Sharp reduction in Covid-19 outbreaks in nursing homes linked to booster rollout

There has been a sharp reduction in the number of Covid-19 outbreaks and linked cases in nursing homes, pointing to a potential benefit from the rollout of booster vaccines.

New figures on coronavirus outbreaks published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show that there were just six new outbreaks reported in nursing homes, half the number of the previous week.

There were 15 cases linked to those new outbreaks, down from 87 a week earlier.

The scale of the new outbreaks was also smaller, infecting between two and four people in each outbreak, compared with between two and 17 people the previous week.

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There were five new outbreaks reported in schools – four in primary schools and one in a secondary school – with 32 confirmed linked cases.

People aged 65 and over in nursing homes, along with people aged over 80, have been receiving booster jabs since the start of last month. The boosters are being extended to people aged between 60 and 80 as a means of protecting older, more vulnerable people against Covid-19.

Nursing homes expect the “early detection system” of serial Covid-19 testing to be reintroduced from next week.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly announced the return of the regular testing of nursing home staff as one of the new Government measures to protect against an increase in cases.

Almost 600 nursing homes across the country will be subject to serial testing again to prevent outbreaks of the disease in one of the most vulnerable congregated setting for the disease.

"This will lead to early detection of cases," said Tadhg Daly, chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI), the representative group behind the private nursing home sector.

Infrastructure

The group for private nursing home operators who account for four in every five nursing homes in the country said that the “infrastructure” for serial testing existed from the earlier programme that was ceased last summer as new cases fell with the rollout of vaccines.

Mr Daly, chief executive of NHI, said he would meet the HSE on Wednesday to discuss the return of serial testing and third vaccine booster jabs for healthcare workers from this weekend.

The Government announced the extension of the booster vaccines to healthcare workers after a recommendation on Monday from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee.

The NHI also wants the Government to reintroduce the temporary assistance payment system (TAPS) to help nursing homes with the cost of infection prevention and control measure as measures are being stepped up again to reduce the spread of the virus in nursing homes.

Nursing homes have borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic, accounting for 62 per cent of the 3,509 deaths linked to outbreaks of the disease.