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THE OIREACHTAS SPECIAL Committee on Covid-19 Response will today discuss two distinct topics – how to re-open schools and why there were so many clusters of Covid-19 in meat plants.
Cases of Covid-19 traced back to transmission at meat plants have accounted for over 1,100 of the approximately 25,000 confirmed cases in Ireland to date.
Those working in the meat industry were considered essential workers from the onset of the pandemic, and the fact that many of them are migrants and live in cramped living conditions was cited as a cause for the rapid spread of cases. Unions also claimed that working conditions led to the further spread of the virus in such settings.
Public health workers intervened to try formulate a plan to contain the outbreaks in such settings, after clusters and cases rose rapidly through April and May.
Late last month, acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn told reporters the measures that have been introduced at meat plants “appear to have worked in suppressing the outbreaks that have happened to date”.
“Clearly a lot will have been learned in terms of what’s worked and what didn’t work in response to those individual outbreaks and at a national level,” he said.
Dr Glynn confirmed at Monday’s press conference that no clusters in meat plants had been notified in the last week.
Edel McGinley, the director of the Migrants Right Centre Ireland, will address TDs today as will Meat Industry Ireland’s senior director Cormac Healy.
Committee chair Michael McNamara TD said: “We welcome officials from the Department of Education to provide clarification and further detail on issues raised by representatives of parents and staff at previous sessions, including issues around, transport, funding and staffing.
“Separately, we know that a significant number of Covid-19 outbreaks and infections to date, were recorded in meat plants. Members of the Committee want to explore the reasons such a high proportion of Covid-19 clusters occurred in meat plants and the improvements now in place to ensure a safe working environment for workers.
The Committee welcomes this opportunity to hear the experiences of staff working in this industry and from meat processors on the controls and measures put in place to curb the further spread of the virus in this sector.
Also this morning, a group of animal rights supporters from Peta will hold a demonstration outside Leinster House urging people to protect workers and animals by going vegan. It follows a billboard campaign from Peta outside the same building in May.
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I was really shocked by this considering all of the required hygiene practices and requirements to wear PPE. Suspect it will boil down to factors outside the factory resulting from low wage.
Because plane loads of Brazilians were flown in and sent straight to work, mid pandemic….
They know this already but will try to find another reason to avoid the embarrassment of admitting they gave it the OK..
@MickN: Ask Prince Simon about his letters they were waving at immigration on arrival, staff were disgusted but they had clearance form the top..
@MickN: meat plants all over the world suffered the same, think your explanation is somewhat simplistic.
May be moist cool environment and lot people in labour intensive
4.4% a lot less than the high profile ‘meat processing cluster’ media driven hysteria suggested.
@Andrew Dunne: A rural are with a meat factory had an infection rate of 6,600 per 100,000. For context NY is around 2,100 per 100,000
Cool moist envirment labour intensive
I firmly believe that the hsa & hse should be able to carry out unannounced checks on factories to ensure employers are doing there bit. It’s not good enough just to put up a, few signs and leave out some bottles of hand sanitizer and there off the hook.
The same thing happened at a meat factory in Germany a couple of weeks ago, where 1,300 workers tested positive. Considering the origin of this pandemic -a meat market in Wuhan in China- I’m wondering if the meat in our case and Germany’s may have something to do with this transmission.
@Cindy Brolin: More conditions in these factories and the living conditions of the people who work there and less about the meat.
Generally speaking, it has very little to do with their working environment and everything to do with, greeting each other every day by shaking hands, fist bumps, hugs and chatting in groups, using zero social distancing or wearing masks, when outside of their working environment…..
Hilarious that peta Meat is Murder signs are out.
They know all about murdering animals as they murder thousands of animals in their Kill Shelters in the US. One has a 66% kill rate while a private shelters had a 5% euthanasia rate.
They are the facts and freely available online.
Spoke to a friend who works in one of the plants, its the conditions and the lack of PPE. Nothing else.
have your say