Coronavirus: Daniel Andrews to face blow torch in very big way

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in Melbourne on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

It says everything about the hotel quarantine screw-up that one of the smartest blokes on the planet won’t or can’t state definitively that Australia’s second wave stemmed from the failed program.

Meet Ben Howden, the medical microbiologist in charge of telling the board of inquiry the ins and outs of the genomic testing that has been tracking the path of the virus.

Professor Ben Howden at the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry.

All roads lead to hotel quarantine as the source of the second wave but despite all his years of expertise (he did his PhD in molecular biology), Professor Howden wants the epidemiologists to have their say.

What is absolutely certain is that the government, which already has conceded that all or most of the cases came out of quarantine, has had the data to make the call for many weeks.

The Doherty Institute, which runs the genomic testing program, meets at least once a week with the government and you would hope the bureaucrats could then use the epidemiologists to join the dots.

With final confirmation (if it’s needed) about the hotel quarantine link expected as early as Tuesday, the Andrews government is about to face the coronavirus blow torch in a very big way.

Day one of the board of inquiry was ugly for the government. The program failed after being set up at break-neck speed, security guards were given the wrong advice on personal protective equipment and it wasn’t clear who actually was in charge of the quarantine program.

It is clear that counsel for Unified Security is very eager to throw cold water on the spectre of a guard or guards having spread the virus after having sex with quarantined travellers.

There were, their lawyer Arthur Moses pointed out, a number of ways the poor old security guards could have contracted the virus and then spread it in the community.

By the time the electorate gets to sift through the entrails of the inquiry in November, it’s a fair bet there will be a lot ammunition to fire at the government.

What the government will be hoping is that the “promising” pandemic numbers will mean Victoria is slowly being eased out of restrictions.

If you can look past the awful death toll, the COVID-19 numbers are falling in Victoria and it is starting to look like the state has its measure.

It’s taken a long time and a massive cost to the national economy, but things are finally starting to look skyward.