Coronavirus alert as infected boy sent to Melbourne school

A grade 5 student school in Melbourne’s north for two days before testing positive for coronavirus.

Medical staff at a public housing block in Broadmeadows linked to the Grade 5 student. Picture: David Crosling

Hundreds of Melburnians have been sent into isolation after mixed messages to a quarantining family saw a Grade 5 student ­attend school in the city’s north for two days before testing positive for coronavirus.

Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Allan Cheng said there had been some understandable confusion between the family and the Department of Health and Human Services. It appeared the boy believed he was allowed to attend East Preston Islamic College.

The number of active cases linked to the northern metro regio­n outbreak rose to 16 on Thursday, with Dallas Brooks Prima­ry School closed for deep-cleaning after a student was identified as a close contact.

Contact tracers have identified 73 close contacts of the outbreak and 400 people are self-isolating, while cases linked to the outbreak have been confirmed at a public housing block in Broadmeadows.

About 120 residents have been asked to isolate for 48 hours and undergo tests for coronavirus.

Of the East Preston Islamic College student, Professor Cheng said each member of the family had a different case manager and was at a different point in the isolation cycle.

“I think there probably was some confusion, which is probably understandable,” he said. “What has probably happened in this case is that the people that had infection had been cleared and told they could come out of isolation.

“But the people that haven’t had infection were still in quarantine and there was obviously some confusion.”

 

Professor Cheng said the family would likely have just one case manager in future.

The Australian has previously reported that the student’s brother received a negative test before he decided to attend school.

Contact tracing chief Jeroen Weimar said it appeared a number of people in the family had been cleared to leave quarantine while other members, including the boy, hadn’t. “One of the members of that household did attend school on the Monday and Tuesday — he had his day 11 test and that was positive,” he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews defended the approach of the public health team, saying it was going to “extraordinary lengths” to ensure people were kept informed of their isolation responsibilities.

“When you’re talking about families of some size, the notion that everybody’s got absolute clarity­, exactly when they need it … sometimes that won’t happen,” he said.

DHHS confirmed that text messages advising people to undergo testing if they displayed coronavirus symptoms were sent to residents in the northern suburbs of Dallas, Roxburgh Park, Broadmeadows, Preston and West Heidelberg.

DHHS has launched a testing blitz across the five suburbs.

Preston local Ahmed Hajha said there seemed to be regular outbreaks in Melbourne’s north, and the government should have improved health practices by now.

“I suppose they‘re trying to do their best but they could be doing better by this stage of the game,” he said. He also said the government could expect further outbreaks until a vaccine was ready, especially because Victorians were fed up with restrictions.

“We will all behave only for so long,” he said. “My understanding is the whole idea of this lockdown was so the health system doesn‘t get overloaded.”

Mr Hajha said he supported mass testing when outbreaks ­occurred and no individual should be blamed for incidents, including the Grade 5 student.

“Whatever group or where you come from shouldn’t be the ­headlines,” he said.