After crushing the curve, SA sends a team of COVID-19 tracing experts to combat Victorian second wave
Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said last week no one would want to come to SA. Now we’re sending people over the border to help him get a second wave of COVID-19 under control.
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A team of crack South Australian coronavirus contact tracers is being dispatched over the border to Victoria, in the first tide of local support to help their state stop a second wave.
The growing number of cases in Victoria is playing havoc with plans to lift border restrictions and set matches for the rest of the AFL season, sparking a high level health meeting yesterday.
SA Health and Wellbeing Minister Stephen Wade on Sunday confirmed to The Advertiser that, despite Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ widely-slammed sledge last week, we are now sending a small group of experts over to help them get the virus under control.
And SA is in talks with Victoria to supply more help if required.
SA, which is crushing the curve and recorded another day of zero cases on Sunday, beefed up its tracing team to 440 people in April as part of a successful bid to smother the disease.
Mr Wade said SA was willing to offer its expertise to combat the rising number of Victorian cases.
“The State Government is in talks with the Victorian Government about how we can assist their COVID-19 effort,” Mr Wade said. “The first element will be the immediate secondment of a small group of public health specialists, who will support their Victorian colleagues to trace and isolate the contacts of cases.
“The health of South Australians is our utmost priority.
“By helping our eastern neighbours nip community outbreaks in the bud, we can mitigate the health and economic threat to our community.”
The commitment came straight after a meeting of national health officials.
Details were being rapidly finalised last night on exact personnel to be deployed.
When SA last week announced it was lifting border controls to people coming from COVID safe states, but keeping them on for Victorians, Mr Andrews said: “I don’t want to be offensive to South Australians, but why would you want to go there?”
“Holiday here,” he said. “The best experiences in our nation are … here in Victoria.”
Victoria confirmed another 19 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, 160 in a week.
That is alarmingly up from 35 the previous week, with community transmission occurring.
The only other new cases in Australia yesterday were five in NSW and one in WA.
SA authorities continue to warn against complacency as local lockdowns lift, urging everyone to continue social distancing and exercising hand and cough hygiene.
Australian deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said there would be some increases in cases, and restrictions would need to continue until a vaccine for the virus was found.
He said there were different challenges across the country.
“Importantly as well, for those states where restrictions are lifting, that doesn’t imply a lifting of our personal behaviour standards that we have become so used to,” Dr Coatsworth said.
Dr Coatsworth said there were three confirmed cases so far from Victoria’s Black Lives Matter protest two weeks ago, but no evidence they had infected anyone else.
Premier Steven Marshall had aimed to lift quarantine restrictions on inbound travellers from Victoria and NSW on July 20, but that plan is under regular review pending new health data.
Federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the Victorian clusters should not stop other states reopening their borders as soon as possible, to create economic activity and jobs.
Federal Opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen said there was still a long way to go and “until this virus is defeated everywhere, it’s not defeated anywhere”.
There have been 7461 cases confirmed across Australia since the first outbreak. Of those, 440 have been in SA. The national death toll is 102. Four people have died in SA.