14-day quarantine to deter non-essential travel not isolate Covid-19 says NPHET
The National Public Health Emergency Team has said its decision to advise that all travellers to Ireland be placed in a mandatory 14-day quarantine at a designated facility was made as such an imposition would be the “greatest deterrent” in preventing non-essential travel, as opposed to a key factor in isolating the virus itself.
At its meeting on May 8, NPHET, which is tasked with advising on Ireland’s battle against the coronavirus, considered what approaches would best serve the discouragement of international travel, which it saw as being one of the key threats concerning a possible second surge in the virus.
As well as being a key deterrent to anyone contemplating travel, the use of a designated facility would be “comparatively easier to oversee in terms of compliance rather than trying to verify each individual’s own plan at a location of their choosing”, according to the minutes from that meeting.
Chief medical officer Tony Holohan subsequently wrote to Health Minister Simon Harris with those recommendations. However, in implementing the advice, Mr Harris chose to allow incoming travellers at ports and airports to choose their own address for self-quarantine.
Travellers are also now required to fill out a Public Health Passenger Locator form. Those who fail to fill out that form, which is to be emailed to all incoming travellers in advance of their trip, face a possible fine of up to €2,500.
The period of isolation is not as yet a legal requirement. Mr Harris, in announcing the Government’s decision on May 22, said the new measures are designed to protect citizens from imported cases of the illness.
Separately, NPHET ruled that anyone who has contracted the virus and subsequently recovered is fit for work and can be considered immune for a period of three months, regardless of whether they subsequently become a confirmed contact for a separate case of the disease.
The emergency team’s Expert Advisory Group, chaired by director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory Dr Cillian de Gascun, told the May 8 meeting the “available international evidence shows that there is not a significant risk of reinfection” once someone has successfully recovered from Covid-19.
Opinions vary globally as to whether or not the virus can be caught for a second time. Many common viruses confer immunity on people who have contracted them and recovered - however, there is no definitive clinical proof that that is the case with Covid-19.
The advisory group acknowledged that “as the nature of the virus continues to evolve” its position would be “kept under review”, while anyone diagnosed with reinfection “may need to be referred for specialist testing”.
Meanwhile, at the same meeting NPHET advised there is a need for “more robust data collection” and improved completion of all fields on its virus surveillance forms (such as those emanating from swab tests and contact tracing).
It advised that henceforth those forms should capture data such as ethnicity, occupation, workplace setting, and vulnerable group, “if appropriate”.
Such data was recently used to reveal that black people in the UK are four times more likely to die from the virus than white people.
At a media briefing by NPHET on May 7, the day before the advice regarding forms was considered by the team, Dr Holohan told the Irish Examiner that having such information would be desirable as it would serve “to provide a fuller picture of how the virus operates”.
