Bakery owner slams Victoria’s ‘flawed’ isolation policies

A small business owner says 50 of his staff were forced into isolation, even those who hadn’t come into contact with a positive worker.

A business owner who waited nearly a week to hear from health authorities after his bakery became a Covid-19 exposure site has described isolation rules as “so flawed it’s not funny”.

Mike Russell had hoped to reopen at least one of his Baker Bleu stores on Wednesday and conducted his own contact tracing after failing to hear from the Health Department.

But they finally called him on Sunday – nearly a week after one of his production staff tested positive – and told him that all 50 staff, including those who had no interaction with infected workers, had to isolate for 14 days.

Even Mr Russell, who was not at the store at the times infected staff were present, was instructed to isolate because he later visited the bakery to organise its closure.

He said production staff were not allowed to enter the shop, so had not interacted with any sales staff or customers, and that the classification of the exposure site had changed three times without him being notified.

He expected to lose close to $500,000 due to the forced closure.

“They’re not consultative, they don’t engage,” Mr Russell said.

“We haven’t heard anything from them for so long and I tested negative twice over.

“I’d been coming back and forth from the bakery but they’re like even though the horse has bolted, I am tier one and have to go back inside. The logic is so flawed it’s not funny.”

Mr Russell said he had worked up spreadsheets of all staff who had interacted with and submitted them to the DHHS and could not understand why every member of staff, including himself, had to isolate.

Mike Russell had to shut his two shops after all 50 of his staff were forced into isolation. y Picture: Wayne Taylor

“The system is so outdated,” he said.

“In Israel and the rest of the world they’re going off seven days isolation.

“This is why Victoria is in this state.”

Mr Russell said he had been trying to get in contact with the Health Department to discuss reopening and whether some staff could return but had received no response.

“It’s really sad that the government is missing in action when the community and small business and industry is doing the heavy lifting,” he said.

Supermarkets have struck a deal with the Victorian government to overhaul contact tracing in a bid to ease staff shortages and supply constraints that have hobbled the industry and left multiple stores shuttered in recent days.

It comes as Woolworths confirmed on Friday night that “due to existing team member shortages, our Water Gardens South and Altona North stores will not be in a position to open this weekend”.

Woolworths has more than 1000 Victorian team members in isolation.

Over the past three months, there have been more than 25,000 instances where team members have been required to isolate in Victoria. None of the staff has gone on to test positive for Covid-19.

Coles doesn’t have any stores in Victoria that are closed as a result of staff being required to isolate but they do have 15 stores in Melbourne now operating on reduced hours, a spokesperson said.

Details expected to be formally announced on Saturday — after the industry signed off on the pilot agreement on Friday night — include a system where workplaces would trace who infected staff had been in contact with and direct them to isolate, rather than the entire retail site.

Woolworths has closed its Water Gardens South store due to team member shortages. Picture: Google Maps

A Woolworths spokesperson said: “We welcome the Victorian government’s decision to pilot new contact tracing protocols in supermarkets.

“The changes will go a long way in enabling us to safely maintain essential supply and service to the Victorian community.

“The strain on our stores should begin to ease over the coming week as these changes begin to take effect.

“We thank our customers for their understanding as we work through this.”

On Friday, the state government said “a revised contact management protocol would commence in the supermarket industry on Saturday, October 2, following consultation between the Victorian government and industry representatives”.

It said the “new framework balances the risk of transmission against the risk of interrupting food supply. The industry will pilot the protocol with a view to implementing the revised policy settings in other critical industries in coming weeks”.

The Health Department said more details would be announced on Saturday.

Supermarkets have been facing staff shortages as rising case numbers force more staff at exposure sites into two weeks of isolation.

It has prompted major supermarket chains to call for isolation rules to be rewritten to stop the mass closure of shops.

Nearly 50,000 Victorian Coles and Woolworths staff have been forced to spend two weeks at home in the past three months after a Covid-positive colleague came to work during their shift.

But not one of those workers have subsequently tested positive to Covid-19.

Woolworths, which closed its Coburg store on Wednesday, said it had about 1000 Victorian staff currently in isolation and Coles had 3000 at home across Vic and NSW in any given week.

Another five Woolworths stores are on the brink of closure this weekend.

A spokesman said: “A small number of stores have been forced to reduce their trading hours and one has temporarily closed”.

Coles chief operating officer Matt Swindells said the situation was worsening in Victoria and would continue to deteriorate when the state reopened.

Woolworths closed its Coburg store on Wednesday. Picture: Tara Croser

“The challenge for us is we’ve got a policy for team members to isolate that is really linked to Delta and elimination,” Mr Swindells said.

“We’ve got a policy for elimination but a plan for living with it and they don’t match.”

He said customers had shopped at Coles 1.2 billion times since the pandemic began and “we still can’t find an example where someone contracted Covid in a supermarket”.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t be mindful but we’ve got a track record of being a safe place to work and shop,” he said.

Both supermarkets supported a system whereby workplaces would trace who infected staff had been in contact with and direct them to isolate, rather than the entire shop.

Despite both supermarkets saying they had pursued the idea with the government, Premier Daniel Andrews said on Thursday that “they certainly haven’t picked up the phone”.

Opposition small business spokesman David Southwick said traders were being “forgotten” and left to fend for themselves as contact tracing falls behind.

“Mum and dad operators, already struggling through what will be the world’s longest lockdown, are now being left to fend for themselves when an outbreaks hits,” Mr Southwick said.

Chief executive of business organisation AI Group Innes Willox also called for a rethink of isolation rules.

“We need a regime that addresses risks sensibly and that sees full site closures very much as a last resort, if at all,” Mr Wilcox said.

“In a highly vaccinated workplace environment we should eventually be able to keep businesses open and avoid the big costs and risks to disrupting critical supplies currently being experienced by some businesses.”