Yesterday I published the below on-the-ground observations from Emergency Physician Stephen Parnis:
Home after a rough, understaffed shift in #Emergency. More & more #COVID19, some needing ICU. The stress is showing in many colleagues, but I’m so proud of the way they just keep stepping up. Please, please lock yourselves down, because if this continues, we’ll struggle. #auspol
— Stephen Parnis (@SParnis) July 15, 2020
Approx 450 ICU beds in Vic
— Stephen Parnis (@SParnis) July 15, 2020
Hi Gary. ICU capacity is something you hope you don’t have to use. Unfortunately, the time we are likely to need those beds to be activated will be in the days ahead. They require expert docs & nurses, and consume huge resources & $.
Looking forward to that beer.
— Stephen Parnis (@SParnis) July 15, 2020
Illness, isolation pending swabs. Anxiety won’t help either.
— Stephen Parnis (@SParnis) July 15, 2020
Shortly afterwards, Twitter ran riot reporting widespread infections among Melbourne hospital workers:
When you think about surge capacity, this is a real worry. Monash Health has 77 staff in isolation but Victoria refuses to reveal number of Covid-19 cases among health workers. From @MelissaLDavey https://t.co/28pCQZSwJR
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) July 16, 2020
This is on top of cases in the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Northern Hospital in Epping, The Alfred, Brunswick Private and others I’ve missed.
— Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) July 16, 2020
@MelissaLDavey 142 staff from Northern Health alone are in iso at the moment: https://t.co/Na5LPRVtFZ https://t.co/pu0LGzysIE
— Rachel Clayton (@Rachel_Clayton_) July 16, 2020
I can now confirm the Royal Melbourne Hospital has 12 positive staff, 70 staff in quarantine. The ABC’s @Rachel_Clayton_ has reported Melbourne’s Northern Health have 21 positive staff, and a further 142 staff are in self-isolation. So hundreds of health workers affected. https://t.co/urpX9wDhAu
— Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) July 16, 2020
According to Melissa Davey at The Guardian, there are at least 150 medical workers currently infected with COVID-19, with many more in isolation after possible exposure:
On 10 July, the state government stopped reporting the daily breakdown of healthcare workers and health institutions affected by the virus, but still included details about outbreaks elsewhere including in public housing towers and at schools…
Asked by Guardian Australia directly about the number of healthcare workers now infected and how many health institutions were involved, a spokeswoman for Mikakos did not respond. Following increased pressure to release the data, the health department issued an update on Thursday afternoon which included the numbers, stating a total of 388 healthcare workers had been infected, of which 150 were active cases. The department did not outline where all the health worker cases were, but said 19 cases were linked to the Northern hospital, 16 cases to the Alfred hospital and 16 to Brunswick Private hospital.
No direct response was given to a question about the current surge capacity in Victoria, that is, the ability of hospitals to rapidly mobilise staff to meet a sudden increased demand.
Mikakos would only say during a press conference on Thursday: “Our health services are very well prepared to respond to the increasing hospitalisations, but we hope that this additional capacity will never be needed.”
The best thing Melburnians can do to help is to stay home as much as possible. And if you do need to leave the house, wear a mask, maintain physical distance, and wash and sanitise your hands.
Don’t add further strain to an already over-burdened hospital system.
