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High levels of Covid-related absences may ‘put stress’ on critical supply chain

High numbers of staff absent due to Covid-19 may put pressure on the critical supply chain, chief executive of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) has warned.

High levels of staff absence have also been reported in the Garda and the health service.

It comes as new rules on quarantine periods and the use of rapid antigen tests come into force today, designed to ease the pressure on the overwhelmed PCR testing system and allow for more staff to return to work following Covid-related absences.

From today, those aged four to 39 are being advised to self-isolate if they test positive on an antigen test, and to seek a confirmatory PCR test. An antigen test will now be accepted for receipt of enhanced illness benefit, which up to now required a PCR test.

The chief executive of Ibec Danny McCoy has warned of the pressure on the critical supply chain as a result of the high levels of staff being absent from the workforce because of the Omicron variant.

The proportions of staff absent from work in the food manufacturing and the retail distribution sectors were 15 to 18 percent, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. “That’s of the businesses that are open and that we know about.”

Given the current level of cases and because of the current isolation period of 10 days, the numbers of staff absent from work was likely to keep building, he said.

“It looks like for every one positive case you may have up to three close contacts and sometimes they will be asymptomatic with negative antigen tests. That’s where a lot of the stress is coming from, particularly in critical supply chain issues.”

Mr McCoy said some companies may not open this week, while there had been “a diminution in the supply”, demand was still coming.

“What we’re seeing on this occasion is the scale of people getting caught up in the close contact rules, the supply capacity is going down right across the economy. Some of those are fairly critical, that’s why the Government and the health authorities need to act fairly quickly this week to give some guidance.





Confirmed cases in hospital Confirmed cases in ICU


717


87

“Look at other jurisdictions that have had to deal with the so-called pandemic effect – they’ve reduced the isolation periods, to be adaptive, to learn from what’s happening with the virus, to learn in real time and to do it quickly.

“That’s one of the frustrations we’re getting from employers, we can see this wave coming and the problems that will be there, it’s best that it be done on the move.

“The rules are not clear on what is acceptable (antigen or PCR) – the other frustration is they cannot ask the vaccination status of their employees.

“We need guidance and we need it in real time as people start to come back after the Christmas period in manufacturing in particular, which is really crucial to the economy.”

An Garda Síochána

Meanwhile the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has warned that the force is seeing significant numbers of staff absent from work because of Covid-19 and this was adding to the burden of their work.

Brendan O’Connor, vice-president of the GRA, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the pandemic was having an impact on the force either because people were infected or were close contacts.

“We’re back to the old style, fewer people expected to do more so it’s an added burden on our members.

“It’s just a fact that units are stripped down so we have less people parading for duty so there may be the same number of calls coming in and there’s just less people to do them. So people might be travelling further distances to deal with matters and we also have colleagues who may be unrested having to come in to backfill vacancies.

“Just like any workforce there’s just fewer people trying to deliver services, putting more pressure on those still in place providing that service.”

“Our members feel it is quite inappropriate that they would be put at significant risk or at additional risk by reducing the isolation period when they are close contacts, coming into stations, creating the risk of spreading more of this virus and having more absenteeism – that’s something we would be very concerned about.”

Healthcare staff

It comes as upwards of 6,000 healthcare staff are on coronavirus-related leave as hospitals brace themselves for a sharp rise in patients infected with the disease this week.

The high number of health workers infected or deemed close contacts of confirmed cases is expected to cause major disruption to services as hospitals return to normal operations following Christmas week.

Ahead of what is traditionally the busiest week of the year for the health service, sources said the number of staff on leave due to Covid-19, which stood at 3,800 before Christmas, is now higher than the 5,000 reached last autumn or the 6,000 recorded during last January’s surge.

The Health Service Executive is due to publish updated figures on Covid-related absence later this week. But its chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said one in nine intensive care workers were unable to work at present due to infection or being a close contact. He said one in 10 staff at the Mater hospital in Dublin was on Covid-related leave.

Dr Henry warned that the “sheer force of numbers” as the Omicron variant rapidly spreads could still lead to hospitals coming under pressure.

“While hospitals are coping, we are viewing with increasing concern the rapid increase in case numbers and community transmission of the virus and the effect this is having on staff who become infected or are deemed close contacts of a case,” Dr Henry told The Irish Times.

Some 17,071 cases of the disease were reported in the State on Sunday, a day after a record 23,281 cases were recorded on Saturday, almost three times the level of seen during last January’s peak. The Department of Health said these figures were “provisional” due to the high incidence of the disease.

The leaders of the three Government parties – Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan – are due to meet tomorrow evening to discuss its response to the latest Covid-19 surge ahead of a full Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

There were more cases over Christmas than in the whole of 2020, but the growth in infections and the number hospitalised, which stood at 717 on Sunday, appears to be slowing, though reporting over the Christmas period tends to be uneven.

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