Coronavirus: Nurses cop abuse over ‘illegal’ dinner party rumour

Nurses in Tasmania at the centre of a COVID-19 outbreak have been left “distressed” by public outrage after being wrongly accused of attending an “illegal” dinner party.

Doctors and nurses at the centre of a major COVID-19 outbreak in Tasmania have been left “distressed” by public outrage, after being wrongly accused by Australia’s chief medical officer of attending an “illegal” dinner party that caused the disease to spread.

Speaking to a New Zealand parliamentary committee on Tuesday, Professor Brendan Murphy said most of the 49 confirmed coronavirus infections in Tasmania over the weekend “went to an illegal dinner party, we think”.

Of Tasmania’s 151 cases, 66 are linked to the cluster, which has forced the temporary closure of two hospitals in Burnie in the state’s northwest and put more than 5000 people into self-isolation.

He later walked back on the claim, saying in a statement later that day contact tracing had not confirmed such a dinner party took place.

“This morning … I referred to suggestion that a dinner party may have been the source of some of the transmission in the northwest Tasmania cluster of cases,” Prof Murphy said.

“Whilst the possibility had previously been mentioned to me following initial investigations, I am now informed that the contact tracing has not confirmed that such a dinner party occurred.”

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Chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy was forced to backtrack on claims he made about health workers in Tasmania attending an “illegal dinner party”. Picture: Mike Tsikas/AAP

While Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said the CMO was “commenting on a rumour” and contact tracing had not identified a dinner party of health workers, branch secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation in Tasmania Emily Shepherd said doctors and nurses have been left “distressed” by public outrage the claims caused.

“It’s unfortunate that these comments were made and it has been distressing to our members during such a trying time,” Ms Shepherd told Sunrise yesterday morning.

“To the best of my knowledge and to the best knowledge of our members working at the North West Regional and North West Private hospitals, no one is aware of the dinner being reported having taken place. What we’re seeing is one of the downsides of social media.”

Tasmania’s Director of Public Health Mark Veitch said he had “heard of some Facebook chatter” regarding the supposed dinner party, and that authorities “need to go back, see whether there’s any truth to it, see if it has any linkage at all to that occurrence”.

Police are currently investigating the dinner party claims.

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In a separate interview with the ABC, Ms Shepherd described the rumours as “baseless” and hurtful to staff who she said had been on the “frontline in the fight against COVID-19”.

“They’re baseless, there’s no evidence to support them and they’d sooner see the rumours shut down and the focus shifted to the public health inquiry and looking at what we can learn from the experience and ensure it doesn’t happen in any other areas of the state.

“(Staff have) been on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19 trying to protect their community and to have this rumour circulating as they venture into 14 days isolation is very distressing,” Ms Shepherd said.

“It’s unacceptable and we would sooner see these rumours shut down.”

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The North West Private Hospital is seen closed in Burnie. Picture: Simon Sturzaker/AAP

The decision to close two of Burnie’s hospitals was not taken lightly. Picture: Simon Sturzaker/AAP

Mr Gutwein said he wanted to get to the bottom of the rumour as soon as possible.

“We need to understand whether or not there is any strength to the rumour. At the end of the day, I’m certain that there are many hardworking health professionals on the northwest coast that feel their reputations are being maligned,” he said.

“Regardless of whether or not that party took place, it does not change the fact that we need to get on top of this outbreak. It does not change the fact that we need to all work together on the northwest coast and across the state to ensure that we follow the rules.”

The Premier made the “unprecedented” decision to close Burnie’s North West Regional and North West Private hospitals on Sunday night because of the virus outbreak, with State Health Commander Kathryn Morgan-Wicks said the decision to temporarily close the hospitals were not taken lightly.

“I want to be clear that closing a hospital is not something that we do lightly and it is something that has not been done in Tasmania in our living memory,” she said.

Tasmania has so far confirmed 151 cases of COVID-19, and six people have died.