Testing blitz for Colac
MORE than 2000 Colac region residents have been tested for coronavirus since the town recorded its first case last Friday.
Experts from Barwon Health have been working with Colac Area Health to prioritise the region’s testing and ensure results are returned within 48 hours.
Contact tracing has linked four more cases of coronavirus to the region’s Australian Lamb Company cluster, bringing the outbreak to 17.
As of Wednesday, the Colac local government area had 26 active cases of coronavirus, while a case included in Tuesday’s tally was removed.
ALC – which employs around 700 people – is in a two-week enforced lockdown while all staff employed at the Colac facility are in quarantine.
“Colac Area Health organised pop-up testing on site hard behind the scenes to improve product availability through these alternative sites over the coming days.”
A number of unhappy shoppers, however, haven’t been sympathetic to the impacts Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak is having on the supermarket, taking to social media to air their grievances over high prices, social distancing in where the majority of employees were tested, with results sent to Geelong for analysis,” spokesman Richard Amos said.
The town’s other largest employers – Bulla Dairy Foods and AKD Softwoods – have not yet reported any cases.
Colac Chamber of Commerce vice president Alex McKenzie said there were fears stores and “the current state of delivery (non) availability”.
Responding to one accusation of “price gouging”, Woolworths said that “due to current supply challenges caused by unprecedented demand, we’re unable to support as many specials as we have in the past”.
“As we reset our supply position, we’ll be looking to rethe virus could have an even bigger economic impact on the town if cases were detected at either Bulla or AKD.
Bulla chief executive officer Allan Hood said the 500 staff at the Colac site were encouraged to be tested if they were feeling unwell, displaying symptoms of COVID-19 or had been in close contact with a confirmed case of coronaviinstate many of specials our customers know and love,” they wrote.
Other shoppers shared images of fruit and vegetable sections stripped bare, writing they’d been “corralled and forced into indoor super-foodmarkets with broken supply chains due to #COVID-19 affected distribution centres”.
Supermarket shelves in rus. Mr Hood said the company was following the outbreak and had acted proactively by introducing new hygiene and safety protocols, including the mandatory wearing of face masks for all external visitors and employees.
The company is also segregating team member’s shifts and break times to eliminate
this week, however, ahead of mandatory face mask-wearing being imposed on Melbourne and Mitchell Shire residents tonight. cross contamination and is conducting detailed contract tracing.
An AKD spokesman said while none of its staff members had tested positive, a number of employees who had been contact with confirmed cases were in insolation.
Trinity College, which has one confirmed case, will remain closed until August 3,
The jail and five other facilities – Hopkins Correctional Centre, Langi Kal Kal Prison, Ravenhall Correctional Centre, Fulham and Loddon – are in lockdown while Corrections Victoria conducts contact tracing to determine who else may have come into contact with the infected guard.
While the officer only worked at the privately managed Ravenhall he is believed to have come into contact with a small number of other prisoners who were transferred to other facilities.
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman said measures were being taken in line with Corrections Victoria’s coronavirus (COVID-19) management plans.
The coronavirus infection has prompted advocacy group Jesuit Social Services to call for all low-level prisoners and other vulnerable groups to be released from the state’s prison system.
Chief executive officer Julie Edwards said the organisation was “deeply concerned” about a potential COVID-19 outbreak in prisons given many prisoners have underlying health conditions.
It’s understood the government has no plans for the early release of prisoners. with all students expected to complete remote learning during this period.
College principal Paul Clohesy said staff had contacted 80 close-contacts of the infected student to ensure they followed DHHS guidelines.
He said the school reached out to families after the department had not made contact with close-contacts of the cases days after receiving the information.
“The earlier the information gets out, the better,” Mr Clohesy said.
Delays in contact tracing are understood to now be under control.
Mayor Jason Schram praised the community for their self-imposed isolation and said more than 70 per cent of children had not gone to school this week following the outbreak.
“We’ve taken it upon ourselves to protect each other until this testing and contact tracing is complete,” Cr Schram said.