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'Administrative oversight' led to British woman with COVID flying into Adelaide
South Australia's Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier has said it was an "administrative oversight" that led to a British woman with coronavirus flying into Adelaide from Melbourne this weekend, after previously blaming Victorian authorities.
Speaking on ABC radio this morning, Dr Spurrier said Vic Health emailed SA Health to say the woman was arriving to visit a dying relative after testing negative during her week spent in hotel quarantine, but did not say when the woman would arrive in Adelaide.
South Australian chief public health officer Nicola SpurrierCredit:David Mariuz/AAP
However, after Victorian Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton disputed this version of events earlier today, Dr Spurrier released a statement to clarify.
"Due to an administrative oversight, we can confirm the relevant flight details involving an overseas traveller arriving in South Australia were provided to SA Health prior to their arrival," Dr Spurrier said.
"What this issue has highlighted is the need to strengthen the processes involving travellers arriving from overseas and travelling between states during their quarantine period."
The woman, who tested positive on arrival, is one of 22 people who have received travel exemptions to enter South Australia on compassionate grounds during the pandemic.
Premier Steven Marshall said authorities have "got to have a heart" when the case was announced yesterday.
After testing positive, the woman has still not been able to visit her relative, AAP reports.
More than 70 per cent of firms report hit to revenue from virus
By Shane Wright
More than 70 per cent of businesses have reported a hit to their revenue from the coronavirus pandemic shutdown with half cutting hours for their workers.
A special survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released today, shows almost 75 per cent of firms have had to rely on some sort of support mechanism such as JobKeeper to stay afloat.
The survey found 74 per cent of businesses had modified their operating conditions because of the pandemic.
IT, health and accommodation businesses have been the most affected with up to 90 per cent reporting virus-related change.
Big businesses, those employing more than 200, have been the most affected with 87 per cent reporting some sort of modification.
Seventy-two per cent of firms said they had suffered a fall in revenue while 7 per cent had seen an increase in revenues.
Those changes in revenue have affected job numbers.
A quarter of firms have cut staff numbers, 53 per cent have reduced staff hours, 5 per cent have cut wages while 4 per cent have applied a wage freeze. About 6 per cent of firms have put staff on unpaid leave while 8 per cent have workers on paid leave.
The cut in revenue has forced many firms into some sort of financial support.
More than half have accessed wage subsidies such as the federal government's JobKeeper program while 38 per cent had used other government schemes.
Longer term, 71 per cent expect social distancing guidelines to affect their performance over the next two months. Sixty-three per cent said restrictions on trading would affect their operation while half said travel restrictions would be an issue.
NT to end hotel quarantine for domestic arrivals
Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner has said his territory is moving from mandatory quarantine to self-quarantine from Monday June 15 for domestic travellers.
"You will no longer be for stay in a hotel they're selected by us and secured by us, and there will no longer be a $2500 bill for your quarantine," Mr Gunner said.
He said the current rules will remain in place for overseas arrivals, including overseas arrivals coming through other states.
Mr Gunner said the move would allow for families to bring children home from boarding school for the next school holidays and allow other Territorians to return to their family homes to visit relatives while in quarantine.
"It's been really tough for many families; heartbreaking. I'm sorry, you've had to go through it, but you know why we had to do it."
There are currently "upwards of 600" people in hotel quarantine in the Territory.
The announcement comes as the Territory plans to enter its third stage of economic reopening next Friday, with all businesses and activities allowed to operate with social distancing.
Mr Gunner said he would not be pushed for a date on when people will be able to enter the Northern Territory without any quarantine period.
"I've become more and more confident, every day that we can ease border restrictions sooner rather than later. Not next week, not next month, but sooner rather than later."
WATCH: NT Chief Minister gives a coronavirus update on borders
National Gallery of Australia to reopen on June 2
By Nick Galvin
The National Gallery of Australia will open its doors again on June 2, more than 10 weeks after it was forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But visitors to the Canberra institution will have a very different experience from before national lockdowns came into force in March.
National Gallery of Australia boss Nick Mitzevich is delighted to welcome visitors back.Credit:AAP
Numbers in each gallery will be limited to just 20 and all visitors will need to pre-register for a timed visit at 30-minute intervals and hand over their contact details in the event contact tracing is required.
Quarantine hotel staff member among 10 new Victorian cases
By Anthony Colangelo
There have been 10 new cases of coronavirus in Victoria overnight, taking the state’s total to 1628, according to Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton.
One is a staff member at the Rydges on Swanston hotel where overseas arrivals are being held in quarantine (taking that total to two), six are household contacts of previous cases (five in the one household) and three are returned overseas travellers.
There were no more deaths overnight, while cases of community transmission or unknown transmission decreased by 18 overnight.
There are 61 active cases in the state, three people in ICU (down one overnight) and eight in hospital.
“They are security staff who have come down with illness,” Dr Sutton said about the two hotel cases.
“Normally … would have a security member at the front entrance, as well as a security guard on each floor to monitor all of those who are in quarantine there.
“We will work on the presumption it has been acquired at the hotel, but we have to be open minded that perhaps they are alert to being tested because they are worked in a quarantine hotel but they might have acquired it elsewhere.”
Just eight active cases in Tasmania
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has announced there are just eight active cases of coronavirus left in the state, after no new cases were again recorded overnight.
"We are in a good place but we do need to get to that better place," Mr Gutwein said this morning, announcing increased testing capacity and thanking Tasmanians for visiting the state's new drive-through testing clinics.
WATCH: Victoria's Chief Health Officer gives a coronavirus update
WATCH: WA Police address the media
Severe psychological distress spikes in young adults
By Jenny Noyes
Young adults in Australia are experiencing a spike in severe psychological distress at similar levels to their counterparts in the United States, according to analysis of survey results by Australian National University researchers that found young people are less hopeful about the future.
The working paper is based on the ANUpoll quarterly national survey of more than 3000 respondents, about half of which had previously been surveyed on their mental health in February 2017.
It found a substantial increase in the level of psychological distress among Australians generally – with 8.4 per cent reporting signs of severe distress in February 2017 rising to 10.6 per cent in April 2020.
But most of that increase is concentrated among young adults – especially those aged 18-24, where the proportion experiencing severe psychological distress increased from 14 per cent in 2017 to 22 per cent in 2020.
The study found these younger Australians are showing similar levels to their US counterparts, where mental illness is worse in general than Australia and the pandemic has had a more widespread traumatic impact.
The study’s co-author, Associate Professor Benjamin Edwards, said it is the first of its kind to examine the mental health of respondents both prior to and during the pandemic, and to compare results internationally.
He said while surveys consistently find young people and women experience psychological distress at higher levels than the broader population, the key finding of the ANUpoll analysis was the large increase in psychological distress for the younger demographic during the pandemic compared with three years prior.
In the April survey, respondents were asked how anxious they were about the pandemic and how likely they thought they were to contract the virus.
Associate Professor Edwards said this provided evidence to suggest the pandemic is a significant factor in the spike, as responses indicating anxiety about COVID-19 were associated with increased levels of psychological distress.
Australia’s success in containing the virus and keeping the death rate relatively low has kept distress levels low among older Australians, he said. But the economic and social impacts of the lockdown have hit young people hard.
“We have done much better than the US in terms of people dying ... and so consequently the trauma, grief experienced by older Australians is so much less than in the US, and the fear associated with the coronavirus pandemic is so much less.”
Young adults, on the other hand, are experiencing a “bleaker economic outlook and potential opportunities” and are reporting lower levels of hope than the rest of the population surveyed.
“Hope can be considered to be a psychological resource that buffers the stresses and traumas of life events. What we can see about the distribution of people who feel hopeful about the future is that younger people tend to report lower levels of hope for the future most or all of the time than older people, so that’s also potentially driving the mental health outcome.”
Ian Hickie, co-director at the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney, agreed that emphasis on giving young people hope for the future is important.
He said psychological distress “is always higher in young people” and that has been exacerbated by the pandemic response and the “lack of emphasis on casuals, students, training”.
Young people “have not been the focus of government attention”, he said.
“It's not clear from government policy that they really matter.
“It’s disruption of the education, the casual work, social relationships and incredible uncertainty about what happens next, because none of us know what happens next. For young people, skills, training, development, the future is what matters.”
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2020-05-28 02:39:00Z
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