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There have been calls for public health authorities to publish further details of Covid-19 outbreaks in businesses and public settings.<\/p>\nThere have been calls for public health authorities to publish further details of Covid-19 outbreaks in businesses and public settings.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Pearse Doherty said that communities \u201cdeserve clarity and transparency\u201d over clusters of cases.<\/p>\n
He told the D\u00e1il that the public having to rely on the \u201crumor mill\u201d is not good enough.<\/p>\n
Mr Doherty was referring to meat plants, which have been the sites of more than 40 clusters and around 1,600 cases across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were the principal reason for the localized lockdowns in Kildare, Laois and Offaly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeat barons are playing with people\u2019s lives in the interest of profit, plain and simple and they\u2019re getting away with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat hold does the meat barons have over Fine Gael and Fianna F\u00e1il?<\/p>\n
\u201cOutbreaks in meat plants have accounted for one third of all workplace clusters.\u201d<\/p>\n
T\u00e1naiste Leo Varadkar said he believes public health authorities, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) and the HSE should be as transparent \u201cas possible\u201d in putting out details of where clusters are.<\/p>\n
However, he warned about the risks of stigmatizing or identifying people or households: \u201cI think it\u2019s important at the same time that we\u2019re careful about what we mean by that.<\/p>\n
\u201cA cluster can be two cases connected. So in putting out public information about clusters, we need to do so in a way that doesn\u2019t end up stigmatizing people or doesn\u2019t end up in a situation where individuals or individual households are identified.\u201d<\/p>\n