GPs say patients rejected Covid-19 tests over fears of impact on Christmas plans

Family doctors warned the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) in December that symptomatic people were rejecting tests for coronavirus out of fears they could interfere with their Christmas plans.

Minutes published from a Nphet meeting on December 17th show that the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) told the meeting its members “had witnessed an increase in people presenting with symptoms of Covid-19 who were unwilling to get a test due to the impact it would have on their Christmas plans”.

The meeting notes show the ICGP “warned this may indicate that a number of cases were going undetected”, and that Nphet “noted its concern at this prospect”.

Infection levels in the State began to rise in the pre-Christmas period before rapidly growing afterwards, peaking with 8,248 new cases being notified on January 8th. While levels of the disease have declined, they remain higher than the peaks of either of the two previous waves of the pandemic, with significant pressure on the healthcare system.

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Concern

The minutes show Nphet remained concerned about social contact between generations over Christmas which “may lead to a wave of infection within a higher risk age”.

In particular, the team noted concern about those aged between 60 and 79, who “until now . . . have protected themselves against infection but may be exposed through the unique pattern of socialisation associated with Christmas and new year”.

It warned that while infection had been relatively low in the second wave in this age group, if that were to change and infection were to become as prevalent in the group as in the rest of the population, “we would see a significant increase in the numbers hospitalised and dying”.

“The majority of the excess hospitalisations, intensive care admissions and deaths would be amongst those aged 60-79 years,” the minutes note.

Restrictions

Nphet also discussed the impact of imposing new restrictions, or to decrease the period of restrictions being relaxed, which was longer in Ireland over the festive period than in other countries. The team discussed that "if the measures were interpreted as overly restrictive the public would be less likely to comply and adhere to them".

Minutes from the previous meeting on December 10th show the team “expressed concern and sought clarity” on why mass testing was not being carried out in hospitals where outbreaks had been detected. The HSE told the team that when outbreaks occur, local public health departments inform decisions taken on mass testing.

Ultimately, Nphet recommended that the HSE establish a national outbreak control team to ensure that there is “consistency of approach” to managing outbreaks in acute hospitals.