Coronavirus: More schools may close in west, says Harris

Minister for Health Simon Harris has indicated that more schools may close in the west of the country as a result of coronavirus infections there.

Authorities at three schools in the west of Ireland decided to close the schools following the confirmation of the four new cases of coronavirus by the Department of Health on Wednesday.

Two of the schools – a primary school and a secondary school – are closed for two weeks until March 18th. The third school is closed for one day pending advice from the Health Service Executive (HSE).

“I’m aware that a number of schools are taking those decisions at the moment as they speak our public health authorities,” Mr Harris told reporters on Thursday morning. “I’m also aware that there may be different scenarios for different schools . . . This is likely a conversation we’re going to be having on a regular basis.”

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He said it was likely that more schools and workplaces would be affected.

Mr Harris confirmed there is as yet no case of community transmission of the virus in Ireland, and that all the people infected had travelled to Northern Italy.

He said that “contact tracing” for the four cases identified in the west of Ireland on Wednesday was now under way.

As a result of that, there would be further updates from the chief medical officer later.

“For some schools that may involve closure, for other schools it may not. There will not be a one-size fits all solution for all schools as this unfolds,” he said.

Mr Harris was frank about the likelihood of additional cases of the virus surfacing in the days ahead.

“Let’s be clear: there will be more cases,” he said. “I’ve been saying for days that we will see many more cases of Covid-19 in our country. We’re seeing that across the EU and across the globe. The advice that I would give to parents and to our citizens at large is to take their advice from public health doctors, not from politicians, not from social media, but from our public health doctors,” he said.

He said the HSE was currently sourcing additional intensive care beds that might be needed as the virus spreads.

"The HSE is identifying, as we speak, additional beds that can be provided and I've already said to [HSE chief] Paul Reid, and he knows, that funding will be provided for that – but we do need people to be clear here: not everyone who gets this virus will require hospitalisation, the vast majority will not. And even those who require hospitalisation, the vast majority of them will not require an ICU bed. So I don't want people to be unduly worried about this . . . Most people will recover very well from this," he said.

He also stressed that while parents are understandably worried about their children, the international evidence so far was that “children are not particularly susceptible to the virus”.

He again pointed to the importance of hand-washing and “good cough etiquette” – coughing into your elbow – as the best means of preventing the spread of the illness.