Hotel quarantine organisers held a party to toast their success in isolating tennis stars just days before it emerged the virus had escaped from the program.
Hotel quarantine organisers held a party to toast their success in isolating tennis stars just days before it emerged the virus had once again escaped from the program, putting the state on fresh alert.
COVID Quarantine Victoria threw the bash for 60 staff at the View Hotel — one of the Australian Open quarantine hotels — on Sunday.
Three days later, one of their colleagues — a 26-year-old residential support officer — was confirmed to have been infected, possibly with the UK superstrain wreaking havoc around the world.
The case has threatened to derail the grand slam tournament and forced the state government to reintroduce restrictions, including mandatory masks indoors.
CQV said it hosted the “small outdoor function” to thank team leaders and site and general managers “for their considerable efforts in facilitating the complex quarantine program for the Australian Open”.
“Our staff put themselves on the frontline every day to help keep Victorians safe and we are extremely appreciative of the work they do,” a spokeswoman said.
All staff had returned negative COVID-19 tests, and none are considered close contacts of the man, who did not attend.
But he returned a negative test result on his final shift — before falling sick days later.
Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett said there were other ways the government could have expressed their thanks to employees.
Professor Bennett said there were strict protocols about frontline hotel quarantine staff working in ‘bubbles’ during their shift and said it would be wise if those same rules were followed outside work hours.
“If you all just throw yourselves together in a social gathering it undermines that. So I do think that’s something that needs to be discussed,” she said.
“Particularly across facilities where you’re bringing together a community of people who are just at that higher risk. There are other ways to say thank you.”
She said it was lucky the COVID-positive worker wasn’t at the party.
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien questioned the wisdom of bringing together so many people who had been working in a highly infectious environment, saying it was a “double fault”.
“It is bad enough they allowed COVID to again escape hotel quarantine into the community, but also holding a party for these particular workers — at our expense — to celebrate what a great job they’ve done, it is beyond belief,” he said.
MORE CLOSE CONTACTS TEST NEGATIVE
Of 17 close contacts linked to the COVID-positive hotel quarantine worker, 15 have tested negative and the other two were expected to have their results by Friday.
Victoria’s Department of Health provided the latest update in a tweet on Thursday night, describing the 17 people as household and social primary close contacts.
‘DECENT PROBABILITY’ INFECTED WORKER COULD SPARK OUBREAK
Melbourne University epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely said there was a “decent probability” the COVID-positive worker could spark a community outbreak but he said there were “a lot of question marks”.
Professor Blakely said there were three possible scenarios of how the worker picked up the virus; either from a tennis player or official; from silent transmission among the Grand Hyatt hotel, or from being out and about in the community.
He said genomic sequencing results would be key, because if he had the UK or South African variant that would increase his infectivity.
“It is quite possible he has passed it on to someone else,” he said.
“Whichever of those scenarios it is, there’s a decent probability there are some more cases about to pop up somewhere. I hope that, just like Brisbane and Auckland dodged a bullet, I hope we get lucky and that this chap is not one of the 20 per cent of super spreaders. I’m hoping for the best. The next couple of days we’ll get lots of pieces to fill the jigsaw puzzle.”
University of South Australia Professor and former World Health Organisation epidemiologist Adrian Esterman agreed the next two to three days were critical.
He said that would determine whether Melbourne would have a similar outcome to Perth, where there has not been a single additional case from the COVID-positive hotel quarantine worker.
“If you get to day three without cases then I think everyone can breathe a big sigh of relief and you’ve dodged a bullet,” he said.
“We’re not out of the woods yet. But we’ve got our fingers crossed.”
Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett said it was “a really good sign” that the man’s family members had returned negative results.
“It’s still early though, they may become positive later,” she said.
“It’s the same with people he worked with.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5oZXJhbGRzdW4uY29tLmF1L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzL2hvdGVsLXdvcmtlci1wYXJ0aWVkLWRheXMtYmVmb3JlLXZpcnVzLWVzY2FwZWQvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS83ZWE5MTM2YWM4NmE2NzllZTNhYzc0ZTNkYzIzYWE1ZdIBhwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5oZXJhbGRzdW4uY29tLmF1L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzL2hvdGVsLXdvcmtlci1wYXJ0aWVkLWRheXMtYmVmb3JlLXZpcnVzLWVzY2FwZWQvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS83ZWE5MTM2YWM4NmE2NzllZTNhYzc0ZTNkYzIzYWE1ZT9hbXA?oc=5
2021-02-04 12:06:45Z
CBMigwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5oZXJhbGRzdW4uY29tLmF1L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzL2hvdGVsLXdvcmtlci1wYXJ0aWVkLWRheXMtYmVmb3JlLXZpcnVzLWVzY2FwZWQvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS83ZWE5MTM2YWM4NmE2NzllZTNhYzc0ZTNkYzIzYWE1ZdIBhwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5oZXJhbGRzdW4uY29tLmF1L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzL2hvdGVsLXdvcmtlci1wYXJ0aWVkLWRheXMtYmVmb3JlLXZpcnVzLWVzY2FwZWQvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS83ZWE5MTM2YWM4NmE2NzllZTNhYzc0ZTNkYzIzYWE1ZT9hbXA
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