2 OCT VIC
Victoria records seven new coronavirus cases and two deaths as Melbourne average falls
There are now 11 cases linked to the Butcher Club at Chadstone shopping centre
Chadstone outbreak proof 'it is too early to open': Andrews
FINDINGS OF THE HOTEL QUARANTINE INQUIRY - Contact tracing AND genomic sequencing conducted OF VIRUS strains SHOW THIS FOR LATEST HOTEL GUARDS INFECTED
Victorian coronavirus hotel quarantine staff became infected in community, not at work, CHO says
MASK MANDATE REMAINS IN PLACE - DESPITE WARM WEATHER RETURNING
Chief health officer rejects lifting mask restrictions during regional Victoria heatwave
Victoria's COVID-19 face mask rules will be tough in the heat, regional leaders say
AGED CARE ROYAL COMMISSION
Experts say aged care royal commission's Covid review does not address wider problems
Victoria records seven new coronavirus cases and two deaths as Melbourne average falls
There are now 11 cases linked to the Butcher Club at Chadstone shopping centre
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-02/victoria-coronavirus-cases-melbourne-average/12724766Key points:
Melbourne's daily new cases average is down to 12.8
The state's fortnightly tally for cases with an unknown source is down to 14
The Premier has this week said Melbourne is on track for a significant easing of restrictions on October 19
Premier Daniel Andrews has warned a recent outbreak linked to Chadstone shopping centre highlights the risks of lifting coronavirus restrictions too soon.
The number of cases linked to the Butcher Club at the shopping centre, in Melbourne's south-east, has grown to 11.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said authorities were offering testing to all workers in the shopping centre, including those without symptoms.
He said it was not yet clear who the "index case", or first person in the chain of transmission, was. So it was important that anyone with symptoms in the area came forward to be tested, he said.
"The setting [butcher] seems to be a subsequent site of infection or transmission, but who the index case was in this whole cluster is unclear," he said.
A Frankston family linked to the cluster had been moved into supported accommodation to help them safely isolate, he said.
remier Daniel Andrews said the Chadstone outbreak served as a reminder of the risks of lifting restrictions too soon.
"There's been a bit written and a bit said in recent times, and perhaps for a long time, about superspreaders and how a very small number of cases can lead to a very large number of cases," he said.
"Just for a moment imagine what a normal Chadstone would have looked like … if that scenario had played out when we had had literally, in the course of a day, hundreds of thousands of people moving through that setting."
He said modelling showed if restrictions were lifted too soon, outbreaks like that could lead to "many hundreds of cases".
Melbourne on track to hit roadmap trigger points
Victoria has recorded seven new coronavirus cases overnight and a man and a woman in their 80s have died from the virus.
Both of those deaths were linked to aged care outbreaks.
Melbourne is set to move to the third step of its restrictions roadmap when Victoria hits two trigger points: a 14-day rolling average below five, and a two-week total of mystery cases below five.
If no more mystery cases are recorded, that second trigger point is expected to be hit within the next two weeks.
Mr Andrews this week said public health officials would look at the "narrative and story" surrounding coronavirus infections, rather than just hard numbers, but the state remained on track for a "significant" easing of restrictions by October 19.
Under the third step of the roadmap, stay-at-home order will lift.
The plan as announced on September 13 also said Melburnians would be allowed to travel across the state.
But on Thursday, Mr Andrews threw doubt on whether intrastate travel would be permitted from October 19, and said it depended on cases and public health advice.
"I can't at this stage say that that ring of steel, as it has been called, will just be thrown open and you can travel throughout the state," he said.
"That might not be a smart thing to do at that point.
"But that shouldn't also be read to mean that for all of the second half of October and all of November that those rules would stay in place, it might be a shorter period."
Chadstone outbreak proof 'it is too early to open': Andrews
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/chadstone-outbreak-proof-it-is-too-early-to-open-andrews/ar-BB19CMvP?ocid=msedgdhpPremier Daniel Andrews says the coronavirus cluster linked to the Chadstone Shopping Centre is proof it is too early for Melbourne to reopen – warning "a small number of cases can lead to a large number of cases".
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Sky News Australia logoChadstone outbreak proof 'it is too early to open': Andrews
Premier Daniel Andrews says the coronavirus cluster linked to the Chadstone Shopping Centre is proof it is too early for Melbourne to reopen – warning "a small number of cases can lead to a large number of cases".
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Chadstone outbreak proof 'it is too early to open': Andrews
11 cases have so far been linked to the shopping centre cluster.
Mr Andrews appealed to business owners who were frustrated over the state's prolonged closures.
“Just for a moment imagine what a normal Chadstone would have looked like if that scenario had played out when we had literally, in the course of the day, hundreds of thousands of people moving through that setting," he said.
“It is not safe to open up now, it will be soon when we have driven these numbers down even further.
“That case makes two points: One, the response has been excellent, and I thank all of those who have been part of that.
"Two, it makes the point very clearly, if we were to open up now, just as our modelling tells us, just as our experts confirm for it, one of it or even a handful of these events won't be a handful of cases, it will be many hundreds of cases."
Victoria recorded seven new infections overnight and two deaths.
The rolling 14-day average also dropped to 12.8 in Metropolitan Melbourne dropped and to 0.2 in regional Victoria.
FINDINGS OF THE HOTEL QUARANTINE INQUIRY - Contact tracing AND genomic sequencing conducted OF VIRUS strains SHOW THIS FOR LATEST HOTEL GUARDS INFECTED
Victorian coronavirus hotel quarantine staff became infected in community, not at work, CHO says
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-02/dhhs-details-on-victoria-coronavirus-hotel-quarantine-staff/12724594Key points:
The last positive case in hotel quarantine was detected in late August
All nine workers likely caught COVID-19 in other settings, Brett Sutton says
Two staff members who attended work while infectious were asymptomatic
An investigation suggests it's unlikely the Melbourne hotel quarantine workers who recently developed COVID-19 were infected while at work, Victoria's Chief Health Officer says.
Nine workers in Melbourne's revamped program have tested positive for coronavirus since July 27, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) confirmed earlier this week.
Two of those staff members worked in the program while infectious, but were not showing any symptoms at the time.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the infections recorded in hotel quarantine were "absolutely a reflection of the very substantial community transmission" in Melbourne at the time.
He said genomic sequencing conducted for six of the infected workers pointed to links to known clusters or community transmission.
The other three workers did not have genomic testing done, but Professor Sutton said there was evidence they all contracted the virus in the community too.
"One of the three for whom there's no sequencing was a household member of two others, so almost certainly acquired their infection through transmission in the household," he said.
"The second of the three without sequencing was epidemiologically linked to an aged care facility, and a third … had contact with a known case who acquired their infection elsewhere.
"So no cases, really, with a probable acquisition at either of these hotels."
He also said the nine staff members did not pass the virus onto other people.
"People isolated and identified their close contacts, and those close contacts were followed up quickly and quarantined," he said.
"There is no further transfer of transmission from those people."
The last positive case in hotel quarantine workers was detected in late August.
Some infected hotel quarantine workers lived together
The Department of Justice and Community Safety was tasked with overseeing a "reset" of the program in late June after it emerged that new outbreaks in the community could be traced back to private security guards in the system.
International arrivals were put on hold at the time, but a "health hotel" quarantine program has continued to run for people who cannot self-isolate safely at home.
Alfred Health was contracted to provide clinical services and infection control in the program, and sub-contracted some of that work out to services company Spotless.
Spotless provided cleaning services from mid-June, and performed other roles like "customer service officers, bag checking and floor monitoring" from early July, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Victoria Police started managing security in the program on July 17.
Professor Sutton said the nine workers who became infected were:
He said the hotel quarantine infections reflected the fact that "cleaning services are a vulnerable cohort for infection".
Earlier on Friday DHHS said three of the infected staff members had contact with known outbreaks — one connected to Victoria Police, one aged care facility, and one public housing outbreak.
However it is still not clear which workers were connected to which known outbreak.
Professor Sutton said he did not know whether the hotel quarantine worker whose infection was linked to aged care was also working in that setting.
Infection control issues raised as workers stood down mid-shift
Victoria Police had a 24-hour presence at the Grand Chancellor Hotel Melbourne on Lonsdale Street and the Brady hotel on Little La Trobe Street in Melbourne's CBD, the two hotels used when international arrivals were phased out.
On Monday, guests were transferred to the Novotel Melbourne South Wharf hotel, with the Grand Chancellor and Brady hotels no longer being used for hotel quarantine, Victoria Police said.
On Wednesday, workers from services company Spotless were stood down mid-shift after concerns were raised about infection control, and their floor monitoring roles were handed to Victoria Police.
Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said since taking over the hotel quarantine program the justice department was focused on "minimising the risk of transmission".
Police roles expanded to include monitoring hotel floors
The role of police in the program previously involved securing hotel grounds, checking guests in and out, and responding to incidents, Police Association Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said.
But since Wednesday, their role had been expanded to monitoring hotel floors and potentially escorting COVID-positive people if they needed to move, he said.
"It's observational security, it's certainly work that is now being asked by police to do," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"You'd hope for good reason that it is utilising police for their skills that they have, not skills that they don't have."
Mr Gatt pointed out that private security guards were still being used in the New South Wales hotel quarantine program "in great numbers", and said other ways of monitoring guests needed to be explored.
"You need to strive to minimise the contact between COVID-positive persons and any person," he said.
"There are better ways of doing this that we should look for, such as CCTV and looking for surveillance that doesn't require people to be standing on floors, potentially exposed.
"That's really important — not because of who's doing it or why it's being done — it's about infection control."
Spotless is still providing specialised cleaning services, Alfred Health said on Thursday.
Alfred Health said sub-contracted workers received "extensive PPE training" before starting work in the program, and a spokeswoman from Spotless said staff followed strict infection control procedures.
MASK MANDATE REMAINS IN PLACE - DESPITE WARM WEATHER RETURNING
Chief health officer rejects lifting mask restrictions during regional Victoria heatwave
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/chief-health-officer-rejects-lifting-mask-restrictions-during-regional-victoria-heatwave/ar-BB19CSuP?ocid=msedgdhpChief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton has rejected the possibility of restrictions around mask-wearing being lifted in parts of regional Victoria despite Mildura expecting a heatwave over the weekend.
Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton has rejected the possibility of restrictions around mask-wearing being lifted in parts of regional Victoria despite Mildura expecting a heatwave over the weekend.
"Masks make the difference between a super-spreading event and potentially infecting no-one at all," he said.
<< WE'VE ALL SEEN THE RESULTS OF CROWDED BEACHES AND PARKS AND VENUES WHERE LOTS OF ASYM AND PRESYM AND EVEN SYMPTOMATIC PEOPLE ARE OUT AND MINGLING AND SOCIALISING WITHOUT SOCIAL DISTANCING OR MASKS ON WARM DAYS , EVEN HEATWAVE DAYS - IT'S A RECIPY FOR SUPERSPREADING AND SETTING A COMMUNITY BACK BY MONTHS AND STARTING NEW WAVES OF COVID19 INFECTION .
LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE TO WARE MASKS AND RESPIRATORS UNDER HOT CONDITION AS PART OF THEIR OHS REQUIREMENTS , NOT COMFORTABLE OR NICE , I ALWAYS HAD TO WEAR A N95 REPIRATOR AND EVEN FULL AIRPACKS AND VISORS WORKING INSIDE FURNACES AT XMAS SHUTDOWNS ( 50 - 60 DEG C plus SITUATION ) I SURVIVED . PEOPLE NEED TO STOP WINING , THEIR ARGUMENTS DON'T CUT THE MUSTARD.
"When you're not wearing a mask, the ability to spread the virus to anyone around you is much, much greater. So, that's a setting that we think is really important now. We will review it over time.
"As these numbers are driven down... we have seen a halving of the number of cases of unknown origin, we have seen halving of the number of active cases. So, it's totally heading in the right direction."
Mr Sutton said the settings "should change" over time but claimed "if there was a seeding" the possibility of a cluster that becomes an outbreak that becomes explosive numbers was a really "high stakes game".
The mercury was tipped to hit the mid-thirties in Mildura on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Victoria's COVID-19 face mask rules will be tough in the heat, regional leaders say
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/victoria-s-covid-19-face-mask-rules-will-be-tough-in-the-heat-regional-leaders-say/ar-BB19Df5W?ocid=msedgdhpCalls are mounting for mask rules in regional Victoria to be relaxed amid low case numbers and rising temperatures in some areas.
Masks have been mandatory for the entire state since July, with those caught going without facing a $200 fine.
But with low case numbers in regional Victoria, there are calls for the regions to relax the mask rules, particularly in the north-west in places like Mildura, where temperatures have already topped 30 degrees Celsius.
Mildura MP Ali Cupper said wearing masks in her electorate during spring and summer was unrealistic.
"We can get temperatures of up to 45 degrees in spring in the Mallee, and we get heat waves in the summer," she said.
"This will be untenable.
"I was a very strong supporter of masks in the early days — it is a cheap, low risk, high reward way to contribute to the COVID-19 fight.
"But that was when numbers were spiking in Melbourne — now numbers are plummeting across the state and it is getting hotter."
Temperatures in Mildura are forecast to hit 35C on Saturday and 34C on Sunday.
"We are in the desert and masks are going to get very uncomfortable, and when people are in general discomfort, they are going to be resentful and not comply," Ms Cupper said.
State won't budge
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said he understood the frustration, but could make the difference between a "superspreading event and potentially infecting no one at all, or one or two individuals".
"When you're not wearing a mask, the ability to spread the virus to anyone around you is much, much greater," he said.
"So that's a setting that we think is really important now.
"We will review it over time, the settings will change.
"But right now, the stakes are so high for regional Victoria that if there's a seeding – and there are still people moving into regional Victoria in their hundreds, if not thousands – we need to protect everyone there from the possibility of a cluster that becomes an outbreak that becomes explosive numbers.
"That's a really high-stakes game."
Fears for trade
Mildura CBD's head of retail trading Danielle Hobbs said she was concerned mandatory mask wearing would stop people from getting out and about in the city.
"The rules do really need to be relaxed," Ms Hobbs said.
"I think we've done a really great job at complying with the requests so far, but we are in a very unique situation with our environment, so I think it's going to become harder to comply.
"There has definitely been conversation with traders and the public on how we are going to deal with this.
"I think it will have an effect on productivity by wearing them in this heat.
"Last year we reached 47 degrees, so I think the rules need to be dropped a bit."
AGED CARE ROYAL COMMISSION
Experts say aged care royal commission's Covid review does not address wider problems
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/experts-say-aged-care-royal-commission-s-covid-review-does-not-address-wider-problems/ar-BB19D4J6?ocid=msedgdhpged care experts and advocates say they feel let down by a much-anticipated royal commission review into the sector’s handling of the pandemic.
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The Guardian logoExperts say aged care royal commission's Covid review does not address wider problems
Video: Restrictions on movement based on chief health officer's advice: Andrews (Sky News Australia)
Aged care experts and advocates say they feel let down by a much-anticipated royal commission review into the sector’s handling of the pandemic.
a person standing in a room: Photograph: Daniel Pockett/AAP© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Daniel Pockett/AAP
A special report released on Thursday afternoon said the federal government’s efforts to prepare the sector were “insufficient” in some respects, but the commission also emphasised it was “not the time for blame”.
The government has accepted all its recommendations, some of which include publishing a detailed national plan for Covid-19 and deploying infection control experts into nursing homes.
Prof Joseph Ibrahim, the head of the Health Law and Ageing research unit at Monash University, told Guardian Australia the report was “pretty benign in terms of an investigative approach”.
“The public should understand this was a fact-finding mission not a critical analysis,” said Ibrahim, who gave evidence at the commission.
“The terms of reference specify that … They were meant to find out how to do things better.”
That explained why the commission had made reasonable recommendations but had not addressed what Ibrahim suggested were wider problems.
“The recommendations are sensible, they could have been stronger and they could have been more detailed,” he said.
The government and the sector have come under fire for their response to the pandemic, which has seen more than 650 deaths, most during Victoria’s second wave.
During the pandemic, Guardian Australia has reported how residents have been confined to their rooms for long periods without fresh air breaks or visits from family.
In homes that have been struck by the virus, in particular, there have been shocking allegations of neglect, and some facilities in Victoria are now facing legal action.
In addition to a published Covid plan and infection control experts in homes, the commission also recommended the creation of a national aged care advisory body and said major outbreaks should also be investigated independently.
It also called for the government to “immediately fund providers that apply for funding to ensure there are adequate staff available to allow continued visits” to residents.
Annie Butler, the federal secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, welcomed the recommendations but said a failure to be specific about staffing levels was a “large part of the reason we got into this problem in the first place”.
“There has been chronic understaffing for years because the Aged Care Act just says providers need to provide ‘adequate numbers of staff’,’” she said.
The sector has faced criticism for having varying visitation rights, despite a voluntary code established by the government at the start of the pandemic.
The commission made no call to make the code mandatory and Ibrahim said the fact it was “still running” was damning.
“There’s no way of enforcing it, assessing it, and there’s no way of ensuring equity between homes or families,” he said.
Experts and unions have said while extra funding was provided to ensure staffing levels, some operators reduced staff hours when they went into lockdown.
This occurred despite the commission saying last year that 57.6% of all Australian aged care residents lived in homes that are understaffed.
Critics have also raised concerns about a lack of transparency about how funding is spent.
The peak bodies for the non-profit and for-profit aged care sectors both welcomed the commission’s report.
The Leading Age Services Australia chief executive, Sean Rooney, said the report made “protecting and maintaining the physical and mental health of older people in care the end game, not a blame game”.
Maree Bernoth, an aged care and nursing expert at Charles Sturt University, questioned why infection control standards that would be adhered to by the experts deployed to homes would be determined by the new advisory body.
“We’ve already got standards that nurses have to meet [in hospitals],” she told Guardian Australia.
“Why would we set standards by an advisory body who, chances are, will be dominated by industry? Are older people not deserving of the standards of the general community?”
Lynda Saltarelli, the founder of the advocacy group Aged Care Crisis, said the industry’s response had been telling.
“The industry seemed to be thrilled with the report, that says it all,” she said.
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“I know the report is not to lay blame, but families we spoke to are really disempowered,” she added. “To us [the response to the pandemic] was a very inhumane response.”
She also questioned why there was not greater scrutiny of the regulator, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, in the report.
“There were so few visitors, there were so few sanctions, even when there were the deaths,” she said.
Ibrahim said his view was the regulator should “never have been asked to manage the pandemic”.
The RMIT professor Sara Charlesworth, who researches the aged care workforce, welcomed that the commission had acknowledged many workers had been “traumatised” by the pandemic.
“It shines a light on the very real damage that has been done to workers who have been invisible,” she told Guardian Australia.