In an early sign that public Covid-19 restrictions may be working, the HSE has seen a sharp drop in the average number of close contacts of individuals becoming infected over recent days. The reduction in close contacts will help ease pressure on the State’s contact tracing operation. The Irish Times reported on Tuesday that the HSE’s contact tracing was overwhelmed last weekend by a surge in cases. It has since emerged that some close contacts of positive cases who were not called by contact tracers due to the backlog have themselves since tested positive and expressed anger to contact tracers who have called them. There is anger and frustration within the contact tracing operation at the reputational damage caused by the decision, leading to more difficult calls for contact tracers trying to convince people to be tested and to isolate.

Source: The Irish Times October 24, 2020 00:00 UTC