Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[HappyFlyerFamily]

There was locally acquired case reported in SA on 31st October.

View attachment 232700

I might be wrong because wording was confusing at the time, but I recall the child was of someone who was overseas (does it mean child was also overseas??? Was the child in the medi-hotel already before being diagnosed??? Too many holes in the detail)

 

[Pushka]

If SAHealth is accurate then yes.

So Vic now has slipped to Number 3 on the list of states with the most recent cases.

Please read post above yours. It was a close contact of an overseas passenger and a child and all were in medi hotels at the time so not exactly as was portrayed in your post.

Post automatically merged: Nov 5, 2020

I might be wrong because wording was confusing at the time, but I recall the child was of someone who was overseas (does it mean child was also overseas??? Was the child in the medi-hotel already before being diagnosed??? Too many holes in the detail)

Yes. All were in medi hotels at the time. Child of a positive case recently returned from overseas. Nothing to see here. If the child didn't travel overseas (not likely I'm thinking but a possibility) the child may have joined their family in the hotel when the family/parents returned.

I revert to my original comment that there has not been locally acquired (in the general community) for months in SA. Anything that happens in quarantine from overseas is pretty much irrelevant assuming that the authorities know how to prevent infection spread and manage those cases. So far, that hasn't been of any consequence in SA.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I might be wrong because wording was confusing at the time, but I recall the child was of someone who was overseas (does it mean child was also overseas??? Was the child in the medi-hotel already before being diagnosed??? Too many holes in the detail)

I am only going off what SAHealth reported and have no specific knowledge.

SAHealth wording was locally acquired:


And overseas acquired are shown separately.

 

[Pushka]

I am only going off what SAHealth reported and have no specific knowledge.

SAHealth wording was locally acquired:
View attachment 232702

And overseas acquired are shown separately.

COVID-19 Update 31 October | SA Health

There have been four new cases of COVID-19 today. There have now been a total of 501 cases reported in South Australia.

www.sahealth.sa.gov.au

"The fourth case is child who is a known contact of a positive case and is also in a medi-hotel." From the explanatory text, not the table.

SA has not had a case of Covid in the community (not in medi hotels from overseas) for months so the infection was acquired in the medi hotels from an overseas traveller.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

COVID-19 Update 31 October | SA Health

There have been four new cases of COVID-19 today. There have now been a total of 501 cases reported in South Australia.

www.sahealth.sa.gov.au

"The fourth case is child who is a known contact of a positive case and is also in a medi-hotel." From the explanatory text, not the table.

SA has not had a case of Covid in the community (not in medi hotels from overseas) for months so the infection was acquired in the medi hotels from an overseas traveller.

Yes I just used SAHealth's definition.


Is there any more information on the child? I could not see where they were from. Nor did the SA Health report state whom they caught it from.
People staying in med-hotels in SA are not just from overseas.

Your probably recall that SA has used medi-hotels for locals.

Coronavirus Australia live updates: SA puts 70 people in quarantine and 1100 ordered to self-isolate

Melbourne has become a ghost town as police patrol the streets and Victoria records 471 new cases overnight. Follow our live updates here.

www.afr.com

 

[jakeseven7]

Yes I just used SAHealth's definition.


Is there any more information on the child? I could not see where they were from. Nor did the SA Health report state whom they caught it from.
People staying in med-hotels in SA are not just from overseas.

Your probably recall that SA has used medi-hotels for locals.

Coronavirus Australia live updates: SA puts 70 people in quarantine and 1100 ordered to self-isolate

Melbourne has become a ghost town as police patrol the streets and Victoria records 471 new cases overnight. Follow our live updates here.

www.afr.com

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a national definition for everything from hotspots to community transmission. It would be great if we had a national cabinet or something to sort that out

 

[RooFlyer]

I think its great that the case load is so low that discussion has moved on to such minutae such as where a child who had the virus in SA was from. What else do we need to know?

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a national definition for everything from hotspots to community transmission. It would be great if we had a national cabinet or something to sort that out

Well, there is a National Cabinet where there have been proposed a number of National standards and definitions (hot spots, to name one ... ) but paths to common agreement has not been found.

And we have Premiers directly disagreeing with others on border opening & such.

And then there is the Tasmanian publican who has banned inter-staters from his pub, to protest the Tas government's ban on drinking while standing. No, I can't figure that one out either.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I think its great that the case load is so low that discussion has moved on to such minutae such as where a child who had the virus in SA was from.

It may indicate whether the child had arrived from overseas and got infected here from someone they were travelling with, or whether they possibly were a local child at the medi-hotel who got infected from an international returnee that they were not travelling with.

Given the ample discussion in this thread on virus transmission within hotel quarantine facilities to myself at least this would be germane.

SAHealth was specific on the other cases all being returned from overseas. But no mentioned if the child was.

Today’s cases are a man and woman in their 70s and a woman in her 50s, all who recently returned from overseas and returned positive results in hotel quarantine. They have been in a medi-hotel since their arrival and there is no public health risk.​

​

The fourth case is child who is a known contact of a positive case and is also in a medi-hotel.​

​

​

Also I just had a look back of over a weeks worth of other cases and all the other reports specifically state that the people involved have recently returned from overseas. This includes a boy, and so the recent case would not just be a privacy matter.

ie

Today’s cases are a woman in her 20’s, a male in his 40’s, a male in his 70’s and a boy who have all recently returned from overseas and returned positive results in hotel quarantine. All travelled separately and have been in a medi-hotel since their arrival. There is no public health risk. ​

​

​

So the The fourth case is child who is a known contact of a positive case and is also in a medi-hotel is unusual in that it 1/ does not indicate that they are a traveller from overseas, or not and 2/ That they are also notable as being locally acquired which seems to be a rarity in recent times in SA

 

[lovetravellingoz]

 

[jakeseven7]

Very interesting - an epidemiologist on the radio this AM saying that VIC should consider not allowing people from W and SW Sydney into Victoria as it is likely Victoria has a better suppression of the virus and better testing regime now than NSW....

Doubt that will happen.... and we don’t really want yet another border war opening up...

 

[Pushka]

It may indicate whether the child had arrived from overseas and got infected here from someone they were travelling with, or whether they possibly were a local child at the medi-hotel who got infected from an international returnee that they were not travelling with.

Given the ample discussion in this thread on virus transmission within hotel quarantine facilities to myself at least this would be germane.

SAHealth was specific on the other cases all being returned from overseas. But no mentioned if the child was.

Today’s cases are a man and woman in their 70s and a woman in her 50s, all who recently returned from overseas and returned positive results in hotel quarantine. They have been in a medi-hotel since their arrival and there is no public health risk.​

​

The fourth case is child who is a known contact of a positive case and is also in a medi-hotel.​

​

​

Also I just had a look back of over a weeks worth of other cases and all the other reports specifically state that the people involved have recently returned from overseas. This includes a boy, and so the recent case would not just be a privacy matter.

ie

Today’s cases are a woman in her 20’s, a male in his 40’s, a male in his 70’s and a boy who have all recently returned from overseas and returned positive results in hotel quarantine. All travelled separately and have been in a medi-hotel since their arrival. There is no public health risk. ​

​

​

So the The fourth case is child who is a known contact of a positive case and is also in a medi-hotel is unusual in that it 1/ does not indicate that they are a traveller from overseas, or not and 2/ That they are also notable as being locally acquired which seems to be a rarity in recent times in SA

So this is why it happened. No mystery.

The child was part of a returning family and cohabiting in the medi hotel room. One, possibly two of those family tested positive at some stage in the initial 14 day period after travel so this is counted as acquired overseas. When that happens, the family members who are now close contacts of a positive case, have to start their 14 day quarantine period all over again. Subsequently, If another family member in that room tests positive after the 14th day of the initial quarantine period, then it is assumed that they didn't acquire the virus from their travel but from the first family member(s) who tested positive. So it is regarded as locally acquired. Unfortunately in this case as it has raised flags for some that just weren't necessary.. Perhaps people need to think about using the terms Community transmission versus locally acquired.

The child could not be put on their own in isolation so in reality it was likely they were always going to test positive when their parent had it.

And this situation will continue to happen so get used to it.

 

[RooFlyer]

It may indicate whether the child had arrived from overseas and got infected here from someone they were travelling with, or whether they possibly were a local child at the medi-hotel who got infected from an international returnee that they were not travelling with.

Given the ample discussion in this thread on virus transmission within hotel quarantine facilities to myself at least this would be germane.

Possibly the SA officials are as bored with the dissection of the minutae of every case in Australia as I am and also the petty rivalry between states, highlighting the cases in the other states etc etc. Sometime we have to move on and get used to the fact that this thing is going to be around for a while and now the crisis in Victoria is over (hopefully), there is little more in the social media analysis of every aspect of every covid case as there is from, say, the occurrence of measles or whooping cough. I admire the NSW approach: "It's here, its manageable, get on with life ..."

Or, as Pushka just admirably said:

And this situation will continue to happen so get used to it.

On the other hand, would there would be great interest here if I had breathlessly posted "0 cases" every day for Tasmania for the past 100+ days ?

Ooops. Looks like Tas Health gave up updating case count over a month ago:



Back to Covid Live:

 

[jakeseven7]

Would a ban on SW and W Sydney travel even work though on trying to stop the virus spread from those areas with ongoing community transmission....?

Opinion piece from a Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology:

-----

The NSW-Vic border will reopen this month, and ironically the risk is now greatest for Victoria


New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian recently announced the border with Victoria will reopen on November 23.

It will be the first time people can freely cross the border since early July.

For the first time in months, it looks as if the COVID situation is worse in NSW than Victoria. Arguably the risk of opening the border is greater for Victoria right now than it is for NSW.

Indeed, Berejiklian said today that Victoria “may have, because of the lockdown, actually gone down a path of having eliminated it at this point in time”.

I’m concerned NSW is not going for elimination. It leaves the state as an outlier in Australia, with Victoria now joining all other states and territories by having zero community transmission (although Victoria’s official strategy is “aggressive suppression” rather than outright elimination).

I’d like to see NSW tighten restrictions in a few areas, because I think Australia now has a real shot at eliminating COVID. For example, NSW residents are currently allowed up to 20 visitors at a time, despite the Chief Health Officer recommending no more than ten. As homes are one of the greatest risk areas, why not follow this advice?

I’d like to see a coordinated national effort to centralise these data. Ideally, there should be a centralised body, such as an independent federal Centre for Disease Control, which could handle national contract tracing, with regional hubs in each state and territory. This would ensure all states and territories would use the same contact-tracing software, using staff trained to the same level.

A national contact tracing database would then enable the tracking of people travelling interstate. Perhaps a QR code system could be implemented on a national level, so visiting a pub in South Australia means it is recorded in a centralised national database.

A federal disease control agency could also ensure consistency of hotel quarantining, and training of security staff.

The NSW-Vic border will reopen this month, and ironically the risk is greatest for Victoria

Ideally, I’d wait until there’s zero community transmission before reopening borders. But I think the risk of a substantial outbreak is low.

theconversation.com

 

[lovetravellingoz]

So this is why it happened. No mystery.

The child was part of a returning family and cohabiting in the medi hotel room.

One, possibly two of those family tested positive at some stage in the initial 14 day period after travel so this is counted as acquired overseas. When that happens, the family members who are now close contacts of a positive case, have to start their 14 day quarantine period all over again. Subsequently, If another family member in that room tests positive after the 14th day of the initial quarantine period, then it is assumed that they didn't acquire the virus from their travel but from the first family member(s) who tested positive. So it is regarded as locally acquired. Unfortunately in this case as it has raised flags for some that just weren't necessary..

Thank you for the extra detail. I thought that there was something unusual about the case which was not reported and you have now supplied extra detail.

Perhaps people need to think about using the terms Community transmission versus locally acquired.

I agree, but I only used what the authorities have reported = locally acquired from a known contact.


Also your post of yesterday was it doesn't equate to locally acquired as not in the community.

Really? News to me. That is last week. Actually I think it was a close contact of an overseas traveller and both were in quarantine so if that's the case it doesn't equate to locally acquired as not in the community.

but today you have indicated the opposite viewpoint of it was locally acquired in quarantine.



So it would seem to me that we have both learnt something of on how SAHealth reports on cases, and the meaning behind terms as they use them. With jurisdictions reporting differently it is not that surprising that we can be unclear at times what is meant.

I am curious about data, and so I am interested as to what is actually meant when data is reported. I think that discussion on forums such as this one is useful and informative.

 

[moa999]

4 local cases in NSW and 5 hotel from 17k tests

All 4 are linked to each other, but the source is under investigation. Southern Highlands area (Moss Vale).

So possibly a new mystery case area.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

 

[moa999]

Now Queensland has an issue given people from Moss Vale can legally travel to Qld, but people from Sydney which hasn't seen a mystery local case for 7+ days can't

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Now Queensland has an issue given people from Moss Vale can legally travel to Qld, but people from Sydney which hasn't seen a mystery local case for 7+ days can't

And for those of us, including me, who did not know where Moss Vale is:

 

[Lynda2475]

Now Queensland has an issue given people from Moss Vale can legally travel to Qld, but people from Sydney which hasn't seen a mystery local case for 7+ days can't

And people from Goulburn can also travel to Queensland even though it has 2 active cases, whereas there are zero in inner sydney (only cases in the western and south western suburburbs) per the maps I shared yesterday. There was no scientific basis for Queensland modified border rules.

WRT Mossvale, its on a regional train line, but many people commute form Moss Vale to jobs in South West Sydney - as there are express trains which link up with the metro network. Suspect the source will be someone who commutes for work or related to the Goulburn cases (which are directly linked to South West Sydney cases).

 

[lovetravellingoz]

For those interested the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry Interim Report and Recommendations is now available.

https://www.quarantineinquiry.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/COVID-19%20Hotel%20Quarantine%20Inquiry%20Interim%20Report%20and%20Recommendations%206%20November%202020.pdf