Hospitals shut, 1000 in quarantine as state tackles virus hotspot

The Tasmanian government has ordered the immediate closure of two hospitals and put all staff and their families into quarantine.

The North-West regional hospital in Burnie, Tasmania. Picture: Gary McArthur

The Tasmanian government has ordered the immediate closure of two hospitals in the state’s northwest and has put all staff and their families — more than 1000 people — into quarantine in an effort to bring the nation’s most concentrated coronavirus cluster under control.

The region will also be subjected to the nation’s toughest COVID-19 lockdown measures, with all non-essential retail outlets, such as Kmart and Harvey Norman, ordered to close for two weeks, and supply stores such as Bunnings limited to trade customers only.

From 7am on Monday most patients at the North West Regional Hospital and North West Private Hospital in Burnie will be relocated to the Mersey Community Hospital in Latrobe, 55km away. Some of the most seriously ill may need treatment elsewhere in the state. Transported patients will be treated with the same precautions as if they have coronavirus.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said he had no option but to introduce the emergency measures to ring-fence the region given 61 of the state’s 133 COVID-19 cases were located in the northwest, including 49 linked to the two hospitals, 35 of which are healthcare workers.

“It is important that we do everything we possibly can to stamp this out right now and I make no apologies for the measures we are putting in place,” he said. “They are firm, some people will see them as being harsh, but we need to get on top of this.”

A fifth Tasmanian, a woman aged in her 70s, died at the North West Regional Hospital on the weekend. Her death follows that of 80-year-old Bill Bracken, who died last week.

Four of the state’s five deaths have been at the same hospital, including three passengers from the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

The government said it would bring in additional staff and resources from elsewhere in the state to the Mersey Hospital to cope with the additional patient load, but Tasmanian AMA president John Burgess said the loss of so many health workers in the region to quarantine would put extreme pressure on medical services across the state and might require a commonwealth intervention.

“It may be there is a requirement for additional assistance to be provided outside the state in being able to do this for the period of time,” Professor Burgess said. “To get out of that difficult period there may be the need to get assistance from somewhere else in Australia — it may require a commonwealth response.”

Bill Bracken, who died after contracting COVID-19 on board the Ruby Princess.

The hospitals that are closing have a combined capacity of 208 beds but Tasmania’s Chief Medical Officer, Tony Lawler, declined to disclose the total number of patients being moved. “One of the challenges we have is we’ll be looking to see how many patients we can discharge to go home, so it’s probably not appropriate to comment on that,” he said.

Mr Gutwein said the hospitals would undergo a “deep clean” by specialist teams in the hope that they can then be reopened in two weeks.

The Tasmanian government said its new restrictions on retail were the toughest in the country.

“All retail businesses remaining in operation on the northwest coast will be required to close unless they offer home-delivery services from midnight (Monday),” the Premier said.

“I want to make it clear, Kmart, Harvey Norman, Target, other big-box retailers, they will all close. In terms of trade supply stores, including Bunnings, they will only be able to supply to trade customers.

“I understand these additional forced closures will come as a blow to businesses that have been trying to adjust to the coronavirus operating environment. To those businesses and their affected workers I offer my genuine apologies, but ask you to please understand it is a necessary action at this time to save lives.”

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He indicated he would be prepared to extend the retail restrictions if necessary.

“I would hope that at the end of this two-week period that we will be able to lift some of these restrictions. We will keep it under review and, again, it will be determined by whether or not there is community transmission across the northwest coast.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last month flagged that states and territories were increasingly likely to move to regional approaches based on the specific needs of vulnerable populations. Tasmania has the oldest population in Australia, with almost 20 per cent aged over 65 compared with the national average of 15.8 per cent, according to the most recent census. Burnie has 18.4 per cent of the population over 65 and nearby Devonport 21.6 per cent.

Professor Burgess said the northwest region was particularly vulnerable due to the ageing population and pre-existing comorbidities.

“We are concerned community contacts with hospital staff don’t become secondary sources of outbreak and community transmission,” he said. “It’s very important that the reduction in activity and social gathering is taken seriously by the community.”

Professor Burgess said another issue was ensuring the northwest remained quarantined from the rest of the state. “Aside from tighter restrictions on activity, it’s also very important to consider how the northwest is effectively quarantined from the rest of the state to reduce any risk that might exist of underlying community transmission becoming an issue,” he said.