Baby fighting for life amid record virus tally
A baby fighting for life at the Royal Children’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit has tested positive to COVID-19. It comes on a grim day for Victoria, with six deaths and a record 532 cases.
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A baby fighting for life in hospital is among the latest COVID-19 patients.
A cluster has emerged connected to the Royal Children’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit – where the state’s most fragile and premature babies receive lifesaving care.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has confirmed four cases are linked to the hospital’s Butterfly unit.
As well as an infant patient, the COVID-19 cases include two parents and a healthcare worker.
All babies in the NICU, as well as staff and the parents of babies who have spent more than two hours on Butterfly Ward since 12 July will be tested.
– Grant McArthur
VIC SHOULD BRACE FOR MANY MORE DEATHS: DEPUTY CMO
Victorians should brace for “many further deaths” in coming days and weeks as the number of aged care residents with COVID-19 continues to rise.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said that was the sad reality of the situation Victoria found itself in.
“The tragedy of COVID-19 is that we know with the number of new infections that we have seen today, that there will be many further deaths in the days ahead,” Professor Kidd said.
“The rising hospital numbers, the rise in people in intensive care is a continuing reminder of the very serious impact that COVID-19 on the lives and health of many people.”
He said all Victorians needed to stick to the health orders issued by the Victorian authorities and keep up good hygiene practices.
“The biggest contribution the people of Victoria can make strict adherence to the requirements to stay at home, to physically distance whenever outside the home and to avoid crowds,” Professor Kidd said.
“Please take all of these requirements seriously.
“Please don’t try to dodge or avoid these requirements. If you do so, you put your own health at risk, you put the health of your family at risk and you put the health of the community at risk.”
— Tamsin Rose
TRIBUTE TO ST BASIL’S VIRUS VICTIM
The heartbroken family of St Basil’s resident Ilias Takis have paid tribute to a “wonderful father and great man” after he died from COVID-19.
The grandfather, who was born in Greece and immigrated to Australia becoming a citizen in 1985, succumbed to the virus on Friday after he tested positive four days earlier.
Two of his daughters Evagelia and Eleni, have shared fond memories of a loving family man with a fighting spirit.
“My dad was a little fighter, he’s pulled through a lot of health issues and we thought this isn’t going to stop him,” Evagelia said.
“He stood up for what he thought was right, he loved his children and he was a family man.”
Eleni Takis said her father, who was in the army in Greece before working as a gardener and kitchen hand, also had a fun side.
“If he had a birthday celebration he made sure everyone had a shot of ouzo,” she said.
The sisters said the family were heartbroken that he will not be there for Evagelia’s wedding next year.
“He was an older gentleman he didn’t have much left but if he had a few more months he would have seen my sister’s wedding,” Eleni said.
“We’re trying not to over think it, obviously if it’s time to go, it’s time to go.”
Mr Takis is survived by seven children and his wife Aristea.
— Rhiannon Down
FAMILY’S HEARTBREAK FOR MARIJA RUKAVINA
The family of St Basil’s resident Marija Rukavina are mourning for the “strong and generous” great-grandmother after she died from COVID-19 on Monday afternoon.
Her son Ivan Rukavina said his family was “devastated” by the sudden loss ofthe 86-year-old who was born in Croatia before coming to Melbourne.
“Everyone who knew her knew she was one of the strongest people who was always happy to entertain and was known for her hospitality,” he said.
“She was a giving mother and generous to everyone she knew.”
Ms Rukavina who suffered from dementia had been in St Basil’s for four years.
Her son, who has spoken out against the Fawkner aged care facility after he spent a week trying to find his mum after she was moved, said her death only drove home his concerns about St Basil’s.
“I made so many attempts to get her out of there,” he said.
— Monique Hore
ANDREWS TO BE GRILLED OVER COVID CRISIS
Daniel Andrews and his most senior ministers are set to be grilled over the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis before a parliamentary committee.
The Premier will be the first witness called when the second sitting of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee resumes its COVID-19 Inquiry hearings next month.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, chief health officer Brett Sutton and his deputy Annaliese van Diemen are also listed to be called when the committee resumes on August 11.
Read the full story here.
RECORD TALLY CAPS GRIM DAY IN VICTORIA
Victoria has recorded 532 new cases of coronavirus overnight, with six people losing their lives.
Among the deaths, five were connected to aged care with ages ranging from people in their 50s to 70s.
There are 245 people in hospital and 44 in intensive care.
There are 683 active cases connected to aged care.
Premier Daniel Andrews said far too many were coming to work with symptoms.
“It is the biggest drivers of these numbers going up rather than going down,” he said.
The previous highest tally was 484 on Wednesday, July 22.
Mr Andrews said Victorians who tested positive for the virus should not feel ashamed.
“I had some feedback that some people are very reticent to necessarily discuss symptoms or a positive diagnosis with family members, they might see that as somehow being a reflection on their family or a reflection on them,” he said.
“This does not discriminate.
“No-one will be criticised or judged for doing the right thing.”
AGED CARE OUTBREAKS DRIVING HIGH CASE NUMBERS
Prof Brett Sutton said the state’s outbreaks were largely occurring in essential workplaces that had then spilt into aged care.
The St Basil’s outbreak has grown to 84 cases and a cluster at Estia Health now sits at 82.
Residents make up a significant portion of these figures.
Prof Sutton said the infected residents at aged care centres were at significant risking of dying.
“These are critical areas,” he said.
“The aged care outbreaks are absolutely a consequence of community transmission, but they represent a tragedy for the families involved for some private aged care facilities, the numbers are disturbing.
“You won’t see fear mongering in the consequences in aged care.
“You will see the deadly consequences of infection and people just need to recognise that these are all members of people’s families across Melbourne and beyond.”
IS THIS THE PEAK OF THE CURVE?
Prof Sutton said modelling showed Monday’s figures could be the peak of infections, but warned outbreaks in aged care were still volatile.
“Again, modelling with our effective reproductive number that I have seen most recently suggests that today should be the peak,” he said.
“Now I’m not going to sit back and say today is the peak.
“We have to see what happens in coming days.
“But driving that effective reproduction number down below one is the thing that will start to see numbers drop. And as numbers drop, outbreaks drop.
“Every country in the world essentially apart from a few notable ones get on top of it.
“It can take longer in a second wave. That’s certainly seems to be the case internationally.
“But you get to the other side and we will get to the other side.”
Prof Sutton said there would be serious challenges for hospitals over coming weeks, with an increase in people needing intensive care.
“Most people are becoming increasingly concerned by the numbers,” he said.
“At the moment, I’m more concerned that we’ll probably see a rise in numbers because the outbreaks are really volatile in aged care settings.
“The numbers can increase very significantly in a very short period of time even as community transmission might be coming down.”
LOCKDOWN TO CONTINUE
The Premier said the current restrictions would continue until case numbers started to drop.
“The lockdown will not end until people stop going to work with symptoms and instead go and get tested because they have symptoms,” Mr Andrews said.
“It’s not a matter of blame, it’s not a matter of judgment, these are the facts and unless we see a change, then we’re going to continue to see these numbers at unacceptably high levels.
“Otherwise, these restrictions will be in place for longer than they should be and I’m sorry to say – we’ll see more people die, particularly in aged care."
BREAKDOWN OF LARGE OUTBREAKS
There have been 749 healthcare workers who’ve tested positive to coronavirus, with 400 of those cases still active.
Four cases have been linked to the NICU at the Royal Children’s Hospital. The cases are two parents, a patient and a healthcare worker. All babies, staff and parents who have spent more than two hours on Butterfly Ward since 12 July will be tested.
The North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers have 303 cases, and there have been 66 cases at the Carlton towers.
Cases linked to key outbreaks:
95 cases linked to Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham
71 cases linked to JBS in Brooklyn
69 cases linked to Bertocchi Smallgoods in Thomastown
47 cases linked to Australian Lamb Company in Colac
13 cases linked to the Linfox Warehouse in Truganina
8 cases linked to Diamond Valley Pork in Laverton North
6 cases linked to Don KR Castlemaine
26 cases linked to LaManna Supermarket in Essendon Fields
22 cases linked to Brunswick Private Hospital
6 cases linked to Parkville Youth Justice
12 cases linked to Respite Services Australia in Moonee Ponds
CLOSING BIG INDUSTRIES A POTENTIAL NEXT STEP
The Premier said closing down meatworks and distribution centres is a possible next step if works continue to go to work with symptoms.
“It’s not just cool stores, meatworks, abattoirs, whatever you want to term them, it’s not just big warehouses, distribution, freight, logistic centres, there’s lot of different sites, aged care, healthcare, the list goes on,” he said.
“But … next steps may well have to include closing a number of these industries if we continue to see people attending work.
“We have to work together to keep anyone who’s got symptoms away from work.
“Otherwise businesses will have to close and the thing is this: When you have an outbreak, that business will shut, they’ll be the subject of deep-cleaning, they’ll be the subject of literally of hundreds of thousands of hours of public health team work, contact-tracing, testing, all of that.
“There’s an economic cost to that, there’s a very significant public health cost also.”
ANDREWS HITS OUT AT CONSPIRACY THEORISTS
The Premier said he didn’t want to give any oxygen to conspiracy theorists, especially the ones who had been filmed ranting at police over the weekend.
“Ultimately, I think people can judge for themselves the efficacy, the credibility of people who are running those sort of keyboard warrior campaigns,” he said.
“Seriously, one more comment about human rights – honestly. It is about human life.
“I apologise for letting my frustration get the better of me, but ultimately this is not about those issues and it is not about those people, frankly.
“It is about not diminishing our gratitude for the vast majority of Victorians who are doing a fantastic job.”
COLAC LOCKDOWN NOT CONSIDERED
Despite an outbreak at a Colac abattoir, the state government is not considering imposing restrictions on the region.
“We have no advice to that effect,” Mr Andrews said.
“If we did have advice to that end and that’s exactly what we would do.
“The people of Colac are strong, the people of Colac have done a great job.”
When asked about changing advice given to abattoir workers in Colac, the Premier said the infectious nature of coronavirus meant details could be altered quickly.
“These things do change rapidly,” he said.
“That’s why we provide the very best advice in real time.”
He said work to increase inspections at high-risk workplaces would also be targeted to stop outbreaks in these areas.
MORE SCHOOLS CLOSE AFTER POSITIVE CASES
A further six schools have closed on Monday following positive tests for coronavirus.
Lalor Secondary College, Copperfield College’s Sydenham campus, Melbourne Girls’ College, Gladstone Park Secondary College and Gisborne Secondary College have all closed for cleaning and contact tracing.
Gisborne Secondary College, which urged staff and students to wear masks almost two weeks ago, also closed on Saturday following a positive test.
Principal Jonathan Morley, in a letter to parents late on Sunday night, said the school was working with the Department of Education and Training and Department of Health and Human Services.
“This closure will allow time for the school and DHHS to undertake a risk assessment and determine what further steps are necessary, such as appropriate cleaning of the school site and contact tracing,’’ Mr Morley wrote.
“The school will be closed to all students, staff and members of the community.
“All students are asked to stay at home until further advice is provided, including Year 11 and Year 12 students.
“I realise this is difficult news, and I would like to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of our whole school community.
“We have acted quickly and we continue to follow the advice from DHHS and DET on this matter.”
It’s unknown whether the first person who tested positive was a staff member or student.
But it was found they did not attend school while infectious and DHHS’ investigations deemed there was therefore no need for cleaning.
The school is in the Macedon Ranges municipality, which has eight active coronavirus cases.
It borders the Hume and Melton municipalities which are virus hotspots.
The case at Lalor Secondary College is understood to be a student.
A staff member at Copperfield College’s Kings Park campus tested positive in March, but it is unknown whether Monday’s closure is because of a student or staff member’s positive test.
Inner suburban Melbourne Girls’ College is in the Yarra local government area which has 133 active cases is not a super hotspot, and is tightly zoned around suburbs including Richmond, Hawthorn, Kew but is semi-select so accepts girls from all over Melbourne.
Parents were texted and emailed overnight and told there would be no school today for Year 11 and 12s and Year 10s who are on site for VCE and VCAL subjects.
It is unclear if the positive test is a student or a teacher.
The Richmond school told families there would be no remote learning today for any year levels.
“Our school has been advised of a reported case of Coronavirus,” acting principal Brent Houghton told parents.
“All students are asked to stay at home until further advice.”
The school said it would be closed for 24 hours as a precautionary measure. It was awaiting further advice form the Department of Health and Human Services.
Gladstone Park Secondary College, in the hot spot local government area of Hume, has closed again today for three days after a positive case.
The school closed for one day last week.
Hume has 354 active cases as of yesterday with 763 total positive cases.
– James Mottershead, Wes Hosking and Claire Heaney
PM’S MESSAGE TO VICTORIANS
Victorians are being reminded of the importance of sticking to the public health orders to protect the “most vulnerable” members of the community.
Scott Morrison said aged care was seeing the “most awful of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic” and every support possible was being provided to the state to control outbreaks.
“When you have problems in aged care, it is a function of the community transmission,” the Prime Minister said.
“This is an important point to note because it involves all of us.
“If you want to protect the most vulnerable in our community, that is why it is so important, those of us who are in a less vulnerable position, are continuing to follow the advice, performing the safe distancing and other practices about getting tested and remaining isolated when you are a close contact.”
He said there was still a “long way to go” in Victoria.
“We are still seeing case numbers at elevated levels and so, as we have seen from other jurisdictions when you get community-based transmission, it does take some time to get that down,” Mr Morrison said.
Critical days were lost in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 across regional Victoria when Colac abattoir workers were told they did not need to isolate while awaiting test results.
Workers went to pubs, supermarkets and moved about the town for two days after being tested following a positive confirmed case at the lamb processor on Friday, July 17.
At least 47 cases have since been linked to the outbreak, raising fears for the town outside the hard Melbourne lockdown.
A flyer handed to workers on the Friday by testers from Colac Area Health, on the advice of DHHS, informed workers they did not need to isolate. They were not deemed close contacts.
“It may take a few days for your test results to come back,” the flyer read.
“You do not need to self-isolate while you wait for your results if you are feeling well.”
But that advice was changed two days later by Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton who reclassified all 750 workers as close contacts.
Staff then received a text that day updating them on the advice and telling them to self-isolate for 14 days.
A relative of a meatworks employee said the town was on edge, waiting to see how far the virus had spread over those two days.
“The messages, although that letter has been rectified, caused confusion and was misinformation,” the relative said.
“People are terrified. Our whole community in the Colac Otway Shire are seriously jumpy.”
The relative of a worker told the Herald Sun when staff were told at the start of their shifts on Friday, the day before the abattoir was closed for at least a fortnight, they were in “clusters” and were not social distancing.
The Herald Sun believes workers completed their shifts that morning and were then sent home, before being called back later that day and the next for testing.
“They were going home, mingling with housemates, going to the pub and supermarket,” a relative of a worker who wished to remain anonymous said. This was totally avoidable.”
The Australian Lamb Company said all workers employed at the site had since been instructed to quarantine and the abattoir was working with health authorities.
A DHHS spokesman said advice for workers changed once more cases were found.
“Asymptomatic testing was taking place at the site when they had a small number of cases,” the spokesman said. “As more cases became evident the approach to testing changed, as is standard practice.
“A local incident control centre has been set up to manage the outbreak. “
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said it was within the power of local health authorities to classify all workers at a worksite as close contacts.
“In areas where there is more likely to have been transmission … the public health officials, if they deem it appropriate, will be more conservative with (the close contact) definition, so a shorter contact might be used to define someone who might need a test or need to isolate,” Dr Coatsworth said.
Daniel Andrews said it was a “very significant outbreak”.
“That particular workplace is a workplace-based outbreak and there’s a really concerted effort, a significant team of people working to support that business, its workforce, the local town and Colac Health,” the Premier said. “It’s a very significant challenge but one I think that we’re equal to.”
The Colac blunder came three months after the Cedar Meats abattoir outbreak that infected 111 people, which Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said at the time was handled “perfectly” but Mr Sutton later conceded could have been managed better.
SECOND EPPING COSTCO WORKER TESTS POSITIVE
A second worker has become infected with coronavirus at a Costco warehouse in Melbourne’s north.
A message was sent to employees at the Epping facility confirming the staffer last worked on Sunday, July 19, between 10.45am and 3.45pm.
Costco said it would communicate directly with co-workers known to have been in close contact with the individual.
The first worker at the Epping Costco tested positive for coronavirus on July 11.
– Anthony Piovesan
AGED-CARE HOMES LEFT UNPREPARED FOR DEADLY OUTBREAKS
Questions have been raised over the preparedness of aged-care facilities to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks after seven elderly Victorians linked to outbreaks died on Sunday.
Following claims of insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) at some aged-care homes, the Herald Sun can reveal more than 1300 providers had asked for access to federal PPE stocks by May.
In responses given last week to the COVID select committee, the Department of Health asserted facilities “should have sufficient levels on hand” and so no official audit was conducted to assess them.
FAMILY’S NIGHTMARE BEFORE DEATH OF ST BASIL’S RESIDENT
The son of a Melbourne man who died of coronavirus says a major communication blunder has added to his family’s grief.
Paul Barboussas, 79, died at the Northern Hospital on Sunday.
He was admitted to hospital on Friday night as a precaution after having a fall at his home at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged.
On Saturday afternoon, Paul’s son Nicholas Barboussas was called by a communications person working for St Basil’s telling him his father was sitting in his room at the aged care centre when he was actually in hospital dying of the virus.
ANDREW BOLT: DAN MADE THIS MESS
From the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the State Government had two jobs above all: keep the sick in strict quarantine and keep the most vulnerable Victorians safe.
As mounting cases paint a seemingly scary picture their real truth is only just coming to light, writes Andrew Bolt.
WOMAN REFUSES TO WEAR MASK CONFRONTS COPS, POSTIES
A Melbourne woman who boastfully shared a video of herself blatantly refusing to wear a mask at Bunnings, arguing her way out of arrest and threatening to sue police was later involved in a similar incident at an Australia Post outlet.
An Australia Post worker copped a spray from the anti-masker as she went to send a parcel.
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VICTORIAN AGED-CARE HOMES LEFT TO RELY ON FEDERAL PPE STOCKS
THE VICTORIAN CORONAVIRUS VICTIMS MOURNED AND MISSED
Originally published as Baby fighting for life amid record virus tally