Strathmore Primary School forced shut after student tests positive to COVID-19
A childcare worker from a centre in Gladstone Park has tested positive to coronavirus. It comes after a primary school in Melbourne’s north was forced shut after a student’s diagnosis was confirmed.
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A childcare worker from Inspira Early Learning Centre in Gladstone Park has tested positive to COVID-19.
The Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed the staff member attended the centre for two days last week while infectious.
“The Department is working with the facility to ensure that all public health actions are taken. Families have been notified today.”
Close contacts are currently being identified and will be forced to quarantine for 14 days.
The centre will close tomorrow for at least 24 hours for a deep clean, contact tracing and a full risk assessment.
It comes as another Melbourne primary school was closed due to coronavirus.
Strathmore Primary School joins the list of schools to be closed due to COVID-19.
The child had sypmtoms and was taken for testing by their parents, but the case was not linked to any known outbreaks at this stage.
It comes as authorities order the closure of Pakenham Springs Primary School until the end of the week after two students from the same family tested positive to the virus.
Acting Principal Renee Cotterell wrote: “The school will remain closed until Friday to allow infectious cleaning of the school site to occur.”
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said no cases so far had been passed from student to student.
There have been nine new cases of COVID-19 found in Victoria, with two recent clusters of the virus growing overnight.
Of the new cases, two are linked to Monash Health while another is a close contact of an extended family outbreak tracing back to Coburg.
The family cluster now sits at 12 and yesterday forced the closure of Pakenham Springs Primary School and St Dominic’s Primary School in Broadmeadows.
“I wouldnt say that its over, we continue to investigate this outbreak. Its not beyond the realms of possibility that there may be further cases,” Dr van Diemen said.
Returned travellers made up two of the other new cases while community testing picked up a new infection in a student in Strathmore Primary School.
The school will be closed for cleaning over the next 24 hours and close contacts of the student have been asked to self-isolate.
All other infections are under investigation.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said three people who were close contacts of an infected Black Lives Matter protester have so far tested negative.
Dr van Diemen said there were no plans to let people return to offices if their region or area had no new cases.
A statewide approach will be implemented to get people back to their workplaces.
PUBS AT RISK OF FINANCIAL RUIN
The peak body for pubs says some Victorian venues are at risk of financial ruin unless restrictions are eased further.
The Australian Hotels Association Victorian chief executive Paddy O’Sullivan criticised the state government for lagging behind other states and said the one person per 4 square metre rule was “borderline uneconomical”.
“It’s a situation where you’re operating at 25 per cent capacity yet bearing all the costs of running the business,” he said.
“Unless they can be fully operational I fear that we will lose some of Victoria’s great pubs.”
From next Monday, Victorian pubgoers will be able to enjoy a drink without having a meal, and the cap of 20 people per enclosed space will be lifted to 50.
Mr O’Sullivan said many in the industry were buoyed by the gradual return to normality but said the requirements were “too restrictive”.
“The mood is getting better but we still need to keep pace with other states who have better trading conditions and who have proven they can manage the risk.”
He said Victoria should follow the lead of Western Australia, which allows pubs to cater for one patron per 2 square metres.
– Josh Fagan
NIGHTCLUB BUSTED FOR BREACHING RESTRICTIONS
Prahran’s Love Machine nightclub has been busted by police for having too many people at a function, in breach of the Chief Health Officer’s directive.
The incident occurred on Saturday night and resulted in the nightclub director being fined more than $10,000 in fines.
Victoria Police said in a statement a $9913 infringement notice was issued to the director of the venue’s licensee company. The director was also fined $991 by Victoria Police’s State Liquor Unit for supplying liquor other than in accordance with the venue’s licence.
The Malvern Rd venue was the scene of a deadly drive-by shooting in April 2019.
Security guard Aaron Khalid Osmani, 37, and patron Richard Arow, 28, died after being sprayed with bullets in the attack.
Meanwhile, the owner of a family-run pizza place in Essendon has criticised police for an “intimidating” spot-check at his restaurant on Friday night.
Woodstock pizza owner Tony Cannata said he was uncomfortable with the actions of two officers who conducted a headcount of diners.
Mr Cannata said when they found out there were 21 people in the restaurant – over the capacity of 20 people – they told him he needed to boot one person out.
He said he understood the police had to follow the health directives but he was unimpressed with the way it was handled.
“I had to go and ask two girls – who were so looking forward to eating out again – to leave. I said ‘ladies, look I feel terrible in doing this and I feel embarrassed. But unless you two leave I’m threatened with a $9000 fine’. The officers waited for them to leave and once the girls left, they left. I just thought ‘are you guys serious?’.”
Mr Cannata said he felt it was unfair given he had one person over the capacity, while thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters took part in a mass rally in Melbourne’s CBD.
“If you’re gonna apply the law you’ve got to apply it fairly and equally,” he said.
Victoria Police said in response they used discretion in the matter and decided not to issue an infringement to Mr Cannata.
In a statement, it said its members needed to weigh up if a person’s actions were placing others at risk or if a warning would suffice.
“Victoria Police exercise their discretion, as we always do, proportionate to the circumstances we find ourselves having to contend with,” it said.
FEARS FOR IMPACT OF ISOLATION ON ALCOHOL ADDICTION
Experts fear a decrease in alcohol-related hospital presentations during COVID-19 means people are failing to reach out for help, while boozey advertising is fuelling at-home drinkers.
About 14 per cent of Australians admitted to drinking more while in isolation, despite a reported drop in the number of people seeking help for alcohol-related problems.
But experts are warning the decrease doesn’t mean there are less problems and fear an increase in alcohol advertising, at-home delivery and bonus deals is placing many Victorians at risk.
Mya Cubitt, an emergency physician and state faculty chair for the Australian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) in Victoria, said the general belief was that alcohol-related issues were instead continuing behind closed doors.
“I don’t think the data shows that alcohol related issues went down, it’s just the opportunity to intervene was less from our perspective,” Dr Cubitt says.
“If you look at ED in Victoria, most of us had a decrease in presentations overall.
“But what struck us with alcohol (presentations) was that the problems were significantly complex — and that’s really concerning because what we were seeing was it was still escalating to the point where the really serious or injured people were still coming, just at a late point in their disease (or abuse).”
Dr Cubitt said the “flow-on effect” from the drop in numbers was staff reported feeling safer at work, but there was an increase in concern for the patients they were not seeing.
Organisations including ACEM, the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF) and the Cancer Council are now lobbying the government to ensure tighter restrictions in the upcoming Liquor Control Reform Act.
Dr Erin Lalor AM, the CEO of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, said the tactics of alcohol advertisers during the pandemic were of particular concern.
“While it is more important than ever that people maintain their health and wellbeing, we have seen problematic alcohol advertising tactics, including the marketing of alcohol as a coping mechanism,” she said.
She cited online purchases and at-home rapid delivery, which are not yet regulated, as some of the biggest concerns.
Promotions for a drink and trivia night mates, Instagram posts by influencers and free shipping adds were all listed as examples of irresponsible alcohol advertising.
– Alanah Frost
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