A man who tested positive to coronavirus after attending a Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne last weekend had not download the COVIDSafe app, Victorian health authorities say.
Key points:
- A group of friends who were with the infected man at the rally on Saturday have been placed into self-isolation
- Under national health advice, other people who attended the protest do not need to isolate unless they develop symptoms
- An organiser of the Melbourne protest said if there was a second wave, it was inappropriate to blame the rally
Victoria's Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the state had recorded four new cases of coronavirus, taking its total to 1,703.
One case was detected through routine testing, two were found in returned travellers in hotel quarantine, and one case was under investigation.
Ms Mikakos said the case under investigation was not believed to be linked to the Black Lives Matter protester.
Yesterday, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the man, who is in his 30s, was "very unlikely" to have acquired the virus at the protest and was not showing symptoms on the day, but may have been infectious at the demonstration.
This morning, Deputy Chief Health Officer Anneliese van Diemen said the man, who was wearing a mask at the rally, had not downloaded the coronavirus tracing app.
"The COVIDSafe app is one of our tools that we use to assist us to find additional contacts. It would have been useful, certainly, and we remain encouraging of people to download the app," she said.
"It appears that most of the protesters were wearing masks. It reduces the risk but it does not negate the risk."
Dr van Diemen also said under official advice, people who attended the protest did not have to self-isolate for 14 days.
Ms Mikakos said as health authorities could not release the name of the man, he was unlikely to receive any penalty.
The Minister said penalising the man could discourage others who were at the protest from coming forward to be tested.
She also said the man would not be named as doing so would be in breach of the Health Records Act.
"We made very clear that there was a public health risk for people attending any mass gathering event, regardless of the cause, regardless of the level of passion that people have about an issue," Ms Mikakos said.
"Having thousands of people come together was something that was incredibly, inherently risky."
Dr van Diemen said any increase in cases resulting from the protest could become obvious any time from now into next week.
"This is an infection that has an incubation period of anywhere between two and 14 days so it could be even later than next week by the time people incubate the infection, and then become symptomatic and get tested," she said.
"We will remain absolutely vigilant."
The infected protester had been "very cooperative" with health authorities and "very forthcoming" with information, Dr van Diemen said.
"At this point, the close contacts have been identified and are undertaking quarantine. All of them will undergo testing at the end of their quarantine."
Dr van Diemen said the likelihood of the man spreading the virus was "probably low risk" but warned it was early days and that could change.
Protest organiser says a second wave would have happened anyway
Melbourne Black Lives Matter protest organiser Tarneen Onus-Williams told ABC News Breakfast she would not feel responsible if the rallies resulted in a second wave.
"I think that there's going to be a second wave anyway, that has been the advice that has been given from the Government and from the health professionals," she said.
"There was more precaution taken at our rallies, than there is in the public. I know when I go to the supermarket people aren't standing 1.5 meters away from me and aren't wearing a mask and [using] hand sanitiser regularly."
Ms Onus-Williams, who is a member of Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, said to "assume" the second wave would result from the protest was "very inappropriate".
She also questioned why "people [can] gather for football, but we can't gather to save lives".
"I think that every single time that Aboriginal people take the streets, whether it's invasion day or black deaths in custody, there's an issue.
"We need to actually talk about what's happening in this country, because we are a very highly policed community and the police continue to place us violently, whether there is a pandemic or not."
Ms Onus-Williams said the Black Lives Matter movement was "a global issue" and called on the Government to supply personal protective equipment for protesters.
"I think that the Government needs to put in harm minimisation approaches because this is a big issue than Australia."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA2LTEyL3ZpY3RvcmlhLWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWNhc2VzLXByb3Rlc3Rlci1kaWQtbm90LWhhdmUtY292aWRzYWZlLWFwcC8xMjM0Nzc3MNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjM0Nzc3MA?oc=5
2020-06-12 02:02:59Z
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