Four health workers and one patient from NWRH infected

Four healthcare workers and one patient from a Tasmanian hospital have been infected with coronavirus and an outbreak team has been established to try to manage the situation.

THERE are now five coronavirus infections associated with the North West Regional Hospital – four health care workers and one patient – and health authorities have deemed it an outbreak.

The five cases displayed onset between March 30 and April 4.

The male patient who contracted the infection at the NWRH had already been transferred to the Mersey Community Hospital at Latrobe when he was diagnosed.

“At the time of transfer (April 2) he showed no symptoms and we had not, at that stage, learned of any infections stemming from the NWRH,” chief medical officer Tony Lawler said this morning.

An outbreak management team has now been established and any patient who has recently been discharged from the Burnie hospital will be identified and contacted to see if they have become unwell.

The team will look into how the virus is spreading in the hospital setting, how to control it and chase down contacts of those infected.

Prof Lawler said the team was tracking staff movements back to March 29 and more than 40 workers had now gone into self isolation.

“This is a difficult challenge in both logistical and clinical terms and we will need help from Launceston and Hobart,” he said.

Personal Protective Equipment will be sent urgently to the North-West.

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Director of Public Health Dr Mark Veitch said the source of the earlier infection involving a nurse at the Mersey Community Hospital had not been identified.

Dr Veitch said there was merit in targeted testing for healthcare workers and that would be carried out.

Premier Peter Gutwein said nurses who wanted to self isolate away from their families would be helped do so in state-run accommodation.

He reiterated the North-West region could be locked down if the situation escalated.

“It is my expectation that people in the North-West will restrict their travel along with other Tasmanians. We are not at the stage to lock down a region or a city but if we get to that point we will do it,” Mr Gutwein said.

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