Prepare to be locked in
Dan’s dire warning
VICTORIANS have been told to brace for “extreme measures” over the coming months, with school closures and the cancellation of public events inevitable to minimise coronavirus deaths.
The dire warning from Premier Daniel Andrews came as queues of face mask-clad Victorians began extending out of Melbourne’s major hospitals.
Health authorities confirmed another three Victorian coronavirus cases yesterday, including the state’s first patient-to-patient transmission.
The infection caused Carey Baptist Grammar to close until next week after a teacher in her 50s caught the virus from her partner, who was confirmed as having COVID-19 after returning from the US on February 29.
Victoria now has 18 confirmed cases, while Australia has recorded 100, including three deaths.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will today announce a $2.4 billion package including telehealth measures to make it easier for Victorians in self-isolation to contact doctors from home.
Funding will also see the establishment of up to 100 popup fever clinics across Australia and a communications campaign, possibly including the development of a stand-alone app.
Mr Andrews yesterday released a four-stage pandemic plan after a marathon threehour meeting of his security and emergency management cabinet, warning it was a matter of “if, not when” public events and workplaces would need to be shut down.
While he could not predict when the unprecedented action would be required, overseas modelling indicates it is effective 10-15 weeks after community transmission begins — which may have already begun in Victoria.
“We are told by the experts that we are going to reach a phase where there will be such significant transmission of this virus between Victorians, unrelated to overseas travel, that we will need to take extreme measures,” Mr Andrews said.
“We will need to ask Victorians to do things that we have never asked them to do before.
“Part of that plan is the inevitability that we will get to the point where, rather than one school being closed, all our schools will be closed; rather than people simply distancing themselves and quarantining themselves we may have entire sectors and workforces where people are working from home.
“We will see large sporting events, cultural events, events of some significance where it is simply unacceptable to allow people to be in those numbers at that scale, that close together. That will mean some very big events are cancelled.”
Elite private school Carey Baptist Grammar will remain closed until at least next week amid fears the infected senior school teacher may have infected dozens of the students.
The English teacher contracted coronavirus from “household contact”.