EYES Update 27 October 2020

Early Childhood Ireland’s Early Years Employer Service (EYES) can be contacted Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, by phone on (01) 405 7103 or by email on eyes@earlychildhoodireland.ie. The EYES team is here to help with a range of issues related to the running of an early years and school aged service.  If you have a query outside of these hours, please send us an email and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Level 5: Essential Workers

Although the country has moved to Level 5 restrictions until 1 December, we are happy to report that early learning and care and school aged childcare settings have been recognised as essential services by the government. This means that all staff in the sector are considered essential workers and can travel outside the 5km limit and their county to their places of work. Gardai are currently enforcing this move to Level 5, and to assist members and their staff, the EYES Team has developed a letter which can be downloaded, tailored to your setting and distributed to your staff for presentation to any Gardai or officials they may encounter on their journey to work. You can download this letter here.

We hope that all our members, their staff and their children and families stay safe for the duration of these measures.

Close Contact Advice

There has been a number of queries with the EYES Team regarding close contact, and what constitutes a close contact. The HSE explain that a close contact can be:

• spending more than 15 minutes of face-to-face contact within 2 metres of someone who has COVID-19, indoor or outdoor
• living in the same house or shared accommodation as someone who has COVID-19
• sitting within 2 seats of someone who has COVID-19 on public transport or an airplane

Spending more than 2 hours in an indoor space with someone who has COVID-19 will sometimes count as close or casual contact. This could be an office or a classroom, or, in the case of the sector, may include sharing a pod with an infected child or staff member. But it will depend on the size of the room and other factors. Ultimately these determinations are made by members of public health. Close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases will be contacted by public health for testing and will have to restrict their movements until they receive two negative tests.

Casual contacts differ from close contacts. The HSE again suggest that casual contact situations can occur when:

• spending less than 15 minutes of face-to-face contact within 2 metres of an infected person, indoor or outdoor
• being in the same room as an infected person for less than 2 hours
• being on public transport or an airplane with an infected person but not sitting near them

You can follow these definitions as a guide, but ultimate decisions on this are taken by the Public Health and contact tracing teams.

If you, your staff, or parents/guardians of children in your setting have concerns about being a close contact of a confirmed case, movements should be restricted, you/they should not come to the setting and contact should be made with your/their GP.

Enhanced EWSS

We are pleased to announce that, following representations by the Minister, the enhanced EWSS is available for all registered* early years and school aged childcare settings. The enhanced EWSS is available up until 31 January 2021. Rates for the enhanced EWSS can be found below:

*As per the EWSS guidelines, to have access to the scheme without having to prove eligibility, settings will need to be registered with Tusla.

Important Notice: Withdrawal of hand sanitiser Virapro from the market

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has removed the hand sanitiser product Virapro Hand Sanitiser (PCS 100409) from the Biocidal Product Register due to possible public health concerns.

Tests by the Department show that some of the sanitiser on sale does not comply with regulations governing the content and efficacy of such products. Some of the product contains methanol rather than ethanol. Prolonged use of such sanitiser may cause dermatitis, eye irritation, upper respiratory system irritation and headaches. This product may not remain on the market or be made available for use. The company involved has been instructed by the Department to initiate an immediate recall of all product. Members of the public are advised to stop using this Sanitiser with immediate effect. A Department investigation into this matter is ongoing.

We would advise all members to immediately check their stocks of hand sanitiser for Virapro and remove from your setting if necessary.

Do you have a question for the Early Years Employer Service team?

Please submit your question below and see it featured in upcoming EYES updates in Early Times Weekly.

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