CONCERNS have been raised after 103 care homes in the North of Ireland are currently dealing with Covid-19 outbreaks.
This is out of a total of 483 care homes in the North, around one in five, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.
The Western Trust is currently dealing with Coronavirus outbreaks in ten care homes, according to the latest figures released yesterday for Tuesday.
Eddie Lynch, the North’s Commissioner for Older People, told BBC Good Morning Ulster there could be no complacency on controlling the spread.
He was also questioned about why around Department figures that a quarter (24%) of care home staff have still not been vaccinated.
“That is concerning when you consider only a few weeks ago we were in single figures. I think that reflects really the higher community transmission that is happening across Northern Ireland at the minute,” he said.
He said it was important to put into context that an outbreak was classified as two or more cases in a care home, including residents or staff.
Mr Lynch added that unlike the “devastation” of last year, the amount of people getting very seriously ill in care home settings was currently very small.
“So that’s some comfort hopefully for people concerned about this. But I think it is very important that we aren’t complacent about this.
“We saw in the past how deadly this virus can be and we need to make sure that we are doing everything possible to protect people.”
Mr Lynch said he had been briefed that more of the outbreaks were related to staff infections.
There is currently a weekly testing system for staff, which he said was picking up a lot of asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 with people then going into isolation.
“So the system is working in the sense that we’re catching this, but I think the fact that we’re seeing increased amounts correlates unfortunately with the increase of intra-community transmission that we’re seeing at the minute”.
Asked why a quarter of care home staff remain unvaccinated while 90% of all residents have been, he said: “There’s clearly a number of staff there who still have to be vaccinated and I would call on anyone who can be vaccinated to do so as soon as possible.”
He added that many families had been left extremely worried that rising numbers could restrict visits again over long periods.
From October in England, it will be enshrined in law that people working in care homes must have both vaccinations.
Mr Lynch, however, did not go as far as calling for mandatory vaccinations for care home staff.
“Well I think it’s very important that people do get vaccinated…but I think it’s very difficult when you’re getting into a situation where you’re forcing people into vaccinations,” he said.
“That’s nothing as a society here we’ve ever done in the past. So I think that would be a big call to make.”
He speculated that some young people may not feel the urgency of getting the vaccine, but urged them to act as quickly as possible.
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