Isolation mixed messages at Colac abattoir

CRITICAL days were lost in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 across regional Victoria when Colac abattoir workers were told they did not need to isolate while awaiting test results.

Workers went to pubs, supermarkets and moved through the community for two days after being tested following a positive confirmed case at the lamb processor on Friday, June 17.

At least 47 cases have since been linked to the outbreak, raising fears for the regional centre currently outside the hard Melbourne lockdown.

A flyer handed to workers on the Friday by testers from Colac Area Health, on the advice of Department of Health and Human Services, informed workers they did not need to isolate. They were not deemed close contacts.

“It may take a few days for your test results to come back,” the flyer read.

“You do not need to selfisolate while you wait for your results if you are feeling well.”

But that advice was changed two days later by Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton who reclassified all 750 workers as close contacts.

Staff then received a text that day updating them on the advice and telling them to selfisolate for 14 days.

A relative of a meatworks employee said the entire community was on edge, waiting to see how far the virus had spread through their community over those couple of days.

“The messages, although that letter has been rectified, caused confusion and was misinformation,” the relative said.

“People are terrified. Our whole community in the Colac Otway shire are seriously jumpy.”

It is understood workers completed their shifts that morning and were sent home, before being called back for testing.

“They were going home, mingling with housemates, going to the pub and supermarket,” a relative of a worker said. “This was totally avoidable.”

Premier Daniel Andrews described it as a “very significant outbreak”.

“That particular workplace is a workplace-based outbreak and there’s a really concerted effort, a significant team of people working to support that business, its workforce, the local town, and Colac Health,” he said.

“It’s a very significant challenge but one I think that we’re equal to.”