ALARM AT MISSING 24 HOURS OF DATA
A MISSING 24 hours of data for Townsville’s Covid-19 positive case exposure sites has sparked concern in the community.
With a positive Covid-19 case reported in the North Queensland capital on Thursday, Townsville went into overdrive with thousands turning up to be tested and more flocking to be vaccinated.
But the missing data for
September 25, when Townsville hosted the Rugby Championship and Flinders Street was packed with union fans, has caused unease in the community.
The only Saturday listing was for the man’s time at the Hotel Grand Chancellor.
However, Queensland Health revealed it only listed information when it could not contact every person who was in a place.
For example, if the Covid-19 positive man had visited a shop, and every person in the shop had checked in, Queensland Health would have all of their details.
If the public health unit can identify all individuals and communicate with them directly, the details are not included on the list of exposure venues.
The introduction of the Check In Queensland app has been invaluable to contact tracing.
Chief health officer Jeannette Young said on Thursday the positive Townsville case had been diligent with his use of the Check In Queensland app.
Businesses are also able to provide public health units with the likes of swipe card access times and CCTV footage to help track the movements of individuals.
As part of the contact tracing process, the positive case is
interviewed and exposure venues and times are identified.
Depending on the risk level with the type of venue, experts then determine a time period of potential spread occurring.
If there are people who are identified by the infected person as having had contact, contact tracing staff get in touch with them directly.
If there is a risk of spread within the venue the infected person attended and people cannot be contacted, the alert will go out through the contact tracing website, media and social media.
Decisions about exposure sites are many by public health professionals, who assess each location and determine the risk.
These decisions are made based on the length of time the infected person spent at the venue, the number of people there at the same time, and the type of venue.
The information is then put on the Queensland Health website so the community can take action if needed.