recorded in a week came in April with 60,000.
Reid said the goal was to achieve a capacity of 100,000, but how many tests are actually done a week depends on other factors such as the current spread of the disease in the community, and decisions made on whether to conduct serial testing – such as all the staff in meat plants or direct provision.
He also said that serial testing – be they in meat plants or other contexts – comes with a significant cost.
Reid told Social Democrat co-leader Róisín Shortall that serial testing gives the “public a lot of reassurance”. He added that “we need to continue that but it’s a very significant cost”.
At the onset of the crisis, he said that 99,750 healthcare workers were tested with a positivity rate of 0.13%.
He said serial testing was “not the major tool in terms of protecting the public”, and the other public health guidance were of vital importance.
Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd pressed the HSE to provide clarity to the families of those who died at Dealgan House Nursing Home. 23 residents have died at this nursing home since the onset of the pandemic.
He said that the HSE had entered that nursing home, and the families deserved answers as to why. He urged Reid to meet with families to provide the answers they seek.
The HSE CEO said he’d arrange contacts to be made, through local management in the first instance. The HSE Chief Operations Officer Anne O’Connor said that nursing home had issues with staffing levels which prompted action to be taken by the RCSI Hospital group.
Reid separately said that the flu vaccine is a “need-to-have” for healthcare workers this winter. He said other jurisdictions had introduced legislation to make this mandatory but that such a process wouldn’t happen quickly enough here.
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I don’t accept that says Phil.
@JustBEERbarry: if you are a close contact and if you get a negative test 5 days after you were in contact why are you aloud return to work and not wait the remaining 9 days
@eoin carroll: People will ignore that because it threatens the witch-hunt.
@eoin carroll: I don’t accept that
@Tommy Roche: I don’t accept that
@eoin carroll: a good question. I took a Covid19 test yesterday at Aviva Stadium ..if results come back negative I am free to return to work etc.
While everyone is focused on PH, everybody else that attended the event is getting away with it.
All need to be actioned.
@Sequoia: not true. 2 have resigned their positions, O’Rourke has lost a job and the judge is being investigated.
@Jane: yep. Hogan is only getting the headlines because he’s currently avoiding punishment and being a bit of a d**k about it.
@Jane:The 2 are still TD & Senator,O Rourke had retired and by mutual consent not doing any more programs for RTE and no guarantee judge will be face any consequences yet.
What’s forgotten in all this with Government focus on Phil Hogan is that both FF and FG knew about this event and members from both parties attended.Certain attendees had 21 unnamed guests.The leaders of both parties didn’t stop this golf dinner going ahead,and face no consequences.The vast majority who attended this event face no consequences including the 21 unnamed guests.Forme Taoiseach Ends Kenny refused to attend the golf dinner over concerns re guidelines,why couldn’t others?
Is he gone yet?
@Joe Toner: reminds me of driving to Donegal on our holiday last week, kids “are we there yet, are we there yet”
@Dannys Dentures: I hope you’re not from Kildare , Danny!!
@Nosmo King: I will give a more detailed reply to your comment next week when hopefully you have forgotten about it.
Symptoms may take 14 days to show, it’s no good getting a negative test after day 4 or 5 when symptoms may show up on day 11. Phil Hogan knew this, he thinks the test is his “get out of jail card “. He will blame the doctors who as he said ‘ told me I was free to go on my way’. Hes a devious snake and a liar, and this is the guy we are meant to trust with Brexit looming. Get rid of him.
@Sam Greene: but the test is not for finding symptoms, the test is to se if you have the virus,right?, why be quarantined if you are negative
If you are a identified as a close contact and you test negative you are told you do not have to restrict ur movements
@Sam Greene: he was in the K club having dinner the night he returned from Brussels according to the Irish times
@Sam Greene: the test finds the virus , not symptoms. That’s why it works finding asymptomatic cases . You are infected and infectious before symptoms. If you test negative , there’s no reason to keep you locked up especially when you’re not a suspected case.
@Kavsie: The guidelines are different is you travel from a non green zone country.
@Kavsie: because it takes up to 14 days for the virus to show up in your system, and hence in a test. So, a test could return a false negative, and then you go out into the community and spread it.
@Kevin Farrell: the virus does not take 14 days to show up in your system. It may take 14 days to cause symptoms . You have the virus and are infected since day one of exposure and infectious from before developing symptoms. . That’s yet another horrific blunder by the HSE and written in their website .
@Isabel Oliveira: There may not be a sufficient viral load early in the infection for a swab to pick up sufficient Virii, that is why it has to be repeated.
@Isabel Oliveira: It can take time for a positive test which is why the recommended 14 day quarantine for all people coming from abroad is the guidance.
@Green Lentils: So why would a negative test for someone on this island mean they could go back to work?
@Kevin Farrell: Wrong
@Kevin Farrell: It is in your system from when you are exposed, symptoms may take up to 14 days. Educate yourself
@Kavsie: because they say it takes up to 14 days for the virus to show. If you test negatively on a Monday, it doesn’t mean you won’t develop it on Tuesday.
@Shelley Byrne: Incorrect. Up to 14 days for Symptoms to show. If you have been exposed and infected it will show up immediately. If you test negative then there is no reason for you to isolate for 14 days unless it’s a false negative of course. But that can go for any test taken whether you’ve been outside of Ireland or not
Big phil isn’t going down without a fight let’s hope he’s fired today and that be the end of it sick of hearing his name in the news 24/7
So let’s clarify this – “advice” so it’s not law, so if anyone doesn’t isolate there’s nothing anyone can do about it, that’s basically what he’s saying. Phil’s out here is that he want for a test which was negative supposedly before he travelled. I can see him escaping this one.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: exactly it’s not mandatory to isolate
Do the HSE not test engineers coming into Ireland so they an avoid self isolation
@Tim: can
That’s hilarious. He doesn’t know the rules and no media asks the blatant question. People are asked to restrict their movements which is certainly not the same as self isolation.
I find this hilarious, world governments spending billions in tests, “ test, test , test” is their moto for some governments to tell us all tests are useless for non suspected cases and we must continue to restrict your movements after travelling , but tests are totally efficient in actual suspected cases and you can stop self isolating and mingle.
Give it up as people are getting truly fed up with the shambolic contradictions.
@Isabel Oliveira: In fact, this text is from Goverment.ie copy, pasted and screen captured for tracking future changes:
“Everyone in Ireland is urged to stay safe.
However, you need to restrict your movements further if you:
live with someone who has symptoms of COVID-19, but you feel well
are a close contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19
have returned to Ireland from another country
You need to restrict your movements for at least 14 days.
But if the person you live with has had a test and it’s negative, you don’t need to wait 14 days. You should still follow the advice for everyone – stay safe.”
So excuse me while I quietly tell the government and the HSE to take a long hike and leave us alone until they can find logic.
@Isabel Oliveira: continuing with the shambles:
You are requested to restrict your movements for 14 days if you arrive into Ireland from another location that is not on the COVID-19 Green List.
This includes:
Irish citizens coming home
people with no symptoms
people who have tested negative for the virus in another location
(…)
Household members who were not travelling with you do not need to restrict their movements “
By saying another location it clearly implies a test in Ireland offers other guarantees and as for the point in last sentence , isn’t that saying that really , really there is no reason AT ALL to restrict one’s movements as cohabitants can go about their business and you’re really not a suspected case .
@Isabel Oliveira:
Fantastic. The mixed messages from the HSE and government are now bordering on ridiculous. Workers in meat plants who test negative even after an outbreak are not required to isolate. Tourists are not required to restrict their movements. All gone off the rails
It’s all about the cost?
People are being lied to and all they care about is the cost says the man getting over X amount of euros a year!
Unless your name is Phil Hogan
“resurgence in the disease over the past months. There is no room for complacency”
serial testing gives the “public a lot of reassurance”
“but it’s a very significant cost”
“and decisions made on whether to conduct serial testing”, meat plants etc
everying it seems that can positively help flatten the curve, is either too expensive, or, is always being considered
He sims up all that is bad about politics .
It clearly states on http://www.gov.ie and the hse website that you have to restrict your movements not ‘self isolate’ – now Reid is saying ‘self isolate’ the right hand has no idea what the left is doing or saying. The government and the HSE are shambolic!!! It is up to individuals to be the grown ups because there’s none in the government at the moment!!
@#blacklivesmatter #ibelieveher #werepealedthe8th: precisely . It’s infuriating .
@#blacklivesmatter #ibelieveher #werepealedthe8th: i presume they mix and match it because theyre essentially the same thing-self isolate you cant leave the house, restrict youre movements means you can exercise outside of your home but otherwise self isolate. I agree with your point though, they are absolutely shambolic.
Pack your bags Phil and jog on, you were a hated man in Ireland years ago and still are
We all know that he broke many guidelines and won’t take responsibility for them but for the love of god @journal.ie give it up. Every second article has been about him the past few days. Please make this the last one until you can announce he was sacked by the EU.
Not if your big Phil. Colm, only little people get COVID 19 not EU commissioners. He is an embarrasement to Ireland
And Belgium is non Green Phil FYI
But it doesn’t say you must do anything. They ask you politely to do it. It is up to you if you do or not.
If I “must” do it, it’s not really advice, is it?
How long does it take to get results for c19? A minute, a day, a week, or longer?
@Paul Somers: Can I phone a friend?
See Appendix for exempt personnel…. Govt officials, Judges, TDs etc. in these cases go about your business and you’ll be fine..
@Lydia McLoughlin: and George Soros
@J: he’ll qualify and his ilk just fine too
Let’s hope everyone else on this great island is a law abiding citizen then. Plenty have gone to funerals and parties and even abroad and didn’t give to hoots about social distancing or self isolation.
Clear in quotation marks. Says it all.
Leave the guy alone he made a mistake no one died
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