Coronavirus: hospital infection data still a mystery

Victoria’s DHHS says it is still ‘looking into’ the numbers of people who acquired COVID-19 while being treated in hospital for other conditions.

Data on which patients caught Covid while being treated for other conditions is still absent two months after Victoria Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said the DHHS ‘can and should collect’ such data. Picture: Getty Images

Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services says it is still “looking into” the numbers of people who acquired COVID-19 while being treated in hospital for other conditions, almost two months after Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the department “can and should collect” such data, and pledged to “look into” making it publicly available.

DHHS on Monday released local government area data showing the locations of deaths and cases during the state’s coronavirus pandemic, as well as information on the gender and ages of the 819 people who have died with the virus in the state.

However, the department cited “complexities” associated with determining whether the ­patients had acquired the infection while in hospital in explaining why it was yet to provide patient death and case data — ­despite providing such data on a daily basis on residents of aged-care facilities, regardless of whether they acquired the infection at the facility.

“Understanding where someone caught coronavirus — the circumstances and location of ­acquisition — is often not known or obtainable, particularly during the peak of the pandemic,” a DHHS spokeswoman said.

“In Victoria, all deaths with a positive coronavirus diagnosis are included in the state’s toll, ­regardless of whether it was the overarching cause of death.

“This reporting is consistent across all states and territories to ensure the figures are comparable across the country.”

DHHS said some of the “complexities” in determining whether a coronavirus case was acquired at a hospital included the lack of an internationally accepted ­definition of hospital-acquired COVID-19, and the 14-day incubation period.

On September 4, The Australian asked Professor Sutton at a daily press conference whether the data was available.

In response, University of Melbourne Associate Professor of Obstetric Anaesthesia Alicia Dennis tweeted: “This is an essential metric that must be reported — patients need to understand risks they take when they come into hospitals.” Professor Sutton tweeted that he “agreed”. “Didn’t have a number at hand but we can and should collect this. Will look into it,” he wrote.

The Australian has been contacted by family members of two people who died after contracting the virus as patients at two different Melbourne hospitals. DHHS said it also did not have data on any comorbidities people who had coronavirus died with or of.

Victoria’s 819 deaths include 800 deaths that occurred as a ­result of the second wave of infections, linked to infection control breaches in the Andrews government’s hotel quarantine program.

This includes 652 deaths linked to aged care, with this figure including any resident of an aged-care facility who died after testing positive to coronavirus, regardless of whether they acquired the infection at the facility.

Victoria recorded its third straight day with no new coronavirus cases on Monday, with Premier Daniel Andrews entrusting the daily press conference to a colleague for a third day.

Transport Minister Jacinta Allan held the press conference at the Coburg railway station in ­Melbourne’s north as she announced the completion of a level crossing removal, in a sign normal life is ­finally resuming in Victoria.