740 SA public servants drafted into a standby reserve force to help frontline workers if state is struck by COVID-19 second wave
Hundreds of workers are being drafted into a reserve force to back up frontline health staff if the state has a second COVID-19 wave.
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Hundreds of South Australian public servants are being drafted into a standby reserve force that will assist frontline health workers if the state is struck by a second COVID wave.
The Advertiser can reveal a range of public sector agencies have been asked to allocate staff to a talent pool of 740 that would be called to help with functions including border control. It is understood several of the agencies are those more typically associated with backroom and professional functions, and would help free up highly-trained health and police workers.
Some have been requested to set aside five per cent of staff to be on COVID standby.
According to the SA Health COVID dashboard, the state has only four active cases and just a sprinkling of infections have been recorded since SA’s curve was crushed in mid-April. There was one new case of COVID-19 recorded in SA on Tuesday, for a total of 476.
The woman in her 20s recently returned from overseas. Officials say she has been in a medi-hotel since arrival, there was no public health risk and the result was an old infection.
A government spokesman said action was being taken to reduce the risk of a second wave. “South Australia has stayed ahead of the curve so far with its response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the spokesman said.
“To safeguard this, the government must make sure that it has a workforce in place to help respond quickly to a potential second wave.
“To make sure we are fully prepared, a talent pool of around 740 public service workers, from a mix of agencies, is being put together to ensure they can quickly be deployed in the areas such as contract tracing and border control, if that becomes necessary.
“This type of workforce mobilisation has been in place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, where public service employees have been deployed to the areas of most need in combating this virus.”
During the height of Victoria’s second wave, local expert contact-tracers and support from other states were sent to help get outbreaks under control. There have been four reported SA deaths from COVID-19, and more than 502,000 tests taken.
Public Service Association SA secretary Nev Kitchin said the value of a strong community-focused workforce had been proven as the state mounted its collective COVID response.
“The people who work for the public sector have no other financial interest and, as we saw with the Melbourne example when there is private companies involved, there can be a risk,” he said.
“In SA, a number of people have volunteered to assist with contact-tracing.
“It is reasonable to assume that there will be a second wave, based on how contagious this particular virus is.
“It makes perfect sense to gear up and be ready for that.”
Mr Kitchin said the success of SA’s response had been helped by strong planning.
“It has been frustrating in the past where politicians from both sides have made comments along the lines of needing to save money by cutting so-called ‘back-room staff’,” he said. “It is very pleasing to see the public sector is being recognised for the work they can do, and in particularly the supposedly faceless people behind the scenes that support the front line.”
A fortnight ago, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said he was seeking help from the wider public sector to work alongside overstretched officers maintaining COVID controls.
Mr Stevens revealed he initiated the move to help alleviate unprecedented pressure on police. More than 450 police officers a day, at the time, were committed to COVID-19 operations, ranging from manning border checkpoints to checking venues’ social-distancing compliance, resulting in investigations being put on hold.