DHHS contact tracers ignored COVIDSafe app
Contact tracers may have missed vital opportunities to investigate coronavirus cases by not routinely using the controversial COVIDSafe app, which was only integrated into contact tracing after federal intervention.
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Victorian contact tracers failed to ask some COVID-19 patients and their close contacts whether they had downloaded the federal government’s COVIDSafe app, it has been claimed.
Critics say the oversight meant tracers missed vital opportunities to track down unknown contacts of positive cases and limit the spread of COVID-19 during the state’s deadly second wave.
The Herald Sun understands that only a quarter of contact tracers in the Victorian team have even logged into the system to access data from the COVIDSafe app.
Sources have revealed federal intervention eventually changed the way the Department of Health and Human Services used the app with federal health officials and Commodore Mark Hill, who was deployed to assist in Victoria’s response, raising concerns about its use.
Jennine Cavanagh, who tested positive to COVID-19 in July, said she was shocked the app was never mentioned in interviews with DHHS.
She said it took almost a week for her interview to take place with contact tracers.
Ms Cavanagh, who works for a major retailer, said she had been in contact with countless strangers before testing positive.
“I would have thought they would have been interested to see if I had it or not,” Ms Cavanagh said.
“I documented every contact I could think of, but I worked the week before I tested positive and had contact with many customers.
“If more people had it, and it was used, then we would have a much better chance of tracing this properly.”
Federal Health Department secretary Professor Brendan Murphy told the Senate COVID-19 inquiry earlier this month that Victorian authorities stopped using the app because they were “so pressured” with the volume of new cases.
“But they have been clear that they are committed to using it at the moment,” he said.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the DHHS failure to use the app properly contributed to Victoria’s second wave.
“The COVIDSafe app was designed to quickly identify close contacts and help contact tracers. If Victoria is not asking that simple question, is there any wonder why Victoria has so many mystery cases,” she said.
“The only reason Victoria is in lockdown is because the Andrews Labor Government have failed to manage the public health response through catastrophic contact tracing.
“Delays in identifying close contacts is the difference between containing the virus and further outbreaks.”
Multiple sources said that while the app’s value was more limited when there were hundreds of new cases every day, it would be a crucial tool to limit any new outbreaks once restrictions were eventually eased.
The Herald Sun understands there has also been ongoing frustration about paper-based elements of Victoria’s contact tracing system, although that has since been better integrated with digital platforms.
In New South Wales, the app has helped authorities stay on top of the virus. It recently identified a high-risk venue that had not been previously disclosed, leading to more than 500 contacts being tracked down, two of whom had contracted the virus.
A DHHS spokesman said contact tracers always asked notified cases if they had installed the COVIDSafe app to their phone.
“And the database is accessed daily to further assist us to prevent the spread of the virus by identifying other potential cases and close contacts,” he said.
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