Community anxious after Covid case left waiting by CDC

A mother has been left waiting for transport to Howard Springs quarantine for almost two days after testing positive for Covid-19.

ABORIGINAL health experts have been left confused by the Department of Health’s response to recent cases in Indigenous communities.

On Friday two cases were identified in Nhulunbuy and one in Darwin’s Bagot Community, but the Department of Health’s rapid response team was not deployed to either.

In Bagot, the positive case remained on community for almost 48 hours after returning a positive result, despite requesting to isolate at the Howard Springs quarantine facility.

The tardy response left many in the community anxious and Danila Dilba acting chief executive Roger Williams confused.

“We are all vulnerable, you know, and their response is a very different response to we’ve seen in other parts of the Territory,” Mr Williams said.

“However, I have no explanation of why that is.”

Mr Williams speculated it could be that rapid response teams have concentrated on remote communities and the department has not considered urban-based Aboriginal communities.

“The government thinks that because these communities are living in Darwin, that they can access services and treatment, when in actual fact it’s not necessarily always the case,” he said.

“A lot of the communities find it hard to get transport to and from places but they (Department of Health) have concentrated on the rural and remote…and maybe they now don’t have the resources that are required here in Darwin to deal with what we’re about to face.”

Within an hour of the NT News asking the Minister Health, Natasha Fyles if the woman had been transported to quarantine a spokesman from her office confirmed she was on her way.

The NT News understands it was the woman’s request to quarantine away from family and community.

While answering questions about the lack of rapid response teams sent to the Bagot Community Ms Fyles said the government had changed its approach to Covid.

“We’re seeing a shift in our response to Covid Territory-wide because Covid is here, we have community transmission, and we’ve got a strong suppression strategy,” she said.

“Of course if we do need to take additional measures because of the vulnerable population there, we won’t hesitate to do so.”

However according to Danila Dilba’s records only about 60 per cent of Bagot Community had received either one or two vaccinations.

According to Mr Williams, exact figures were difficult to provide due to the transient nature of the community, but Ms Fyles said the community would be incorporated in the Darwin vaccination rates which are “extremely high”.

Despite the lack of government response or lockouts Bagot Advisory Council have asked no-one visit the community at this time.

“We ask non-residents of the community to refrain from visiting and any recent visitors to test and isolate till they receive a negative result,” the statement read.