Covid at a critical turning point

The fall in Victoria’s daily caseload of new COVID-19 infections to six on Thursday, with no further deaths, bears out the sense in federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and Josh Frydenberg’s call for Premier Daniel Andrews to “give the people of Victoria their freedom back this weekend”. There is no longer any medical justification, as the Morrison government’s two most senior Victorians argued, for the forced closure of pubs, shops, restaurants and offices. Keeping Melbourne’s five million people confined to their homes will only prolong the economic, health and community agony caused by the lockdown, as Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox says. As Remy Varga reports on Friday, Melbourne’s lockdown is fuelling family violence. Demand for mental health services across the state, including for children and teenagers, has soared in recent months.

With new cases in Victoria at slightly more than half the 11 new cases in NSW on Thursday there is no reason to keep our second-largest state locked down. But that is not to suggest there is room for complacency in either state, or anywhere else around the nation. Australia is at a critical turning point. Our nation’s worst nightmare would be a fresh wave similar to that devastating Britain and much of Europe, which has put many communities back to where they were in March. Indications are that we are far from on top of managing potential outbreaks effectively.

The stoicism of hundreds of people queuing for up to six hours for COVID testing in Shepparton on Wednesday was admirable. But expecting them to wait for hours in the sun was not good enough. Extra testing capacity was rushed to Shepparton. But the length of the lines showed that more was needed. Hundreds more local people turned out for testing early on Thursday, showing their willingness to help keep the virus at bay. Mr Andrews’ frustration with the truck driver responsible for spreading the virus through regional Victoria is justified. Given the danger, the temporary lockdown of Shepparton was good strategy.

Post-lockdowns, as the nation learns to live with the virus through vigilance, prevention and good management of outbreaks and individual cases, the issues raised by health editor Natasha Robinson on infection control must be also addressed. Anaesthetist Andrew Miller, head of the Australian Medical Association in Western Australia, says healthcare workers should be wearing head-to-toe suits as in Asian countries. The issue needs to be assessed and resources committed to ensure the safest possible protocols are followed. As a nation, we have the resources to do so. The high rate of healthcare worker infections in Melbourne, where almost 3600 healthcare workers have been infected in the city’s second wave of coronavirus, is a serious concern. So is the fact, as Melbourne infectious diseases doctor Michelle Ananda-Rajah says, that staff who have raised concerns about inappropriate personal protective equipment have faced “bullying and censorship”. Similar concerns surely apply to staff in nursing homes. While Australia, in general, has done well in managing COVID, the death rates in nursing homes are high.

Nor is it good enough, as Victorian parliament has been told, that doctors and nurses are still waiting to be fit-tested for N95 face masks, despite working in high-risk COVID-19 transmission settings. Nor, as Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill says, have many ambulance workers — including those who transport COVID-positive patients — been fit-tested for masks. Attention to such detail is vital to protect lives and spare local communities and the nation from catastrophic relapses.