Coronavirus: Privacy means Cedar Meats abattoir doesn’t know which worker got sick

Owners of a Melbourne abattoir linked to 62 cases of corona­virus say they don’t know the name of the worker who first got sick last month.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Picture: AAP

The owners of a Melbourne abattoir linked to 62 cases of corona­virus say they have been unable to check the claim that a worker who tested positive on April 2 had not been at work becaus­e the ­Victorian Department of Health and Human Services has not given them the man’s name.

Victorian Premier Daniel ­Andrews backed his public health team on Thursday, defending its decis­ion to take “on face value” the man’s claim that he had not attended­ work at Cedar Meats in Melbourne’s west for four weeks prior to his diagnosis.

The defence came after the state’s Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, revealed on Wednesday that the department was yet to check the worker’s April 2 claim with Cedar Meats management.

The department’s decision not to treat Cedar Meats as a potential exposure site following the April 2 case meant the second case at the abattoir — which was rapidly followe­d by dozens of cases — was not confirmed until April 24.

Asked whether the company had checked its records to corroborate the worker’s claim, a spokeswoman for Cedar Meats general manager Tony Kairouz described the matter as a “privacy issue” and said the company had not been given the worker’s name. “We don’t know who that worker is,” she said.

“Aside from the workers who have contacted Tony or the other managers and said ‘I’ve tested positive’, and two family members of Tony’s who have tested positive, we don’t know who these people are.”

She attributed the company’s claim that it “first became aware” of COVID-19 cases at its facility on April 27 — despite the department saying Cedar Meats had been told on April 24 — to a “miscommunication” involving labour hire company Labour Solutions Australia, which is the direct employer of about half of the workers on site.

“The first (direct) call we had from DHHS was on the 27th of April regarding the employee in Sunshine Hospital,” the spokeswoman said. “What became clear (on Wednesday) afternoon, the 6th of May, which had not been clear to us before, was that DHHS had called Labour Solutions on the evening of 24 April.

“Labour Solutions called Cedar Meats management but the person­ that took that call got off the phone with the clear impres­sion that it was a potential case rather than a confirmed case.”

A spokesman for Labour Solutions said the Cedar Meats spokeswoman’s version of events was “pretty well factual and true”.

“For privacy reasons, DHHS don’t tell us exactly who’s been diag­nosed,” the spokesman said. “We get a rough idea because our employees get entitlements for sick leave and annual leave and some have put in for sick leave, but we’d never heard of the April 2 case until it came out in the media this week and we don’t know who the person is.”

The spokesman said he could “understand the miscommunic­ation, because the plant doesn’t operate over the weekend and I think (DHHS) basically said, ‘There’s nothing we can do, we’ll get on to (Cedar Meats) first thing Monday morning’.”

Mr Andrews defended DHHS contact tracers for not trying to corroborate the worker’s claim. “If you say … ‘I have not been to work for four weeks’, then we take you on face value,” the Premier said.

A DHHS spokesman said it was “not appropriate, and a serious breach of privacy, for the department to notify the employer of someone with coronavirus if they have not been at work while infectious.

“All close contacts and exposure sites are followed up appropriately,” the spokesman said.

“Once a positive diagnosis was confirmed on Friday 24th April for a different worker, and they advised that they had been at work while potentially infectious, their employer – Labour Solutions Australia – was contacted.

“Labour Solutions Australia informed Cedar Meats on the same day.

“Following the second positive diagnosis of an employee of the meatworks late on Sunday 26th April, DHHS contacted Cedar Meats the next morning on Monday 27th April to start the investigation of a potential cluster.

“The meatworks had been closed during that Anzac Day weekend.

“Initial contact tracing at the company was focused on those most at risk, including all employees.

“Subsequent contact tracing was undertaken to identify any other visitors that may have been on site, including meat inspectors.

“This information was provided to DHHS by the company on Monday 4 May.

“The department has actively worked with the company and the agency to ensure that all inspectors were notified and contacted.

“The department advised the Commonwealth agricultural department of the outbreak on 1 May. At that stage DHHS was not aware inspectors had been at the facility.”