Tasmania Police will investigate illegal health worker party claims

UPDATED: Tasmania Police will investigate claims medical staff in Burnie attended an illegal party before coronavirus cases spiked at the city’s hospitals.

TASMANIA Police will investigate claims made by the nation’s top health official that medical staff in Burnie held an “illegal dinner party” just before cases of COVID-19 spiked at the city’s hospitals.

The rumour — which had been circulating on social media but was repeatedly denied by the State Government — was recounted by Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy in a telephone hook-up with New Zealand health officials on Tuesday morning.

“We thought we were doing really well in the last week, and then we had a cluster of 49 cases in a hospital in Tasmania just over the weekend. Most of them went to an illegal dinner party of medical workers, we think,” he said.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy. Picture: AAP IMAGE/MICK TSIKAS

Eighty of Tasmania’s 165 cases of coronavirus are linked to the North West Regional Hospital, which was closed on Monday and all staff placed in quarantine.

In a subsequent statement, Professor Murphy appeared to back away from the comments.

“This morning, in discussions with a New Zealand Parliamentary Committee, I referred to a suggestion that a dinner party may have been the source of some of the transmission in the North-West Tasmania cluster of cases,” he said.

“While this possibility had previously been mentioned to me following initial investigations, I am now informed that the contact tracing has not confirmed that such a dinner party occurred.”

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Local resident Wayne Ball said he alerted Tasmania’s Health Minister Sarah Courtney last week about the claims a party was held and nursing staff attended. Mr Ball said he was told about the party from a former NWRH nurse, but nobody with first or even second-hand evidence of the alleged party had yet come forward.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein during a COVID-19 update. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

Premier Peter Gutwein said he had spoken to Professor Murphy on Tuesday and emphasised he was “commenting on a rumour”.

“Contact tracing has not identified a dinner party of health workers,” he said.

“However, I accept that this is a serious allegation and it’s something that needs to be followed up.

“And so, we will retrace our steps, but importantly I’ve asked the Tasmania Police to investigate this matter and that will be started today.

“We need to get on top of this, we need to understand whether or not there is any strength to the rumour.”

Director of Public Health Mark Veitch said the alleged party had not been identified as a factor in the outbreak at the NWRH but it needed to be investigated.

Ms Courtney said her priority was the health of hospital staff, cleaning the sites and getting the hospitals back open and treating patients.

Australian Medical Association state professor John Burgess said the rumour had been “deeply distressing” to health workers.

“These are the guys on the frontline. They’ve been fighting the coronavirus on behalf of patients, colleagues and the community. The last thing they need is unsubstantiated claims circling,” he said.