People who visited nursing homes should not feel they are to blame for spreading coronavirus, Ireland’s chief medical officer has said.
People who visited nursing homes should not feel they are to blame for spreading coronavirus, Ireland’s chief medical officer has said.
There have been 857 deaths associated with residential care facilities, including 740 nursing home residents, according to the latest figures from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
Ireland’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 1,429 after a further 27 deaths were announced by the NPHET.
There have been 156 new confirmed cases of the virus, taking the total in Ireland since the outbreak began to 22,541.
Dr Tony Holohan stressed that visitors did not bring the virus into the settings and they should not feel responsible for the outbreaks that have taken place in nursing homes.
Speaking at a Department of Health briefing on Friday, he said: “It gives me disquiet because individuals who visited in that time period know who they are… they are people who visited their loved ones in those nursing homes and there is a sense of blame attached to them and they feel some responsibility for something they did not do.
