Don’t take any chances

THE second wave of coronavirus on the mainland has left a lot of Australians on edge. During the week the Mercury spoke to people in hotel quarantine and some of them had some truly heartbreaking stories to tell.

There was Kellie Coy, who had travelled to Melbourne following the death of her brother. She didn’t even get to go to the funeral due to gathering restrictions and instead sat in her car outside to say goodbye via video link.

Louise Gore had travelled here from NSW to visit her seriously ill father who is in hospital in Hobart. She now has to wait out her 14 days in quarantine before she can see him. All she can do is hope she gets to him on time.

We’ve also seen a stream of negative social media commentary aimed at people travelling to the state that is as unhelpful as it is insensitive.

Here in Tasmania we experienced more than two months of no active cases until a woman tested positive for coronavirus while in hotel quarantine.

Let’s be clear, the whole point of the quarantine system is to pick up cases before they spread through the community. In this case, hotel quarantine has served its purpose perfectly well.

Today the Mercury reports that five staff from the Royal Hobart Hospital have been furloughed as they may have been exposed to the virus.

According to the Australian Medical Association Tasmania, the move is just a precautionary measure and there is nothing to suggest the staff were not wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment.

Given it’s only been a couple of months since Tasmania witnessed a coronavirus cluster in the state’s North-West, there is significant public interest in every case or potential case.

The North-West outbreak was understood to have arrived via a Ruby Princess cruise ship passenger but the virus then spread among staff and patients at the North West Regional Hospital.

An interim report into the cluster made 17 recommendations.

Some staff worked while symptomatic, meetings were held in confined spaces and some health workers worked across multiple facilities in the region.

One of the recommendations was to implement a new mandatory training package around PPE and communications.

Coronavirus is a crisis like most of us have never experienced or imagined, and it’s a steep learning curve.

But the public should be reassured at what seems like very proactive measures taken by hospital staff in this instance. It is hoped that this is a live demonstration that lessons have been learned since the North-West outbreak.

Given the scale and severity of this pandemic, the public needs to stay informed about how it is being managed.

There will be further cases and there will likely be further outbreaks — indeed countries around the world are experiencing second waves of this deadly virus.

We all have a responsibility to remain vigilant and if, as these hospital workers seem to have done, we believe we have encountered the slightest chance of exposure, then we have to do the right thing and isolate ourselves until the risk has passed.

Let’s hope this can be an example of Tasmania getting it exactly right.

Responsibility for all editorial comment is taken by the Editor, Jenna Cairney, Level 1, 2 Salamanca Square, Hobart, TAS, 7000