Remote learning returns to Victoria as cases climb by 273
Victorians have been warned not to forget to socially distance while wearing masks to avoid becoming “mask messiahs”, according to the Deputy Chief Medical Officer. It comes as prep to Year 10 students in locked down areas will return to remote learning from July 20.
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Victoria has recorded 273 cases of coronavirus overnight, while another Victorian has died due to the virus.
It comes as the Premier announced the majority of students in locked down areas would return to remote learning from July 20.
The state’s chief health officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said Victoria was facing “the public health challenge of our lifetime”.
“We haven’t even gotten to a peak with this epidemic and we have to throw absolutely everything at it,” he said.
MASKS NOT ANSWERS TO STOPPING SPREAD
Victorians have been warned not to forget to socially distance while wearing masks and to avoid becoming “mask messiahs”.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said masks should be worn while Melburnians were unable to maintain distance from others but insisted staying away from others was still the best defence against spreading the virus.
“Masks are part of a suite of measures,” Dr Coatsworth said.
“There is a tendency, and there are those that we might even describe as mask messiahs who would put a lot of faith in the ability of the mask to control these outbreaks.
“We accept, as the AHPPC that they have a role.
“We also know that the main game in controlling COVID-19 as movement restrictions and social distancing.”
Almost 10,000 coronavirus cases have been recovered across the country since the start of the pandemic.
Of the 9797 total cases, 279 were detected in the 24 hours to noon on Sunday.
Sixty-seven people were being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals across Australia and 17 were in intensive care on Sunday.
Dr Coatsworth also said more deaths were likely in coming weeks as hospitalisations surged.
But he said Australians would receive better care now than at the start of the pandemic, with growing knowledge around how to treat the virus.
“Deaths are a reality of COVID-19. They are the reality of a pandemic,” get said,
“We have, however, learned a lot.
“We know a lot more about how to treat patients.”
While there has been a surge in cases linked to schools across Melbourne, Dr Coatsworth said they were still relatively low-risk places and the predominant issue with schools was pick up and drop off.
“They have been cases of COVID-19 in very young families in the suburbs of Melbourne, and large families in some cases,” Dr Coatsworth said.
“Many of those children go to the same school and then that is how those cases get into the school.
“It is more broadly reflective of what is going on in the community than what is actually going on in schools.”
– Tamsin Rose
PREP TO YEAR 10 STUDENTS TO REVERT TO REMOTE LEARNING
The Premier announced the majority of Victorian school students would go back to remote learning from July 20 and the plan would be in place until at least August 19.
Students in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will return to at-home learning for term three.
“Other students from prep to Year 10, they will, from 20 July — noting we have extended school holidays by a week — will go back to remote and flexible learning,” Mr Andrews said.
This will apply to those in Prep to Year 10, at government schools, who live in areas under Stage 3 restrictions.
More than 700,000 students will be affected by the move back to remote learning.
Students in year 11, 12 and those at specialists schools will still be permitted at school.
“I know this will be very very challenging for many parents,” Mr Andrews said.
“And I thank them in advance.”
Mr Andrews said there was simply no alternative.
“It is the only way to go forward,” he said.
Mr Andrews said it was families and individuals across Melbourne and Mitchell Shire who were on the “frontline”.
“Every person across Victoria has a stake in this,” he said.
The online-learning plan will be in place until at least August 19.
Mr Andrews said after “direct feedback” from parents, students with special needs who attend mainstream schools will also be able to attend school.
Online learning and supervision will be available for those students.
Parents who cannot work from home, including emergency workers and retail staff, will also be permitted to send their kids to school.
He said the move was the ensure the safety of all Victorians.
“We just don’t have the luxury of pretending this is not real,” he said.
The state's education minister, James Merlino, said while most teachers would be working at school, there was room for flexibility.
“The default setting will be for teachers to be at school,” he said.
“You will have a number of tasks where teachers and staff will be required to be at school and a number of teachers required to be providing face-to-face teaching … but each school will have the flexibility to have a number of teachers and staff working remotely.”
Mr Merlino acknowledged the return to remote learning would be difficult for many families.
“My message to parents and to students: Trust your teachers, trust your schools,” he said.
“They will do a great job again.”
Mr Merlino said there would be support and resources available for students and families.
“We know that this is going to be a really challenging time for everyone,” he said.
“You did a brilliant job last time, and you will do it again.”
GPs, school nurses, mental health teams and counselling will all be made available for students for the duration of the scheme.
Prof Sutton said Victoria was facing a once-in-a-lifetime public health challenge.
“It is the public health challenge of our lifetime,” he said.
“The biggest for 100 years since the Spanish flu and it would have been irresponsible of me to have gone in to a phase where we might even have increasing numbers day on day to have kids going back to school, and as we have said, 700,000 plus about the state.
“There are really tough decisions every day.
“I know families will absolutely be pained to have kids at home and needing to juggle all the responsibilities.
“My household will have a little bit of pain in that regard because there are many households where there are professional workers trying to work at the same time as those kids at home doing remote learning, and it is a really significant challenge.”
Prof Sutton said there was recent evidence that transmission between children was occurring.
“Child-to-child transmission has become more apparent as we have tested more kids,” he said.
“It is still not a significant risk, but some of the earlier evidence was clearly biased by the fact that kids have mild symptoms and they were not being tested.
“We have done much more extensive testing, we have found there are probably more kids that get infected, not necessarily propagating an outbreak, but certainly kids are getting infected.”
The Premier said he expected Catholic and independent schools to follow the government’s remote learning announcements.
Download your coronavirus fact sheet with information on how to keep your family safe during the pandemic.
CLUSTERS EMERGE AMONG NEW CASES
A man in his 70s died overnight, bringing the total number of deaths to 24.
There are currently 57 Victorians in hospital with the virus, with 16 of those in intensive care.
A total of 145 cases are currently linked to public housing blocks in North Melbourne and Flemington, with Prof Sutton revealing the true number of case may be greater.
The new cases include:
– 22 linked to public housing in Carlton;
– Two linked to LaManna’s supermarket in Essendon;
– Two linked to Linfox distribution in Truganina;
– Four linked to JBS Abattoir in Brooklyn;
– 11 linked to Brunswick Private Hospital;
– Eight linked to The Alfred Hospital;
– Two linked to Box Hill Hospital;
– 11 linked to Menarock Life Aged Care in Essendon.
Prof Sutton said a number of cases were linked to clusters.
He said those in health and aged care settings were of particular concern.
“Of course it’s a concern,” he said.
“The (medical) workforce know what to do but it is a risk.
“They are brave and they are brilliant at responding to positive cases.”
He said the 11 cases at a tower is Carlton were not as “high risk” as those in Flemington and North Melbourne.
“They are in towers. They are not as high-risk as the towers in North Melbourne, in Flemington, but all towers — where there is a concentration of people — are at-risk settings,” he said.
“We have identified those cases earlier, we have gone in with the same kind of public health response, and I think that will be sufficient to mitigate the risk there.”
Prof Sutton said affected abattoirs had been shut down with the entire workforce quarantined.
The Premier said he hoped Victorian would understand the logic behind reverting schools to at-home learning.
“As difficult as it would be for many families, I think most people would accept the logic that if we have a stay-at-home order, but 700,000 kids and their mums and dads and others are moving around every afternoon and morning, that is not consistent with stabilising numbers are driving them down,” he said.
“It’s going to mean numbers are likely to go up.”
CAULFIELD BIRTHDAY PARTYGOERS FINED
Victoria Police handed out 119 fines in the past 24-hours, including 51 at vehicle checkpoints.
Seven people were fined when they gathered for a 30th birthday party at a Caulfield home.
Several other fines were dished out to people who were stopped on their way to visit friends or who were hosting gatherings at private properties.
Police checked 17,133 cars at checkpoints in the past 24-hours, and conducted 1086 spot checks on homes, business and public places.
STAFF MEMBERS AT THE ALFRED HOSPITAL TEST POSITIVE
Eight staff members at The Alfred Hospital have tested positive for coronavirus, while two Coles employees have contracted the virus.
A statement released by the hospital this morning confirmed five of the cases are not linked and are believed to have contracted the disease through community transmission.
The other three were identified through contract tracing.
Alfred Health said that currently no patients have contracted COVID-19 within the hospital.
Chief Executive Professor Andrew Way said the hospital is taking “every measure” to keep patients safe.
“I have confidence in the rigour of our cleaning and waste removal process. We now have a 24/7 response to any cleaning issue that arises,” Prof Way said.
“Feedback from staff is essential in this effort and we encourage frontline staff to raise their concerns directly, which they do.
“As a community we must take collective responsibility for ourselves and others. We need everyone to follow the stringent protocols in place; they are there to keep us safe.
“We cannot afford to become complacent. And as this pandemic demonstrates – behaviour really matters.”
The hospital confirmed that it has doubled its cleaning resources on infectious diseases ward and all staff visiting the ward must check in with a concierge before entering.
The Alfred has also tightened its restrictions on visitors to the hospital, with each patient allowed just one visitor per day for a maximum of one hour.
All visitors must wear masks before entering the hospital.
Each person will also be temperature checked and questioned about their health.
Coles have confirmed that two employees have tested positive for coronavirus.
The supermarket giant revealed that a worker employed at their Woodend store and a staff member at their Derrimut Village store are self isolating after contracting the virus.
In a statement on their website posted on Saturday, Coles said that the two stores will continue to trade and “the risk of transmission for customers and team members is very low”.
The supermarket also said that the new case related to the Derrimut Village store doesn’t appear to be linked to another case that was confirmed on July 9.
“We have not identified any link with a team member from the same store who returned a positive test earlier this week,” the statement said.
“No other team members from this store have been required to isolate as a result of the latest positive case.”
VICTORIA URGED TO UNIT IN VIRUS FIGHT
Coronavirus has cut Victoria to the core and how we respond will not only decide who lives and dies, it will decide the very future of our state.
Let there be no doubt, this is a moment in history where we either stand up and fight this virus or we condemn ourselves and our children to the toughest times we will ever know.
No more can we hope that coronavirus will be seen off by a few weeks of lockdown, a few months of working from home or online learning.
No, this virus demands of us that today we rise up as one in the greatest show of unity, singular purpose and commitment we have ever seen.
Cut-off from the rest of the country, Victoria’s leaders have urged Victorians to unite in the fight against coronavirus.
They have shared their messages of support.
VICTORIA POLICE’S BID TO SLOW THE SPREAD
It comes as about 40 per cent of Victoria’s police stations have been closed to the public because of coronavirus.
The closures, aimed at stopping the virus spreading, come as about half a dozen police officers have tested positive to the illness so far.
Victoria Police moved to reassure the public there would be no effect on public safety and more officers would be deployed to the frontline.
As Victoria endured its third day of hard lockdown:
HIGH-level talks were last night being held to decide whether children would return to online learning;
GREAT-grandfather Alf Jordan, 90, became Victoria’s 23rd person to die of the virus as 216 new cases were confirmed;
AUTHORITIES were battling more than 100 outbreaks;
VICTORIA’S Chief Health Officer said the virus curve might begin to flatten in the next three to five days.
Premier Daniel Andrews warned there would be more tragedies if locked-down residents of metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire ignored orders to stay home.
“It’s very frustrating and it’s not the place we wanted to be,’’ he said. “You’ve got to be in your home.”
Victoria Police revealed it had closed about two-fifths of police stations to the public. The Frankston station was yesterday shut for cleaning after an officer tested positive.
A police spokeswoman said stations would continue to be operational.
The changes were aimed at getting more officers on the beat and protecting them from unnecessary face-to-face contact with the public.
Demand at the police counter had fallen.
“These measures will apply to just over 40 per cent of our stations but will not impact on police response,’’ the spokeswoman said.
“We will continue to have people working from our police stations and resources will be deployed to incidents as needed.”
Government-level talks were last night deciding whether children would revert to online learning after all pupils except those in years 11 and 12 have an extra week of holiday this week.
The options are to have all younger children return to school a week on Monday, or to keep them at home until cases numbers fall.
An extra option understood to be on the table was to keep children in hot spot suburbs at home until outbreaks were brought under control.
School start times could also be staggered.
Of cases announced on Saturday, 30 were linked to the more than 100 known outbreaks and 186 were under investigation.
There are now 134 cases linked to Al-Taqwa College and 535 infections attributed to community transmission.
Victoria now has more outbreaks at aged-care homes than any other jurisdiction but case numbers at each are low.
Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said he hoped the second lockdown would lower case numbers.
Increased use of masks, which were selling out across Melbourne, was expected to yield benefits.
“We know that there were some changes in behaviour in advance of the lockdown and that should have an effect as well,’’ Prof Sutton said.
Nationwide, 11 new cases were confirmed outside Victoria. New South Wales will on Sunday announce it will start charging international arrivals for the cost of mandatory hotel isolation.
HOTSPOTS CONTINUE TO GROW
Swathes of Melbourne’s north and west are still driving surging coronavirus numbers, with Premier Daniel Andrews warning every suburb remains at risk of further outbreaks.
Serious concerns are now held for Roxburgh Park, Craigieburn and Truganina as health authorities race to contact trace high numbers of infections and prevent harsher lockdowns.
All three suburbs are within the municipalities of Hume and Wyndham, where the total number of COVID-19 infection has nearly doubled in the space of a week.
Since July 4, the number of active cases in these two regions has surged from 145 to 351.
The City of Melbourne also looms as an ongoing hotspot and on Saturday had 201 active cases, the most of any municipality.
Mr Andrews said while the virus loomed large in these areas, the risk of infection remained across the city.
“We’ve seeing significant numbers out of the northern and western suburbs, but it’s in other parts of Melbourne,” he said. “I wouldn’t want anyone in Melbourne to think this isn’t relevant to you.
“It is relevant to your family, your street, your community and all of us. We’ve all got a part to play.
“There is a big representation in that corridor (but) it is in every part of Melbourne. Some are at very low levels but it won’t be at low levels for long if people don’t follow the rules.”
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said residents should also consider wearing masks to protect against higher infection levels.
“Certainly we would make an emphasis in those hot spots areas for the most vulnerable individuals,” he said. “The very elderly, those with pre-existing chronic conditions … are the ones that we are very strongly recommending. But it’s a recommendation for everyone in Metro Melbourne and Mitchell Shire at the moment.”
It came as last night reports emerged that the state’s contact tracing team will have to find up to 9000 extra people who have had contact with the latest confirmed cases.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said new testing sites will also be set up at Mernda, Greensborough, Tarneit and on the Mornington Peninsula.
“Ultimately our ambition here is to provide a testing site to everyone within 10 kilometres of their home,” she said.
More than 1 million Victorians have been tested for the virus, with a rate of 16,606 tests for every 100,000 people.
SHOPS SELLING OUT FAST
Shops across Melbourne last night began selling out of face masks as Victorians rushed to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
With Melbourne fast becoming a masked city, those in areas locked down by stage three COVID-19 restrictions raided shops and online sites so they could cover up.
It comes after a state government about-turn over wearing masks in public.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos revealed on Saturday that there were 32 million masks in government warehouses to protect frontline health workers.
“So our health resources are well supported and well prepared,’’ she said.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the sight of people in masks would be common for the foreseeable future.
“It is quite noticeable that many people are wearing masks now,” he said.
“It’s not compulsory but where you are out for a walk or purpose and you believe you may not be able to maintain that 1.5m distance — it’s low-cost, high-reward. This is going to be a feature of our response for a very long time.’’
Despite previously indicating there was no reason to wear masks, Mr Andrews yesterday said they could play a crucial role stopping the virus.
“It’s almost certain that the wearing of masks — again, where you can’t distance — could be a really important feature of the next part of that pandemic response,” he said.
New health advice, backed by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and the Australian Medical Association, urged Victorians to wear masks if they can’t physically distance.
Amcal Pharmacy Flemington managing pharmacist Janani Sarvananthar said since Friday masks had replaced hand sanitiser as the most in-demand item for lockdown.
“This weekend we’ve had people lining (up) outside the door waiting for face masks,” Ms Sarvananthar said.
“We still have a few, but that’s only because we ordered a very large order after the first lockdown.”
She said demand for protective items was higher than during the last lockdown.
“I think people are definitely taking it far more seriously,’’ she said.
Sewing groups reported a surge in interest from people keen to make their own masks.
And one Melbourne manufacturer will recruit staff after Friday’s recommendation. FloatPac Group chief executive Gavin Hodgins said sales of reusable masks had surged 800 per cent and website traffic was up a staggering 3500 per cent.
– Peter Rolfe and Alexandra Gauci
POLICE ALL IN AT EXPENSIVE POKER GAME
A full house of poker players has shared in more than $21,000 of fines after being caught breaching stay-at-home orders.
The costly card game involved 13 people who had illegally gathered at a Southbank property on Friday, Victoria Police said.
Each of the 13 players copped a $1652 for breaching the Chief Health Officer’s directions.
They were among 83 people fined between Friday morning and Saturday morning for not following the stage three restrictions.
Twenty one fines were issued via road checkpoints where people did not have a permitted reason to travel.
Victoria Police said some of the reasons people gave for why they were travelling were that they were on their way to visit friends, to hang out with mates at shopping centres or attending birthday parties.
In a 24 hour period police checked 6967 vehicles and carried out 1347 spot checks at residential homes, business and public places.
It followed an expensive trip to KFC in the early hours of Friday morning that ended with police dishing out $26,000 in fines.
Paramedics had overheard someone ordering 20 KFC meals and contacted police to give them the car registration.
The car was traced and led officers to a nearby townhouse where they found a large group having a birthday party, Victoria Police Commissioner Shane Patton said.
“When we went in, there was two people asleep but there were 16 others hiding out the back and they (had) just got the KFC meals at a birthday (party),” he said.
“That is ridiculous, that type of behaviour. It is an expensive night when you think apart from the KFC, we have issued 16 infringements.
“At that amount, that is $26,000 that birthday party is costing them. That is a heck of a birthday party to recall. They will remember that one for a long time.”
REMOTE LEARNING FOR SENIOR STUDENTS
Senior students at Lakeview Secondary College won’t return for VCE studies on Monday as contact tracing of a positive coronavirus test at the school hasn’t been completed.
The school shut on Monday for an initial three day period as the DHHS performed a deep clean and started contact tracing.
But a week later that tracing is yet to be completed, meaning students in their most important years of schooling will be forced into remote learning from Monday while their cohort returns to classrooms.
A letter sent to parents said on Monday year 12 classes will return in an online capacity, and on Tuesday year 11 classes will follow suit.
“I recognise that we are all anxious to return to normal school arrangements as soon as possible and I assure you we are trying to achieve this as soon as we possibly can,” the memo said.
There has been no announcement on when the contact tracing is expected to be completed.
TOWERS ADD 28 CASES TO TALLY
A further 28 cases of coronavirus have been linked to Melbourne’s hotspot public housing towers making it the biggest single cluster across the state.
A total of 138 cases were linked to the North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers as of Saturday, up from 111 on Friday.
The new figures take it above the Al Taqwa College cluster with 134 confirmed cases.
The Health Department was unable to breakdown how many of the fresh cases were residents from the 33 Alfred St tower which remains under strict quarantine.
On Saturday, police went above and beyond the call of duty and braved Melbourne’s weather to walk the beloved pets of the residents, who are unable to leave their homes for another week.
It came as Premier Dan Andrews again defended the five-day hard lockdown of some 3000 residents in 10 public housing towers.
“As challenging as those steps were to take, they were the right steps to take,” Mr Andrews said.
“Everyone is doing their very, very best. No response like that is going to be perfect.
“I don’t want to have people locked in their homes for any longer than is necessary.”
Residents have complained of delays of getting food and supplies amid the lockdown.
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