Clara plant open again following Covid outbreak

A deep clean of the Nelipak Healthcare Packaging plant in Clara has been completed and a number of individuals are self isolating following an outbreak of Covid-19 last week.

Seán Egan, director of Global Marketing at Nelipak Healthcare Packaging, said in a statement to the Offaly Independent that Nelipak had received notification on February 9 that several employees from one shift had tested positive for Covid-19.

Mr Egan said that following its Covid-19 action plan, management contacted the Regional HSE to ensure full contact tracing was carried out for affected employees.

“Based on the level of community transmission in the locality and as an employer with a duty of care to our employees, we decided to extend testing to all employees as a precautionary measure,” said Mr Egan.

“While those tests were ongoing, the company took the decision to close the facility from the evening of Thursday February, 11, and reopened on Monday 15th, to give our employees time to get their test results before returning to work.”

Following the Nelipak Covid-19 protocols and recommended best practice from the HSE, a deep clean of all affected areas of the plant was carried out before operations resumed.

Acting in accordance with HSE guidelines, affected individuals are currently self-isolating.

“We will continue to work with the HSE in relation to their safe return to work,” said Mr Egan.

“The health and safety of our employees, customers, suppliers, business partners, and the patients who benefit from our products are our top priority.

“We would particularly like to acknowledge the excellent support from the HSE and the public health services as we continue to prioritise the wellbeing and safety of our employees.”

NPHET figures

At the time of writing, County Offaly had the highest 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population (measured between February 9 and 22) in the country, at 441.2.

The number of new cases in the county in that two weeks was 344, out of 11,448 in the whole country (4,573 of those were recorded in Dublin).

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population figures for the other midland counties were: Laois, 295.2; Westmeath, 253.5; and Longford, 254.4. The county with the lowest figure was Kerry, at 44.7. The national average is 240.4.

The figures are from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).