COVID TEST

Teenager isolates in Fountainside medi-hotel

HEALTH authorities are closely monitoring a Covid-positive Tasmanian teenager who is isolating at Hobart’s Fountainside medi-hotel, as the state’s quarantine facilities are put to the test for the first time since December last year.

The 15-year-old boy travelled to Hobart in an ambulance on Sunday, after a test taken at Launceston Airport on Friday showed he had contracted the virus. The teenager is the first Tasmanian to catch the virus in more than a year and has so far shown only mild symptoms.

He spent Saturday night in Launceston General Hospital as a way of safely isolating him from the rest of his family.

Health officials are confident Tasmania’s quarantine measures are strong enough to prevent breaches such as those that led to Deltavariant outbreaks interstate.

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy with Covid isolating in Hobart will be monitored closely by health professionals in the first test of Tasmania’s medi-hotel facility since last December.

The teen, who was transferred by ambulance from Launceston on Sunday, is the first confirmed Tasmanian to contract the virus in more than a year – the last case in August involved a Sydney visitor who tested positive and then left the state.

Fountainside, which has 48 rooms and is owned by the University of Tasmania, was last used to accommodate Covid-positive returned travellers from a repatriation flight in December 2020.

Health authorities will be keen to avoid a breakout of the Delta strain which has occurred interstate, with about 21 breaches of quarantine including cases in Melbourne from hotels this year and last year.

Health Department Secretary Kathrine MorganWicks said the Fountainside medi-hotel had been retained on standby for cases and activated within four hours of being notified of a case.

She said the model of care of the teenager, who has mild symptoms and is with his father at Fountainside, involved daily monitoring.

“They’re not actually admitted as a patient in hospital, they’re not sick enough for that,” Ms Morgan-Wicks said.

“(But) we’re only a hop, skip and a jump from the Hobart hospital so if there’s any kind of deterioration, clinicians can make a judgment for admission to hospital.”

Premier Peter Gutwein moved to reassure Tasmanians there was low risk to the community after the case was confirmed after the boy returned on a Virgin flight from Melbourne on Friday.

“The teenager and his family have done everything right in this process, and this case shows that our rigorous border systems are working – both in identifying this case very early and immediately acting to reduce the risk to the community,” he said.

“This is, of course, a reminder that Covid-19 remains a risk to our state, and our greatest weapon to reduce the risk to all of us is to get vaccinated.”

Launceston Airport has been declared an exposure site at 11.30am-12.30pm on Friday, October 1.

Mr Gutwein urged Tasmanians thinking of travelling interstate to inform themselves of exposure sites. “You might be able to get away to have a couple of days in the sun but it may be that when you return you may have to spend 14 days in quarantine.”

He said the state was on track to be 90 per cent doubledose vaccinated among those 16 and older by December 1, but that would still leave 130,000 Tasmanians unvaccinated.

Ms Morgan-Wicks said Tasmania was averaging 800-1000 tests a day and there were 25,000 vaccination spots available in the next six weeks.

Public Health director Mark Veitch said the boy travelled from Launceston Airport into quarantine at a family home, and had a routine Covid-19 test the same day.

“The person reported complying with all requirements, including wearing a mask, from arriving at Melbourne Airport until leaving Launceston Airport,” he said.

The 10 passengers on the flight have been contacted. Most were already in quarantine because of existing requirements and the remainder are also now in quarantine.

“A small number of biosecurity and security staff at Launceston Airport have also been identified as casual contacts and have been required to quarantine until undertaking a test,” Dr Veitch said.