Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[PineappleSkip]

Port Arthur, perhaps, with a dog line across Eaglehawk Neck?

 

[RooFlyer]

correction to post above 5000 people put in isolation in the north west.

And those having a laugh at Tasmania's expense - get a grip. People are dying. Three nursing homes now at risk; how funny is that?

 

[jakeseven7]

correction to post above 5000 people put in isolation in the north west.

And those having a laugh at Tasmania's expense - get a grip. People are dying. Three nursing homes now at risk; how funny is that?

Agreed, and Tasmania if it gets out of hand is in serious trouble due to lack of ICU beds (and with several hospitals now offline for a period).

 

[tgh]

Oh .. I am sorry taswegians.. poor taste.. mea culpa…. …...it was such a good line I couldn't help myself.

Nursing homes anywhere are dreadfully vulnerable .
We have a 95y old in a nearby facility , it has been shut down for weeks

 

[RooFlyer]

Agreed, and Tasmania if it gets out of hand is in serious trouble due to lack of ICU beds (and with several hospitals now offline for a period).

Thanks. At least one of the hospital's Emergency depts going to reopen today after a 'deep clean'.

Unrelated, the first part of the new ( large) Royal Hobart Hospital extension being occupied today.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Well not unexpectedly as once CV19 is in an aged care facility is first discovered numbers of infected tend to grow.

New coronavirus infections in NSW rise by 29 as number of cases at aged-care facility spike

There has also been a spike in the number of cases at Anglicare Newmarch House in Western Sydney — the aged-care facility where a staff member worked six shifts despite having mild COVID-19 symptoms.

Coronavirus infections in NSW rise, cases at Western Sydney nursing home double

Health authorities confirm a seven-week-old boy is among 29 new coronavirus infections in NSW, while the cluster of cases at a Western Sydney aged-care home doubles.

www.abc.net.au

Unfortunately too clusters in aged cared facilities often result in fatalities.



The only good news is that it is not a new cluster.
This cluster and the Tassie cluster are generating a large slice of our new daily cases at present.

 

[drron]

Agreed, and Tasmania if it gets out of hand is in serious trouble due to lack of ICU beds (and with several hospitals now offline for a period).

Only 1 ICU is offline.
The RHH has 14 operating ICU beds.There are 11 more that have been completed in the new building but not funded.However obviously could come on line quickly.
LGH has 8 ICU beds plus 2 extra closed.Again easy to bring those back online.
NWRH has 8 ICU beds.I believe they will reopen in 2 weeks.

So even if the outbreak had 5% of severe cases Tasmania could easily cope with 440 new cases-only 180 total as of yesterday.And not all severe cases need ICU.In 2 weeks they could cope with an extra 420 cases on top of that.

However Australia is running at present with ~ 2% severe cases.So Tassie is not yet a basket case.

 

[moa999]

Well not unexpectedly as once CV19 is in an aged care facility is first discovered numbers of infected tend to grow.

While NSW numbers are up (seemingly a bunch from the aged care facility.
The overall rate was 29 of 4988 tests (up a lot as they are basically allowing anyone with flu symptoms a test) which at least suggests that we don't have a lot of undiscovered community transmission

 

[lovetravellingoz]

While NSW numbers are up (seemingly a bunch from the testing facility.
The overall rate was 29 of 4988 tests (up a lot as they are basically allowing anyone with flu symptoms a test) which at least suggests that we don't have a lot of undiscovered community transmission

Which is good news.

The link I posted indicated 15 new infections were from the aged care home. So the other 14 were from other sources.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Vic overnight new case figures just released.

Only 1 case which is the lowest overnight figure since Feb in Victoria.

 

[RooFlyer]

Well not unexpectedly as once CV19 is in an aged care facility is first discovered numbers of infected tend to grow.

While NSW numbers are up (seemingly a bunch from the aged care facility.

And, sadly, there are some here who might think that's an opportunity to make light of such a situation, and others who might '' at such. Shame.

Meanwhile:

Morrison accuses infected Tasmanian aged care worker of dishonesty

The Prime Minister says north-west Tasmania is a classic example of the need for the Federal Government's coronavirus-tracking app, after he accuses a north-west aged care worker of not telling the truth about their movements and contacts.

www.abc.net.au

Morrison had better hope that what he's said is correct - the Tas Chief Medical officer has said on ABC radio that he and his office were not the source of advice to the PM's office on this. The NW is a 'bell-weather' swing seat Federally, and there's another right next door. They might forgive the Federal CMO for his gaffe, but not a second from Canberra.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Morrison had better hope that what he's said is correct - the Tas Chief Medical officer has said on ABC radio that he and his office were not the source of advice to the PM's office on this. The NW is a 'bell-weather' swing seat Federally, and there's another right next door. They might forgive the Federal CMO for his gaffe, but not a second from Canberra.

Though the link you posted does seem to be quite specific and implies that the health worker did not reveal all that they should have and the source quoted is the Tasmanian Director of Public Health Mark Veitch.

"As a result of that initial investigation, one person was sent home … because they had had contact with the case, when the case had worked at a nursing home about a week earlier.

"Today, we will be working with the residential aged care facilities, working through their rosters and identifying any people who may have worked on the same shift as the infected healthcare worker."


Also in the article:

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said during a statewide update on the crisis this morning that a healthcare worker, who had worked at the North West Regional Hospital and the North West Private Hospital, had also done shifts at three aged care facilities — Melaleuca Nursing Home in East Devonport, Eliza Purton Home for the Aged in Ulverstone, and Coroneagh Park in Penguin

So one thing that the current NSW and Tasmanian hotspots have in common is a worker who has worked at multiple facilities simultaneously (or at least with a period of time that they were contagious).

There really needs to be an instruction sent out that people cannot work at multiple facilities, an especially aged care facilities where the occupants are more vunerable. Though perhaps it has been and some have chosen to keep this hidden.

With what is now known to have one person working at 5 health/aged care facilities combined in short period of time is quite surprising.

 

[serfty]

Morrison had better hope that what he's said is correct - the Tas Chief Medical officer has said on ABC radio that he and his office were not the source of advice to the PM's office on this. The NW is a 'bell-weather' swing seat Federally, and there's another right next door. They might forgive the Federal CMO for his gaffe, but not a second from Canberra.

Seems there was an issue relating to the person in question revising their story about when they first experienced symptoms.

Coronavirus updates LIVE: New York and United Kingdom extend lockdown as the global death toll passes 140,000

 

[RooFlyer]

Though the link you posted does seem to be quite specific and implies that the health worker did not reveal all that they should have and the source quoted is the Tasmanian Director of Public Health Mark Veitch.

"As a result of that initial investigation, one person was sent home … because they had had contact with the case, when the case had worked at a nursing home about a week earlier.

"Today, we will be working with the residential aged care facilities, working through their rosters and identifying any people who may have worked on the same shift as the infected healthcare worker."

But nothing in the article, nor what you have quoted is what the PM said ... about a health care worker being "dishonest". That's a very strong accusation to make, on the radio, to the local audience.

I don't now what the situation was; the worker may have been dishonest, or negligent, or wasn't asked the right questions, or the full story hasn't come out yet. But like I said, the PM had better hope that "dishonest" was the circumstance, else there will be an electoral backlash (and I grant that that isn't the most important thing right now).

BTW, wen I returned to Tas from overseas, via overnight in Adelaide as there wasn't a connecting flight, I was asked on arrival by Biosecurity Tasmania "Have you arrived from overseas today?". I hadn't, so was entitled to answer 'no' but of course I knew what he meant and explained my circumstance, and even then wasn't given an 'Arrival Card' which was supposed to be mandatory for all interstate arrivals. Sometimes the system stuffs up.

(PS: polite request: if you change by bolding etc something quoted from me, could you please add something like "my emphasis" I know its done to point out the particular point being addressed, but it is still editing what was said originally, and should be acknowledged.)

 

[lovetravellingoz]

(PS: polite request: if you change by bolding etc something quoted from me, could you please add something like "my emphasis" )

Noted.

 

[serfty]

I don't now what the situation was; the worker may have been dishonest, or negligent, or wasn't asked the right questions, or the full story hasn't come out yet. But like I said, the PM had better hope that "dishonest" was the circumstance, else there will be an electoral backlash (and I grant that that isn't the most important thing right now).

As I posted just before you posted that:

Seems there was an issue relating to the person in question revising their story about when they first experienced symptoms.

Coronavirus updates LIVE: New York and United Kingdom extend lockdown as the global death toll passes 140,000

 

[kpc]

Morrison accuses infected Tasmanian aged care worker of dishonesty

The Prime Minister says north-west Tasmania is a classic example of the need for the Federal Government's coronavirus-tracking app, after he accuses a north-west aged care worker of not telling the truth about their movements and contacts.

www.abc.net.au

Morrison had better hope that what he's said is correct - the Tas Chief Medical officer has said on ABC radio that he and his office were not the source of advice to the PM's office on this. The NW is a 'bell-weather' swing seat Federally, and there's another right next door. They might forgive the Federal CMO for his gaffe, but not a second from Canberra.

Slightly OT...but SM accusing someone of being dishonest?! ..."Pot calling Kettle Black" comes to mind...
In today's paper....

 

[drron]

Of course kpc that would depend on whether you believed the Master of Leaks Malcolm Turnbull was a reliable witness many don't believe him.I have reliable evidence that he lied about previous attempts to enter parliament.

But back to the North West.Absolutely no evidence that the worker lied.He was re questioned by the surveillance team and felt on reflection he might have had slight symptoms 2 days earlier.As anyone who takes medical histories knows that is very definitely not unusual.

As well saying it is disgraceful to work in 5 institutions in 1 week does not know the reality of nursing work in regional Tasmania.The workload can vary tremendously and so many nurses are "Agency" workers to be called in only if needed.The work for nurses outside of the covid wards has decreased so it is not surprising that a nurse takes what ever offer of work that is offered.It definitely shouldn't happen during an epidemic such as this but I doubt the nurse was counselled before this.

 

[dajop]

Blaming individuals is not at all helpful. Anyone who has ever been involved in any investigation into any serious health or safety incident, would know that there are always a range of failures (system and people) such that had a single one of them not happened, the end result would not have happened either. (aka "holes in the swiss cheese lining up" model).

But don't we love a scapegoat ??

 

[p--and--t]

As well saying it is disgraceful to work in 5 institutions in 1 week does not know the reality of nursing work in regional Tasmania.The workload can vary tremendously and so many nurses are "Agency" workers to be called in only if needed.

In parallel, I'm also thinking about schools.

There is a huge cohort of "locum" teachers that move from school to school, suburb to suburb, on a daily basis depending on which school has a permanent that has rung in sick or taking holidays/other leave.

This will only become worse in the current scenario where "at risk" permanent teachers will not turn up and all staff are advised not to attend work if they have the slightest symptoms of an illness.

We could have hundreds of teachers floating from school to school on a daily basis and they are not in focus for proactive preventive testing that occurs for "health" workers.