Coronavirus: Gold Coast Public Health Unit ‘disease detectives’ working tirelessly to slow spread of COVID-19
They are the 'disease detectives' working hard behind the scenes to protecting the Gold Coast from COVID-19 outbreaks, now they are using their skills to help the rest of the state.
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THEY are the disease detectives working hard behind the scenes and protecting the Gold Coast from COVID-19 outbreaks - now they are using their skills to help the rest of the state.
Since the virus first arrived in the city in January this year, local epidemiologists have helped to track more than 33,000 individuals to identify nearly 2,769 close contacts with confirmed cases.
Now it’s revealed our local health team was behind a high-tech tracing app that helped to prevent the state’s major outbreaks in places like Logan, Ipswich and Moreton Bay.
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The tracing program, used internally helps epidemiologists to monitor cases as they worked through the painstaking contact tracing process.
Gold Coast Public Health Unit Director Sharon Jurd said the unit grew from just 40 full time staff to 141 full-time equivalent roles during the peak of the virus on the Gold Coast.
“Because every contact had to be tracked manually it was a huge effort for our contract tracers,” Dr Jurd said.
“The app which was developed here meant we went using just a spreadsheet to track the progress, this allowed us to work quickly and thoroughly.”
The intelligence was behind the fast tracing needed at the Parklands Christian College in July. Usually in charge of handling smaller disease outbreaks that may take place on the Coast or tracking down food contaminations like the ‘needle in the strawberry’ sabotage scandal of 2018, the Gold Coast team have found the community have a new-found interest in what they do.
“We do a lot of work in the background that people don't know about, but since coronavirus people have a little more appreciation for our work.
“From working with business to increase their patronage through COVID-safe planning, to supporting people in quarantine to visit their loved ones in palliative care, our team have risen to and bended around the demands the virus has presented along the way with ingenuity.”
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While thanking the Gold Coast team, Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles said the low COVID-19 rates on the Gold Coast demonstrated just how relentless the team were in staying ahead of the virus.
The Gold Coast which is down to a single case has not seen a new infection since August 28.
Member for Gaven Meaghan Scanlon said Gold Coasters can be extremely proud of the talent bank they have on hand.
“Thanks to the expertise of staff like those based here at Carrara and the diligence of Gold Coasters in following Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young’s advice, we have seen no new community cases notified to the GCPHU since the 28th of August,” Ms Scanlon said.
The Gold Coast now has a single active coronavirus case.
WHO ARE OUR CONTACT TRACERS?
A 200-strong squad of “disease detectives” is working 24-7 to trace contacts of Gold Coast coronavirus carriers, including anyone they shook hands with or came near.
The tireless silent army of health workers is just as crucial as the frontline doctors and nurses in the bid to reduce transmission of the potentially deadly coronavirus, decrease hospital admissions and reduce mortality rates.
The Gold Coast Public Health Unit workers’ key tactic is contact tracing anyone who has it and making sure those at risk of spreading the virus have self-isolated at home.
The man at the helm, Dr Andre Wattiaux, says people sick with the virus are infectious 24 hours before they start to show symptoms, which is why contact tracing is a crucial element in the fight against the pandemic.
“We usually have a handful of nurses doing the contact tracing. Now we have up to 200 working around the clock and throughout weekends to pinpoint people’s exact movements and to stop clusters appearing across the Gold Coast,” he said.
“From whether they shook a person’s hand to how far away they were from other people, every single movement and conversation is accounted for.”
Another part of what his unit does is try to find the source of unknown infections – for example, a person with the virus who has not been in direct contact with an infected person or someone who has recently returned from overseas.
“These disease detectives go two weeks back and ask people to detail where they have been. They’ll then cross reference places to see who they had been in contact with in order to detect hidden pockets of the coronavirus,” he said.
“We have a specialised team of epidemiologists that map this out and cross reference any similarities. At the moment we don’t have many cases like this.”
He had stern messages for people thinking of breaking ranks now a reduced number of coronavirus cases had been reported across the city.
“Don’t give up, don’t stop doing the right thing,” Dr Wattiaux said.
“We need to be united and while I acknowledge there’s diversity on the Gold Coast, people that take action and separate from the group are at risk of putting other people’s lives at risk.
“We don’t survive a pandemic alone, we survive it together.”
Dr Wattiaux said it was a big ask requiring healthy people to stay home, especially because it had a huge impact on a person’s financial and emotional state, particularly if they lived alone.
“But if we remain united we have a better chance at containing the coronavirus, particularly because there are no pharmaceutical interventions, such as vaccines, available at this time. We survive a pandemic with social cohesion,” he said.
“We’re trying to stop the transmission to protect the vulnerable people in our community. For some, deciding to protect people they’ve never met is a foreign concept.
“But we want people to realise it’s not a matter of waving a stick at a person and saying do this or do that. We’re not here to make life difficult.
“We just need to educate people that we have a long-term vision and that staying at home is crucial in that being realised.”
Dr Wattiaux said 80 per cent of patients on the Gold Coast with coronavirus were recovering at home. Another 15 per cent had moderate-to-severe conditions and were being treated in hospital, while 5 per cent were critically ill and required intensive care.
Dr Wattiaux expected a hike in cases as more testing kits became available. He encouraged everyone who had respiratory symptoms to get tested for the coronavirus.
“Just one case in the community can pass it on to multiple people and those multiple people won’t know that and will inadvertently pass that on,’’ he said.
“We’re in a good position at the moment but sitting back and saying we’re going fine is not the way forward.
“We have the gift of time so we need to use it wisely.”
Originally published as Coronavirus: Gold Coast Public Health Unit ‘disease detectives’ working tirelessly to slow spread of COVID-19