Late last night, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that a worker supporting the quarantining of Australian Open players and officials had contracted COVID-19 and had likely spread the virus into the community. Accordingly, new restrictions were announced from midnight Wednesday:
Victoria has reintroduced mandatory mask rules, reduced the cap on visitors in homes and paused an increase on the number of people allowed in offices after a hotel quarantine worker contracted COVID-19.
From 11:59pm on Wednesday, private gatherings have been limited to 15 people and masks are mandatory in indoor settings.
A plan to have up to 75 per cent of workers back in the office from Monday has been paused.
It follows the diagnosis of a 26-year-old, who had been serving as a resident support officer as part of the Australian Open quarantine program…
Premier Daniel Andrews said authorities were “assuming the worst” and acting as though the man had the highly infectious UK strain of the virus. Genomic sequencing to identify the strain will be completed in coming days.
Mr Andrews said authorities were adding new restriction levels because “we have to assume that this person has in fact infected others”.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said testing indicated the man “probably had a high viral load”, meaning he expected his close contacts to potentially become cases…
The Grand Hyatt was one of three quarantine hotels used by the Australian Open to quarantine more than 1,000 players and support staff ahead of the tournament…
“There is a number of about 500, 600 people who are players and officials and others who are casual contacts,” Mr Andrews said.
Victorians will rightfully be furious if the virus spreads leading to further restrictions or lockdowns, given the controversary surrounding the Australian Open.
Many in the state do not believe the tournament should have taken place given the risks that it poses. Having players and officials from every corner of the earth enter Australia risked infecting the community with all types of COVID strains.
Many also believe it is unfair to fly in 1000-plus players and officials when thousands of Australians are stranded abroad.
This latest ‘outbreak’ also once again shows why quarantine should not be undertaken in CBD hotels, manned by workers that mingle widely in the community (or work second jobs). The possibility of transmission into the broader community is too great.
Instead, logic dictates that quarantine should:
- House international arrivals away from population centres (e.g. in low density remote army bases and mining camps);
- Utilise only highly trained and well paid staff;
- Ensure these staff work in dedicated teams (to avoid cross-contamination) and remain on site throughout their deployment (similar to mining FIFO workers); and
- Conduct regular testing of quarantine staff and guests.
Northern Territory’s Howard Springs Facility provides the perfect template of how quarantine should be performed:
Not only are such facilities far more comfortable for guests (versus being locked in a small hotel room), but the potential to spread the virus is minimised in such facilities.
Our governments cannot keep making the same quarantine mistakes. The costs of failure and the impacts on the community and economy are too great.
