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The growing spread of COVID-19 from Frankston, to Chadstone and on to Kilmore is being highlighted as a blueprint for everything that can go both right and wrong in the pandemic’s next phase.
Of the 14 new coronavirus cases confirmed on Saturday, six have so far been linked to known
outbreaks where health authorities have already asked close contacts to be isolated to avoid further spread.
The most significant increase centres of a cluster at Box Hill Hospital, which has grown to 10 cases including five members of a single family. Three staff and a patient have also been infected in the hospital outbreak, forcing all staff working in the COVID ward to undergo testing.
The latest cases have also seen Melbourne’s rolling 14 average plateau at 9.5 cases, making it almost impossible for the city to meet the average of five daily cases needed to end Melbourne’s lockdown by October 18.
But as the Andrews Government evaluates easing some coronavirus restrictions next week despite the higher than expected cases, the ability to contain such outbreaks is seen as even more vital.
A sixth case has connected to a Kilmore cluster – a diner at Oddfellows Café on October 3 – amid a strong response from the town’s community that has drawn praise from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.
“The way to win these clusters is doing exactly what Kilmore is doing,” Prof Sutton said.
“To have over 700 people test, to have close to 300 people in quarantine as full households, contacts of contacts or quarantining until significant results come through, that is exactly how this cluster will end.
“I’m sure in a week or two‘s time we will be talking about Kilmore having no further cases.”
Health Minister Martin Foley also pointed to the response to the connected Chadstone Shopping Centre outbreak – where 2634 people have been tested including 70 per cent of staff from open retailers – as a blueprint of what is needed for the state to open safely.
However, the fact that the current outbreaks were able to begin in Frankston before September 24 and then spread 40km to Chadstone, then another 100km to Kilmore, has also provided highlighted the dangers associated with increasing community movement.
“When you have got that essential work and people being totally compliant, but also when there is noncompliance, how easily it can get away, how easily it can spread geographically,” Prof Sutton said.
“It absolutely points to the challenge.
“But we still know that the things that work can work in these cases.”
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2020-10-10 11:37:00Z
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