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Exclusive: 'Youngest COVID-19 victim' may have died of another cause
By Richard Baker
The man in his 20s who was called Australia's youngest COVID-19 victim was suspected by senior health officials to have died from another cause, possibly a drug overdose, at the time Premier Daniel Andrews publicly linked his death to the coronavirus.
There is no suggestion Mr Andrews was aware of the possible involvement of drugs or another cause of death before his August 14 daily briefing, but The Age has been told by people familiar with the case that officials in the Health Department had discussed the circumstances of the man's death as being indicative of an overdose.
The young man was infected with coronavirus when he died, but the State Coroner, John Cain jnr, has in recent days decided to classify the case as a "reportable death" requiring a coronial investigation.
Judge Cain's decision is significant because the Coroners Court’s general advice to doctors is to regard COVID-19 deaths as being from natural causes, which would not be "reportable", and not prompt an inquiry.
The announcement by Mr Andrews on August 14 that a man in his 20s was among the latest 14 COVID-19 victims shocked many and sparked national headlines. The other 13 deaths announced by the Premier that day were people aged in their 80s and 90s.
“We are talking about the youngest person that has died of this virus, or at least with this virus. That’s the other issue that would need to be teased out," Mr Andrews said, adding that a coronial inquiry might be necessary.
A spokeswoman for Judge Cain declined to answer questions about the inquiry into the young man's death.
The revelation of the coroner's inquiry comes amid public debate about how coronavirus-related deaths are being attributed and collated in Australia. By Thursday, Australia had 778 deaths linked to COVID-19.
Under federal Health Department guidelines, a death is defined for surveillance purposes as COVID-19-related if the person dies with the virus and there is no clear alternative cause of death, such as trauma. Those guidelines also stipulate that when a coroner’s report finds a different cause of death, those findings take precedence.
The death of the man in his 20s does not appear to have been recorded as an official COVID-19 death in Australia's National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.
The system has recorded no COVID-19 related deaths for anyone aged in their 20s or below. The database shows a handful of deaths of people aged in their 30s, while the majority of those who have died have been aged 80 and over.
'People crave it': How music is helping Royal Melbourne Hospital staff cope
Here's something really lovely to break up all the serious news today, from reporter Paul Sakkal:
As staff at the Royal Melbourne Hospital prepared for the coming pandemic in March, the hospital's head of music therapy, Emma O'Brien, identified a gap in workplace morale and thought music could help.
"We could see the staff needed extra support," Dr O'Brien said.
"It's a privilege to work here but it's also very stressful.
"Someone mentioned that pub choir had become couch choir, and they said 'could we do something like that?'. I said, 'what a great idea!'."
At that moment, when nurses and doctors were more focussed on PPE guidelines than basslines, the hospital's unofficial "scrub choir" was born.
In the early months of the pandemic, the group gained immediate popularity among staff and wrote a song about getting prepared for the pandemic called "Surreal" to encapsulate the movie-like reality.
In the middle months of the pandemic, the choir wrote a song about the experience of living through it.
Their third original track, called "Gratitude", is in the works and will focus on the things staff are thankful for that have helped them cope with the strict lockdown.
The video clips associated with the tracks help illustrate the radical changes to our daily lives as 2020 has progressed, said Dr O'Brien.
"It was a completely different feeling back then before the world changed … There were no masks and we were in much bigger groups," she said.
What are Victoria's biggest outbreaks?
By Rachael Dexter
The Victorian Department of Health has confirmed that outbreaks in Colac, Frankston and Dandenong are the biggest active outbreaks they are currently dealing with that aren't aged care.
Those are:
- 17 active cases linked to Bulla Dairy Foods in Colac (+2 since yesterday)
- 16 active cases linked to Peninsula Health Frankston Hospital (no change)
- 12 active cases linked to Dandenong Police Station (no change)
- 11 active cases linked to Vawdrey Australia Truck Manufacturer in Dandenong (-1 since yesterday)
Keep in mind, around half of all active cases in the state are linked to aged care at the moment - so those settings are still the main driver of active infections.
Getting up to date information on aged care outbreaks is difficult, but we do know that as of today there are 87 facilities with current outbreaks – this has dropped by 10 in the past week.
Over the past 24 hours there have been new cases recorded at
- BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee (+1)
- Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping (+1)
- Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer (+2)
- BlueCrossRuckers Hill Aged Care Facility in Northcote (+3)
- Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg (+1)
Victorian authorities have also flagged they are looking at a new outbreak at Mercy Place aged care facility in Templestowe.
Earlier this week we obtained a full list of aged care outbreaks above 5 cases. The searchable table below lists active cases, deaths and total cases. This was up to date as of the 8th (two days ago).
Woolworths boss warns of potential stock shortages during Christmas
By Dominic Powell
The head of supermarket giant Woolworths Brad Banducci warned the Victorian government its stores in the state could suffer stock shortages of certain products in the lead up to Christmas if government restrictions that have crippled its supply chain are not eased.
Mr Banducci also expressed concerns that potential shortages on shelves of key goods could prompt shoppers to move between stores looking for the items they need, running contrary to the Andrews' government's goal of limiting travel due to COVID-19.
Mr Banducci issued the warning in an industry roundtable with the Andrews government hosted by the Business Council of Australia on Wednesday night.
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have been told by multiple sources that Mr Banducci warned the government if supply chains were not operating at 100 per cent capacity over the coming months, individual stores could start to see stock shortages across certain products, similar to what was experienced in March and April.
This could lead to broader shortages across the Victorian network as customers shop around to find what they need.
Supermarkets are currently running at reduced capacity in their distribution centres and warehouses due to the Victorian government's restrictions on supply chain operations which required businesses to drop staff by a third.
The industry secured some concessions from the government after they warned the restrictions could cause food shortages across the state, however, the retailers are now concerned on how the strained supply chains will cope with the Christmas rush.
What we know about Victoria’s 1483 active cases today
By Rachael Dexter
Thursday is a big day for data in Victoria - it's the day we get weekly postcode data on active cases in the community. Our data journalist Craig Butt is busy combing through it all and we'll be able to map that all for you by tomorrow morning.
In the meantime though, there's here's what we can glean from the Chief Health Officer's daily data release:
The number of active cases in Victoria today dropped by 139 to 1483 on Thursday.
- 763 (51 per cent) are linked to aged care (which includes staff and residents). That’s 66 fewer aged care cases today than yesterday.
- 251 (17 per cent) are healthcare workers (who include aged care and hospital/medical staff). That’s only one fewer than yesterday.
- 16 (1 per cent) are in residential disability settings. That’s one fewer than yesterday.
- 1393 (94 per cent) are in Melbourne. That’s 130 fewer than yesterday.
- 72 (5 per cent) are in regional Victoria. That’s 10 fewer than yesterday.Those 72 include 29 in Colac Otway (-1 since yesterday), 11 in Greater Geelong (-4), two in Greater Bendigo (no change) and there are no cases in Ballarat.
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy offered ADF instead of private security to Victorian CHO
By Tammy Mills
There's a lot of information coming out of Victoria's inquiry into hotel quarantine today. We aren't streaming it live on the blog today, but you can watch it online here. Our legal affairs reporter Tammy Mills is watching and bring us live updates today, including this latest one:
Australia's Chief Medical Officer offered Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and his deputy the use of defence force personnel in hotel quarantine instead of private security.
Counsel assisting the Victorian inquiry into the hotel quarantine program, Ben Ihle, told the hearings this afternoon that Professor Murphy made the offer before June 23 to use Australian Defence Force "assistance in lieu of private security."
Department of Health and Human Services deputy secretary Melissa Skilbeck, who is giving evidence to the inquiry, said she did not believe she was aware of the offer.
The decision to use private security to man the hotels used for the quarantine program has been a vexed issue.
More than 30 guards contracted COVID-19 in outbreaks in two different hotels.
The virus spread from hotel quarantine and into the community, leading to the state's second wave of the virus.
Sutton could have been in charge of the pandemic response, but someone else was chosen
By Tammy Mills
The Victorian Health Department went against Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton's wishes and appointed someone else in charge of the response to the pandemic.
The inquiry into the state's hotel quarantine program heard this afternoon that under the emergency management plan, the state's chief health officer would be made the controller in charge of the emergency response to the pandemic.
Department of Health and Human Services deputy secretary Melissa Skilbeck told the inquiry Professor Sutton's time was already under pressure and she advised the department secretary that the controller role should be allocated to someone else who had more time to coordinate the logistics.
"To your mind, was the Chief Health Officer in agreement?" counsel assisting the inquiry Ben Ihle asked.
"No he was not," Ms Skilbeck replied.
"Would it be fair to say he was against that decision?" Mr Ihle asked.
"Yes he was, initially," Ms Skilbeck said.
Ms Skilbeck said regardless of who the state controller is, the decisions of the Chief Health Officer could not be "second guessed and cannot be overridden by the state controller."
Ms Skilbeck's evidence in the inquiry continues.
Qantas launches petition to put pressure on states to open borders
By Craig Platt
Qantas has launched a petition calling on states with low levels of COVID-19 infections to open their borders and encouraged the airline's thousands of employees and suppliers to sign it.
The airline is also encouraging other parts of the travel industry, including airports, travel agents and tour companies, to join the campaign.
The petition calls for a national plan on border openings based on medical advice and a set definition of what constitutes a COVID-19 "hotspot".
The move comes after chief executive Alan Joyce questioned the border closures last month.
"Nobody has an issue with the international borders being closed, that's protected Australia," he said.
"Nobody's had an issue with the borders to Victoria being closed. But it's very clear that we don't have clear guidelines for when the borders will open, when they will close."
Those signing the online petition are asked to provide their postcode and leave a comment on what impact the border closures have had on them. Responses will then be sent to MPs.
The airline is also sending letters to MPs in Queensland and Western Australian electorates that rely on tourism, urging them to help create a framework for reopening borders.
The petition, titled "Safely Reopen Our Borders" reads:
"Australians love to travel. While it might be a while before we can fly overseas again, we're lucky there are so many amazing destinations right here in our own backyard. Not to mention friends and family we long to see again. But that can only happen if our domestic borders are opened.
Birthday get-together among 139 news fines in Victoria
By Simone Fox Koob
Victoria Police issued 139 fines to individuals breaching coronavirus restrictions in the past day, a third of which were for curfew breaches.
Of the fines issued in the past 24 hours, 46 were handed to people breaching the 8pm-5am curfew, 28 were issued at vehicle checkpoints, and 23 were given to those failing to wear a face covering.
Examples of fines provided by police included:
- A man who was travelling from Seaford back to his home in Maribyrnong. He was intercepted by police in Brighton after curfew and told police he was on his way home after visiting his partner. However, he then told police he had been in Seaford for work purposes, but was unable to provide a work permit or the name of his boss or the company he worked for.
- Four men who were found at a property in the Port Phillip area having birthday drinks. The host and guests were all fined.
- A man in a taxi who was intercepted at a vehicle checkpoint in Darebin during curfew hours. He told police he was on his way to visit a friend.
Recapping the day so far
By Rachael Dexter
G'day Rachael Dexter here taking the reins of the blog from Liam who has carried the morning and afternoon so far. Feel free to get in touch with news tips via email rachael.dexter@theage.com.au or Twitter.
Let's take a breather for a moment a recap the news of the day - there's a fair bit going on!
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2020-09-10 07:34:00Z
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