Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[Pushka]

Zero in SA. Five days now. And only 9 active.

 

[jakeseven7]

Update on NSW situation and reaction from QLD and WA:

- Authorities are investigating how the woman, who works at two hotels in Sydney, one of which houses returning international travellers, acquired the case.

- NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said five family members who the woman lived with had tested negative to COVID-19, but would still complete 14 days’ isolation.

- Health authorities are racing to alert close contacts, including fellow public transport commuters and co-workers at the Ibis and Novotel hotels.


WA:
NSW was on track to hit the 28-day milestone this Friday, but the emergence of the case on Thursday morning could put the state back to square one.

On Thursday, a spokesperson said the WA government was awaiting advice before it made any decision.

“WA’s chief health officer will seek further information from NSW before providing advice to the Premier,” the spokesperson said.

It’s understood chief health officer Dr Andrew Robertson will monitor the situation and await NSW Health’s investigation before he makes a formal recommendation on the NSW borders to the Premier.

QLD:
Speaking in parliament on Thursday morning, Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said there were no “proposed changes” to the border restrictions.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Queensland’s health officials were working closely with Sydney authorities in the wake of the new case.

Ms Palaszczuk confirmed the state was moving to a “hot spot” system, and that there would have to be a “massive outbreak” to slam the border shut again.

“There are so many variables here, each particular case has got to be looked at on its merits and (we have to) work out what the risk is to Queensland,” she said.

New NSW case should not change WA border according to Deakin University's Chair of Epidemiology​

Deakin University's Chair of Epidemiology, Catherine Bennett, has told ABC Radio Perth, the new case should not affect WA's decision to reopen its border to NSW.

"I think every state needs to be prepared for a case, it can't be guaranteed that our borders can be perfect and that's true in any state, including Western Australia itself, and I think holding back because we've got one case is not proportionate," she said.

Christmas plans in lurch as new COVID-19 case emerges

Christmas plans around Australia are up in the air after a Sydney hotel quarantine worker tested positive to COVID-19.

www.news.com.au

Greg Hunt says UK's vaccine rollout will hold 'very important lessons' for Australia

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says the Pfizer vaccine approved in the United Kingdom will hold "very important data, very important lessons" for Australia and the rest of the world.

www.abc.net.au

 

[dajop]

Meanwhile was the cleaner a "private cleaning contractor"? If so, who made the decision to employ private cleaning contractors? I'm being flippant but these escapes highlight more and more the importance of strong contact tracing and contact isolation processes as escapes are inevitable.

On Tuesday in Singapore, there was a similar case, detected during routine testing of airport workers, of a cleaner who had contracted the virus. Which brings me to another question, are workers at international airports in Australia, exposed to inbound international travellers, also tested routinely? This only commenced in November in Singapore after 2 positive tests late October.

 

[Lynda2475]

Novotel and IBIS are on the same site, owned and managed by the same company. They should be forced to split their cleaning crews now so dont work at both Novotel (quarantine) and Ibis (regular) hotel.

 

[Pushka]

Novotel and IBIS are on the same site, owned and managed by the same company. They should be forced to split their cleaning crews now so dont work at both Novotel (quarantine) and Ibis (regular) hotel.

Indeed. In the very early days my son who works in an essential service industry insisted the teams the company had set up on the start of the pandemic be separated so the talent/experienced techs in the company were not all wiped out by one positive employee.

 

[DC3]

they expect to be able to vacinate all americans who want it by end of June (subject to there being 4 vaccines available) people wil still need to practice physical distancing and good hygiene until 80% of the population are vaccinated to get to herd immunity.

I hope that they can get to 80%, but I have my doubts. There’s so many in the USA who believe that COVID is just a hoax.

 

[dajop]

I hope that they can get to 80%, but I have my doubts. There’s so many in the USA who believe that COVID is just a hoax.

And some I'm sure think the vaccine is a way of either implanting microchips (although that is supposedly what COVID swabs do) and others who think that the vaccination is modifying your DNA.

 

[justinbrett]

Novotel and IBIS are on the same site, owned and managed by the same company. They should be forced to split their cleaning crews now so dont work at both Novotel (quarantine) and Ibis (regular) hotel.

What about the hotels that have both quarantine and regular guests? (dedicated floors).

Unless you're locking the person up in the hotel overnight, that person is still going home on the train, going to woolworths, going to the pub etc.

 

[jakeseven7]

WA MEDIA CONFERENCE UPDATE:

WA just held a press conference and will make a decision about NSW border opening over the weekend. They got crucified for even considering locking NSW out.

Positive news they have decoupled NSW from VIC though and VIC is set still to open on Dec 8 - that was a ridiculous thought bubble to try and bundle them up.... because by that logic they'd have to shut to at least QLD as well.

'This proves our decision to be cautious with NSW was right, we had a feeling something would happen in NSW'

'We have contacted NSW to offer our assistance with contact tracing'

'We await for the health advice to come over the weekend, each outbreak will be treated on a case by case basis'

 

[DC3]

What about the hotels that have both quarantine and regular guests? (dedicated floors) ....

Don’t tell me that we now have quarantine and non-quarantine guests residing within the same hotel.

I thought that this was meant to be a big no-no

Edited

 

[justinbrett]

Don’t tell me that that we now have quarantine and non-quarantine guests within the same hotel.

I thought that this was meant to be a big no-no.

Been like that since the beginning

ADF member and female visitor fined $1,000 for breaching hotel quarantine rules

A serving member of the ADF and a woman are fined for breaching COVID-19 orders at a Sydney quarantine hotel as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she is "concerned" about the state's low testing numbers.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Must...Fly!]

This proves our decision to be cautious with NSW was right, we had a feeling something would happen in NSW'

I'm sorry but who said this? Was it dear leader McGowan? What a disgusting comment if true. Blind guesswork is leading policy it seems??

 

[Lynda2475]

'This proves our decision to be cautious with NSW was right, we had a feeling something would happen in NSW'

If he had some deep insight that this was going to happen, why wasnt he forthcoming with (his non existent) insight? There is just as much risk of a Hotel Quarantine breach in WA as there is in NSW or ay state accepting international arrivals.

We have contacted NSW to offer our assistance with contact tracing

This is quite laughable, NSW are more than capable of doing contract tracing especially when currently at one case. We have never had a case load high enough to need assistance from interstate, and I imagne if it got to Vic levels we would seek assistance from states which have recent experience of tracing rather than WA who havent got any relevant experience due to hard borders.

 

[Lynda2475]

Been like that since the beginning

I was of the understanding that this was no longer case. When they reorganised the hotels into quarantine vs medi hotels (for positive cases), i thought all were dedicated hotels, since they know the exact demand and can fill all rooms based on the arrival caps.

I still think they need to publically publish which hotels are used for quarantne so public can make a choice to avoid.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

If the individual worked in a quarantine hotel, then this is certainly not a “community transmission”

Our Kiwi Cousins have an extra category:

 

[jakeseven7]

I'm sorry but who said this? Was it dear leader McGowan? What a disgusting comment if true. Blind guesswork is leading policy it seems??

Who else. Watch the full press conference it will be on ABC youtube somewhere.

But not if you have high blood pressure....

This is quite laughable, NSW are more than capable of doing contract tracing especially when currently at one case. We have never had a case load high enough to need assistance from interstate, and I imagne if it got to Vic levels we would seek assistance from states which have recent experience of tracing rather than WA who havent got any relevant experience due to hard borders.

Agreed I fell off my chair laughing when I heard that.

But clearly his media advisors have given feedback after the SA cluste explosion - where WA and QLD told SA to go jump and don't let our border hit you on the way out, whilst VIC came out and the first thing they said was to empathise and offer assistance (and then did)... .really separated the adults from the kids.

 

[Lynda2475]

On the plus side Dr CHant (NSW CHO) just stated the 65yo female cleaner diagnosed with Covid-9 today was wearing a mask whilst on public transport, so that will hopefully have significantly reduced the risk of her infecting fellow commuters.

Also stated that she did not have any direct contact with quarantined travellers, so they suspect more likely someone else at the hotel who does have traveller contact is likley an asymptomatic carrier and likely passed it onto the cleaner.

If this is true hope they find that person quickly and that they likewise have been masked when cmmuting or shopping.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

On the plus side Dr CHant (NSW CHO) just stated the 65yo female cleaner diagnosed with Covid-9 today was wearing a mask whilst on public transport, so that will hopefully have significantly reduced the risk of her infecting fellow commuters.

Also stated that she did not have any direct contact with quarantined travellers, so they suspect more likely someone else at the hotel who does have traveller contact is likley an asymptomatic carrier and likely passed it onto the cleaner.

If this is true hope they find that person quickly and that they likewise have been masked when cmmuting or shopping.

So seemingly ruled out surface contact???

 

[Pushka]

On the plus side Dr CHant (NSW CHO) just stated the 65yo female cleaner diagnosed with Covid-9 today was wearing a mask whilst on public transport, so that will hopefully have significantly reduced the risk of her infecting fellow commuters.

Also stated that she did not have any direct contact with quarantined travellers, so they suspect more likely someone else at the hotel who does have traveller contact is likley an asymptomatic carrier and likely passed it onto the cleaner.

If this is true hope they find that person quickly and that they likewise have been masked when cmmuting or shopping.

It is SA all over again. Was she randomly tested through work or is she ill? Does NSW test anyone who works in whatever capacity at a Quarantine hotel?

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

It is SA all over again. Was she randomly tested through work or is she ill? Does NSW test anyone who works in whatever capacity at a Quarantine hotel?

From ABC blog (seems like pure luck again)

How did the new NSW case get detected?​

Please please. I know you get a lot of questions but this actually quite relevant and important to today’s NSW case. Is BSW doing weekly testing in hotel quarantine workers? I’m wondering if this is how the case was picked up or if they happened to have symptoms and decided to get tested., The answer could be an indicator of how far it has spread and tells us if weekly testing is working.

-Curious

Hi Curious,

The worker took a test because she noticed symptoms.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said the worker presented for a test after noticing minor "non-specific symptoms" such as fatigue.

Last month it was announced that all staff working at the nation's quarantine hotels and other facilities would be subject to mandatory weekly coronavirus tests.

But when making that announcement, Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said this on NSW:

"I know that in New South Wales they have been testing, not as frequently as this, and there has been some testing being done in other places, but we decided to make that recommendation which has been accepted for that to be a routine thing."

So it sounds like NSW should be on top of it.