Five local coronavirus cases as Health Minister Martin Foley provides update
Students at Mount Ridley College will now have a dedicated priority testing site at Melb Showgrounds after a positive case was confirmed at the school, as the list of exposure sites across the city continues to grow.
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A dedicated priority testing site has been established at the Melbourne Showgrounds for Mount Ridley College students, staff and their families.
The Covid-19 update sent to parents on Saturday evening encourages households to get tested by Sunday 8pm.
Pupils in Year 7 and 8, and teachers who educate those year levels, are being instructed to get tested and quarantine immediately even if they are not identified as a Tier 1 close contact.
The school remains closed and will be deep cleaned while the Department of Health completes a risk assessment.
A Mount Ridley College parent said her “heart sank” when she got an email about a student at the Craigieburn school testing positive.
Laura Petreski, whose son attends the school, said parents were “gobsmacked” with the email the school sent late on Friday night to notify parents about the positive Covid case.
“I was in absolute shock, I was disgusted, just to receive a generic message, that wasn’t good enough,” she said.
“I wasn’t happy at all and the parents were panicking.
“When I got that email my heart sank down to my stomach.”
Ms Petreski blasted authorities for not releasing more information about the case.
She said parents only found out the student had last attended school on May 25, through a social media post by Yuroke MP Ros Spence.
“They have to protect that child’s identity, but as parents we have the right to know what year level the student is in.
“That information should be relayed to us.
“Now every time I hear my son cough, sneeze, I’m going to be paranoid.”
Mount Ridley College Principal Lino Pagano sent a notification on Friday night alerting parents and students of the case at the school.
“While the Department of Health conducts its investigation, staff and students are also asked to stay home and to limit their movements until advised otherwise,” the email reads.
“Please be aware that we cannot give you information about the person who has tested positive for Covid-19 and I ask that you respect their privacy.
“Thank you for your ongoing support. I will contact you tomorrow regarding our next steps.”
An Education Department spokesman said students will be learning remotely from Monday.
“The Department of Health recommended the closure of Mount Ridley College following confirmation that a student of the school tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19),” he said.
NEW EXPOSURE SITES EMERGE
Several coronavirus exposure sites have been added.
Anyone who attended the below Tier 1 sites must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days regardless of the result.
The Tier One sites include:
La Trobe University, Library Level 1, Plenty Rd & Kingsbury Dve, Bundoora on May 25 between 11.45am-3pm;
Edu-Kingdom College 67A Hamilton St, Craigieburn on May 22 from 1.20pm-5pm;
Peninsula Hot Springs (Reception), 140 Springs La, Fingal on May 21 from 3pm-3.45pm;
Taco Bell Chapel Street, 352 Chapel St, South Yarra on May 23 from 5.30pm-6.45pm;
67A Hamilton Street, Craigieburn on May 22 from 1.20pm to 5pm;
Anyone who attended the following Tier Two sites is strongly encouraged to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
Tier Two sites:
Coles Tooronga Village, Tooronga Rd, Glen Iris on May 23 from 6.10pm-6.27pm;
Shell Coles Express, 918-928 Springvale Road, Cnr Governor Road, Braeside on May 22 from 8.15am-9.00am;
Pacific Epping Plaza: Cotton On, Edge, Valleygirl, Supre and Boost Juice, 571-583 High Street Epping on May 25 from 10.05am-11.45am;
Chemist Warehouse Thomastown, 250-270 Donnybrook Road, Mickleham on May 22 from 1.45pm-2.45pm;
Supa IGA Thomastown, 122 Main Street on May 24 from 11.10am-11.50am;
Woolworths, 117 Acland Street, St Kilda, on May 28 from 5-5.30pm;
McDonalds, 32 The Esplanade, St Kilda on May 29 from 4.10pm - 4:40pm;
Woolworths, 64 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda on May 27 from 4.10pm - 4:40pm
Tier Three site:
KFC, 70A Acland Street, St Kilda, on May 29 from 4.20pm-4.50pm
Meanwhile, one of the Mornington Peninsula’s busiest tourist attractions has been added to the growing list of Covid hot spots.
The Peninsula Hot Springs at Fingal was added to the Tier 1 exposure list on Friday, eight days after an infectious person visited the reception area between 3pm and 3.45pm on May 21.
The Hot Springs closed for business on Thursday, May 27 and posted a notice on its website and social media advising customers it was “pressing pause on operations from 10pm, May 27 until 8am, June 4”.
VICTORIA RECORDS FIVE NEW CASES
Victoria recorded five new locally acquired cases over the past 24 hours, including the Mount Ridley College student, as the state woke up to its second day of lockdown.
Two new cases were also detected in hotel quarantine.
All community cases are linked to current outbreaks.
It comes after 56,624 tests were processed and 21,626 vaccines were administered.
The total number of active cases in the state is now 45.
The five new cases linked to the City of Whittlesea and Port Melbourne workplace outbreaks are two men aged in their 30s, a woman aged in her 40s, a woman aged in her 30s and a male child.
Health Minister Martin Foley provided a coronavirus update on Saturday, explaining that the end date of Melbourne’s lockdown is still unconfirmed.
“This is a day by day situation,” he said.
“We do have cases that have taken a while to present for testing which means extended time out in the community.”
Mr Foley also said the coming days will be paramount in determining whether the state will reopen on time.
“The next few days will be critical,” he said, adding that a spike in the coming days was still possible.
“Four or five (cases) is clearly better than 20 or 30 a day but we can’t rule out (a spike).
“We can’t rule it out until we get all these tests done.”
Mt Ridley College in Craigieburn has been identified as a new exposure site linked to a food wholesale delivery driver.rule
Four out of five of the new cases overnight were “close family contacts” of the driver who works for a large Melbourne food distribution centre and visited multiple food stores during the infectious period, Victoria’s testing commander Jeroen Weimar said.
One of them was a student at the college, he said, with tracing teams working closely with the school to discover any further transmission.
An Epping grocery store and a Mill Park car wash have also been added to the exposure list with the delivery driver spending a “much longer period” at those sites.
The Department has also upgraded a Tier 2 exposure site in Mickleham (Botanical Display Homes, Botanical Display Village, 23-25 Poppy St, Mickleham) to a Tier 1 site.
In good news, Mr Weimar said extensive testing had shown there has been no evidence of transmission at last weekend’s AFL games.
The AFL, MCC and Marvel Stadium provided ticketing information and CCTV footage to probe the movements of two positive cases attending football games.
While the bulk of the affected stands were published as Tier 2 exposure sites, the people sitting in the immediate vicinity of those cases were treated as Tier 1 primary close contacts.
70 per cent of these contacts at the MCG have to date returned a negative result, and 75 per cent at Marvel Stadium. The remaining test results have not yet been received.
Mr Weimar also felt they were on top of the Stratton Finance Port Melbourne headquarters outbreak, where 13 employees tested positive, but said “we are taking this outbreak day by day”.
“We don’t know what’s in store for us in the next 24 hours,” he said.
Health Minister Martin Foley thanked Victorians for “a hat trick” of three consecutive days of record numbers of people being tested.
“People of Victoria are rightly taking this outbreak seriously,” Mr Foley said.
“We are grateful equally to not only those people who got tested and got vaccinated, but even more so to the Victorians observing the five reasons you can leave home.
“You are doing your bit to make Victoria safe.”
More vaccines and more GPs will be acquired to continue the rollout of the vaccine, Mr Foley said.
He encouraged everyone to check exposure sites and keep getting tested.
There are now 207 testing sites across the state.
CONFUSION AT VACCINE CENTRES
A “mistweet” has been blamed after dozens of people turned up at Jeff’s Shed for a coronavirus shot, despite the vaccination hub having already closed for the day.
A Royal Melbourne Hospital tweet this afternoon encouraged people to head to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre without a booking to get their jab as the hub “now had capacity”.
That message was later retweeted by DHHS.
But people were greeted with a different message by staff on site when they turned up for their shot.
“They said ‘no, no, we are closed,’” said Tony Zarka, who turned up for a shot after 4.30pm after reading the Royal Melbourne tweet.
He said staff on the ground were unaware the tweet had been issued and told him the hub closed for the day at 4.30pm.
“She then said ‘hold on we will get you vaccinated’.”
People had to queue to outside as confused staff were forced to work overtime.
“We will get to a few of you, we have got limited staff now there has been a mistweet,” a nurse told the dozens who queued outside.
“Booking finished at 4.30pm, just wait here and we will get you done, we are working overtime.”
Forty-two-year-old Neelosha Pangasa turned up for her shot after thinking she could get the jab this afternoon.
She said the staff on site went the extra mile after the “complete breakdown” in communication.
“The nurse took a real extra effort to come out and help us,” she said.
“The security people were not letting us in.”
Another women who lined up said the nurse looked “shocked” after she saw people queuing outside.
“She was just walking out the door after she finished her shift and saw all these people standing there,” she said.
Tensions started to escalate as staff tried to manage those who turned up for a shot at the closed hub.
“You might not get done, that is a possibility,” the nurse told the queue at about 5.30pm.
She said staff were already working overtime and would be finishing at 6pm, adding there were already numerous people in front who were waiting inside for the jab.
“They told us to return!” a man at the front of the line could be heard yelling.
“It is very disappointing to be told to come here and then be turned back.”
Another man at the back of the queue asked the nurse “Will I get a shot?”
She said she could make no guarantees and encouraged people to book online for an appointment.
Jordan said the news was “devastating” as he will start working at a hotel quarantine facility next week.
“It doesn’t make sense they told us they would be finishing in half an hour,” he said.
“I’m disappointed not to be let in when I was the first in line. They should have let me in, my partner was right in front of me.
“It seems like they are short-staffed and very overworked.”
Security personnel begun turning people away from the queue at 5.45pm, despite the nurse ensuring people they would vaccinate people until 6pm.
“We are now closed for the day, please come back tomorrow at 8am,” a security staff member could be heard telling those lining up.
Dozens of people left the centre, many disappointed they couldn’t get their shot.
“It’s annoying the whole thing really, it’s frustrating because I came here because I couldn’t make a booking online,” a woman told the Herald Sun after the news.
Royal Melbourne Hospital staff encouraged those in line to make a booking for another time, but the centre only made a handful of appointments inside before people were turned away by security.
The hospital acknowledged the communication error online.
Taking to Twitter, they apologised for the “confusion”, adding “staff would be on site until 6pm to get through final arrivals.”
Earlier in the day, thousands waited in the bays, with a MCEC spokesman saying at 9.30am the centre was “at capacity”.
Brighton East man David McNeil said he was “reasonably optimistic” that he would be getting vaccinated today when he arrived at 8.30am, but at 10.15am he was still waiting outside.
He said he would “give up” and go home in another hour if the line did not move.
“I couldn’t make a booking for today. I spent four hours yesterday trying,” Mr McNeil said.
The Herald Sun understands staff at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre started turning people away from around 9.30am, after opening at 9.20am.
The doors were meant to open at 9am, but a system crash saw those who had been queuing since 6am wait another 20 minutes to get inside.
The queue had grown so long that by 9am some in line were waiting along Spencer Street, on the bridge over the Yarra.
Anyone arriving after 9.30am without an appointment was told to come back tomorrow at 7am, but some people have chosen to still wait in the queue and try their luck.
Jenny, who said she was eligible for the Pfizer jab, said she came to MCEC yesterday at 12pm and was told to come back this morning.
She arrived when the doors were due to open, but was told soon after walk-ins were no longer being accepted.
She said she has not been told how long the wait might be for those yet to be let inside.
“They never promise anything,” she said.
Those staying put were earlier told of a seven-hour wait to get the Pfizer vaccine at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
It comes after Victoria on Friday posted a record day of vaccinations.
One person in the line said they’d been told by a centre steward that the wait would be between six and seven hours.
The wait was for walk-ins for the Pfizer vaccine, with the queue for AstraZeneca not as long.
The centre, one of several mass vaccination sites across the city, typically can vaccinate about 2400 people a day.
The Royal Melbourne Hospital, which is operating the site, said in a statement a computer issue meant the centre’s doors had opened late.
“We were delayed opening due to the system crashing. Please note there will be significant delays.”
People were urged to book rather than go to the centre hoping to get a walk-in.
The vaccine booking hotline is 1800 571 121.
OUTBREAK FEARS AMID CONCERN OVER QR-CODES
Thousands of revellers were potentially exposed to coronavirus at five pubs and clubs across Melbourne as QR-code complacency hampers efforts to track them down.
But management from one of the venues defended its check-in procedures, saying rules were strictly enforced.
A patron at The Sporting Globe in Mordialloc contracted the virus while at the venue with an infected person on the evening of May 23.
It’s the first case not directly linked to households in the Whittlesea cluster or Port Melbourne’s Stratton Finance workplace outbreak.
Victoria’s testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, said the pubs and clubs identified were of particular concern because patrons were probably in proximity and may have picked up the extremely infectious Indian variant.
Prahran venues Three Monkeys and Somewhere Bar — where the same infected person partied — as well as South Melbourne’s Palace Hotel and The Local in Port Melbourne were also listed as tier 1 exposure sites.
The five venues were linked to three infected patrons.
“They are places where we expect to see significant numbers of people in proximity, dancing, singing, doing what they do,” Mr Weimar said.
“We now see the significant risk. We’re very keen to ensure that people who have been to those places at those times come forward very quickly.
“If you’ve been out to one of these locations, you’ve been out partying with somebody who was Covid-positive at the same time in that space.”
Mr Weimar said the key focus over the next few days was to identify thousands of people after he confirmed many “ignored” mandatory QR code systems.
“We’ve become increasingly concerned at low levels of compliance,” he said. “We have a number of locations where we just don’t think we have captured all the people who were in those venues.
“It’s important to get hold of them now.”
Signature Hospitality Group chief executive James Sinclair, whose organisation runs The Sporting Globe, said staff prompted guests to check in on arrival.
Full booking lists had been provided to contact tracers.
“As most would understand, the hospitality industry is at the forefront of those that stand to be negatively affected by the outcomes of lockdowns,’’ Mr Sinclair said.
“As such, the Sporting Globe team, from our managers, hosts, bar staff, chefs, right through to our head office, have a vested interest to ensure we are doing the right thing, not only by our own team and business, but also by our customers and the greater Victorian community.”
9-11pm and May 23 between 12.30am-2am. Picture: Getty Images
When asked whether venues would face fines if found to have not been enforcing the check-in service, Mr Weimar said: “This is not about enforcement, this is about making sure people are safe.”
All Sporting Globe employees working at the exposure time had returned a negative test but would remain in isolation for 14 days.
The venue has undergone deep cleaning and will reopen once given the green light by the Health Department.
In another concerning revelation, the health department on Friday night said one positive case worked during their infectious period (without symptoms) for a large food distribution centre and visited multiple food stores and groceries across the city.
Statewide, more than 15,000 primary and secondary close contacts of infected people are now in isolation and the list of exposure sites continues to increase — a dozen of them classified as tier 1 were announced late on Friday.
They included the Bestway Supermarket and Spice Inn Groceries in Dandenong, Dosa Hut Craigieburn plus Khalsa Sweets and Snacks and Indiagate Spices and Groceries in Epping.
Several South Melbourne businesses were also of concern — Hunky Dory fish restaurant, the Telstra Shop, the female toilets at the Clarendon Centre and Miss China Noodle Bar.
Preston City Hall, 7-Eleven Thomastown North and The Grande Reception & Function Centre were also tier 1 exposure sites.
People there at specified times were urged to get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from exposure.
POSSIBLE NEW EXPOSURE SITE FLAGGED
Laurimar Medical Centre in Doreen has closed this weekend for a deep clean, after being advised by the health department that it was a potential exposure site.
Anyone who visited the centre on May 25 between 10.15am and 11.15am may need to get tested.
In a Facebook post, the centre stated “in the interest of community safety, we have decided to close”.
“We are conducting a deep clean over the weekend and DHHS will advise when we can reopen the practice. Those impacted will be contacted by DHHS.”
Laurimar Medical Centre is yet to be listed as an exposure site on the state government website.
BUSINESS CRIES FOR INSTANT SUPPORT
Businesses will cop a $2.5bn hit to their bottom line as the state government comes under fire for delaying the rollout of desperately needed support.
Acting Premier James Merlino has promised a business support package but is still finalising the details.
The Herald Sun believes these could be announced as early as Sunday and include a contribution from the federal government.
But frustrated business owners say support should have already been in place when Mr Merlino announced the lockdown on Thursday.
National employer association Ai Group has estimated the lockdown will cost businesses up to $2.5bn a week in lost or deferred spending.
Ai Group’s Victorian Head, Tim Piper, said the estimate was based on analysis of ABS data for Victorian household consumption in 2019 and 2020.
“Businesses are being forced to throw product away, to refund money, forgo bookings and events and let staff go. It’s a harder hitting lockdown than we have had before,” Mr Piper said.
Lamaro’s Hotel owner Paul Dimattina said the lockdown would leave him tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket as he still had to pay rent, utilities and wages.
“I don’t know how some businesses will survive another week of this. We’ve been shut down 160 days already,” he said.
“We’re still running takeaway but that doesn’t come close to the normal daily crowd, it’s more to try to keep some people employed.”
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Paul Guerra called on the government to fast track any support package announcement so businesses had certainty.
MAN SLAMMED FOR TAKING MASKS
A Carlton medical equipment supplier has lashed out at a man who allegedly took advantage of his kindness and generosity to help Melbournians through the pandemic.
John Copeland, owner of Joy Surgical, was offering free masks to anyone who passed his Elgin Street medical supply store this morning.
He placed the protective gear inside a cardboard box outside his store, with a sign encouraging passersby to “take one” mask if they were in need.
A number of people appreciated the kind gesture and took a mask, until one man took the entire supply of stock worth more than $3000.
“I think it’s an absolute disgrace,” Mr Copeland told the Herald Sun.
“I’m trying to do something right for the community and this guy doesn’t give two stuffs.
“People are dying and this guy comes along and takes everything.”
In footage supplied to the Herald Sun, a man can be seen taking the entire box of masks before loading it into a white Ute parked outside of the store.
Mr Copeland said he was disappointed with the police’s response to the incident, who told him they were unable to prosecute the man as the masks were being given away for free.
“They said ‘there is nothing we can do about it’,” he said.
“Mostly I feel for the street people who can no longer get a free mask.”
The small business owner said he has given away more than 2000 free masks since the coronavirus pandemic began, and people have been very appreciative of his generosity.
“It’s been great people just come along, take a mask, and they are really thankful for it,” he said.
“I’m just trying to encourage people to put a mask on, you don’t want to die from COVID,”
He also had a stern message for the selfish man.
“We are all in this together, we have to support each other, it is not all about you.”
Originally published as Five local coronavirus cases as Health Minister Martin Foley provides update
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