Coronavirus: Mary Lou McDonald attends HSE meeting at shut-down school

A helpline should be set up for families whose children attend the Dublin school currently shut due to coronavirus, Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald has told a meeting of parents at the school.

Ms McDonald, who has publicly stated this week her children attend the school, was one of hundreds of parents who attended an information meeting hosted by the HSE on Monday night.

The meeting, held at a venue away from the school, was conducted in a question-and-answer format, with the initial correspondence sent out to parents read at the gathering.

Those addressing the meeting on behalf of the HSE included director of public health east Dr Deirdre Mulholland and professor of bacteriology at NUI Galway Martin Cormican.

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Ms McDonald spoke at the meeting to ask questions, including about how easy it was to pass on the virus during the incubation period. No commitment was given on her suggestion that a helpline be set up specifically to deal with queries from the families of the children at the school.

A number of people present claimed they had received contradictory information from the HSE’s coronavirus helpline, according to people present.

One person said when he initially asked should he hold a large family celebration that he had planned, he was advised against it, but when he called back again he was advised he could go ahead with his plans.

Less-experienced staff

In reply, the meeting was told that because the HSE was dealing with an emergency situation, some less-experienced staff had been drafted in to work on the helpline at short notice because more experienced personnel were not available.

The meeting was informed that while the virus was soft-coated, meaning it could only survive on surfaces for a matter of hours, the school would be deep-cleaned before it reopened.

One parent said he had had his child tested and he had shown a negative result, with others querying why all the children at the school were not tested.

However, Prof Cormican said if the test was carried out too early it would not detect the condition, and he explained only people who were showing suspected symptoms would be tested. Other people at the meeting asked questions about how vulnerable some of their relatives, who had serious health conditions, were to contracting the virus.

Meanwhile, a youth group in Dublin has been asked to “self-isolate” for two weeks by the HSE to prevent the possible spread of coronavirus.

The group is linked to the case of coronavirus at the school.

A letter the HSE sent on Monday to parents of children who are members of the group said a case of coronavirus had been identified in a person who attended a two-hour meeting of the group last weekend.

“As a result, to prevent the possible spread of infection, all members... are being treated as possible contacts of the case, and asked to self-isolate until Sunday March 15th,” it said.

‘Fake letters’

The Department of Health tweeted on Tuesday it was aware of "fake letters circulating regarding [the] confirmed case of #Covid19" but later deleted the tweet.

While the children in the school have been told by the HSE they should not travel abroad for a fortnight, there were questions about whether the parents could travel as several had foreign trips booked.

The meeting was told the HSE intended to tell Irish airlines that the children who had been told not to travel should not leave the country.

One parent who spoke to The Irish Times in recent days said he had a trip planned with a family group that included children from the school who had been told not to go abroad.

However, he said Ryanair had informed them because there were no confirmed cases of the virus in his family they were free to travel. As a result, the airline declined their request for a cancellation and refund and continued to send them notices to check in early and pre-pay for their baggage.