‘Erring on the side of caution’

“Regardless of what further testing happens with the wastewater, we encourage people with the mildest of symptoms to come forward and get tested” – Andrew Freeman

EastGrampians Health Service leaders have urged Ararat district residents with any symptoms of coronavirus – no matter how mild – to get tested, after viral fragments were detected in the city’s wastewater.

Chief executive Andrew Freeman said a pop-up testing clinic at Ararat hospital went ‘very well’, with 149 people tested from lunch time on Friday through to Sunday evening.

“We kept the clinic open on Monday because we thought there might be a bit of a rush, with people maybe back from holidays for the long weekend,” he said.

“We had 37 people through on Monday morning.”

Throughout the four days, the service completed 197 COVID-19 tests at the Patricia Hinchey Centre.

Mr Freeman said all tests completed at the pop-up clinic returned negative results for coronavirus.

He said he was pleased with the community’s response to the testing plea.

“Some weekends we might test between 20 and 30 people,” he said.

“In comparison, from 20-30 to 150 is probably five or six times higher than usual, which is great.

“We thank the community for listening and coming forward and being tested.”

Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS, leaders on Friday announced they were not aware of any Ararat Rural City residents who had a recent COVID-19 illness or diagnosis.

Fragments of SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus, have also been detected in untreated wastewater samples collected in recent days from wastewater treatment plants at Colac, Gisborne, Kilmore and Shepparton where there are known residents with recent infections.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said while the test results might not mean the communities had active COVID-19 cases, DHHS had increased testing with local health services and taken further wastewater samples. He said people who have had coronavirus might shed the virus or virus fragments for several weeks on used tissues, off their hands and skin when washing, and in their stool, well beyond their infectious period.

“Wastewater testing may indicate there are undiagnosed cases of coronavirus – COVID-19 – in Ararat and we are erring on the side of caution by increasing the availability of testing in the area,” he said.

“Anyone feeling unwell with even the mildest of symptoms should get tested as soon as possible and isolate as they wait for their result.”

Wastewater testing provides an additional and complementary tool to the existing public health response and can provide early warning that coronavirus is in a community.

Victoria this month increased surveillance of wastewater.

Samples are now taken from 42 wastewater treatment plants across Victoria with additional sites recently at Bacchus Marsh, Bairnsdale, Cowes, Gisborne, Hamilton, Horsham, Kilmore, Melton, Portland and Warrnambool.

Professor Sutton said finding cases early could help the department’s disease detectives track the spread of the virus and implement strategies to minimise transmission.

He said the preliminary positive test result from Ararat was unexpected, with no known recent cases of coronavirus in the area.

He said as with all wastewater testing, it might be because a resident was shedding the virus, or a visitor to the area.

Mr Freeman said his its ‘preference’ was the viral fragments belonged to ‘someone travelling through the town’.

“That certainly is one of the options on the table, as to why there was a positive result with the viral fragments,” he said.

“But if there is an individual in the Ararat community who is positive, it is about them coming forward and being tested so we can identify them.

“It’s not about panicking. We’ll cross that bridge if there is a person with a positive result out there – we would just like to know.

“Regardless of what further testing happens with the wastewater, we encourage people with the mildest of symptoms to come forward and get tested.”

East Grampians Health Service’s walk-in clinic is now closed, but testing has resumed at a daily clinic in the hospital’s car park.

The clinic will be open from 1pm to 3pm and people seeking testing must call 5352 9532 for an appointment.