The pack of masks made it clear what was about to come.
About five minutes before the Premier and Health Minister walked in yesterday for a media conference that would bring life as we know it to a temporary halt in most of WA, government staffers asked all the journalists, photographers and camera operators present to don face masks — a first even for the pandemic era in WA.
Then Mark McGowan came in, masked up, to deliver the concerning news.
"At about midnight we received a positive COVID-19 test result," the Premier said.
"That positive result has come from a male hotel quarantine security guard."
Word that something serious was up had spread rapidly even before that grim news was publicly shared.
The last-minute cancellation of a Labor election campaign announcement was a sure sign that something was wrong, with the Perth rumour mill going into overdrive.
So much so, that some supermarket shelves had already been wiped clean before the five-day lockdown had even been announced.
WA's 10-month stretch without COVID-19 in the community had come to a screeching halt and it took little time for panic to set in.
West Australians will soon find out how well the Government and authorities used that time they had to plan and prepare for a situation that was always looked at as a possibility.
Big tests and big questions
WA's regime to swab people for the virus will itself be tested over the coming days, as people who attended the 17 possible exposure sites present to COVID clinics.
Health Minister Roger Cook has repeatedly promised WA has the surge capacity to deal with a rush on clinics, but officials have admitted there could be significant waits over the coming days.
If the worst fears are realised and the virus has spread unknowingly through the community, WA's contact tracing regime will also be tested like never before.
LoadingAnd if things really take a sour turn that officials are desperately hoping can be avoided, West Australians could soon find out whether the health system is capable of responding to a number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals.
The Government is confident anything near that serious can be avoided though, banking on a short and sharp lockdown to crush the virus before it gains a foothold in the community.
Offering encouragement on that front is the fact the man's three housemates have so far tested negative to coronavirus, indicating that they would not have been infectious in the community even if they are still incubating the virus.
Keep in mind, as much as the virus can spread very quickly, there have also been cases — including one in WA — of a quarantine worker testing positive without spreading it to the broader community.
Whatever happens with case numbers in the coming days though, the Government is sure to face questions on whether it had done enough to limit this possibility.
Quarantine rules under scrutiny
The infected man had two jobs — working as a quarantine security guard while also doing rideshare shifts on the side.
By a stroke of luck, he had not worked any rideshare shifts since he became infectious.
But the WA Government is already facing scrutiny on why it did not act sooner to stop quarantine workers potentially spreading the virus through their other employment, something other states have moved to limit.
Likewise, there is also scrutiny on why daily testing of quarantine workers had not been implemented in time to pick up this case.
A rollout of that testing had begun, but the man's hotel was not yet included — with the program having taken weeks to implement.
"It's incredibly disappointing that we are still running what we would describe as an amateurish quarantine system," Australian Medical Association WA president Andrew Miller said.
By the Government's admission, the lockdown of two million West Australians will cause enormous disruption and anguish to those across the Perth, Peel and South West regions.
But WA is following what it sees as a blueprint, set by Queensland and South Australia, to put the clamps on quarantine outbreaks before they get too serious.
Undoubtedly for many West Australians, the events of the past 24 hours will be a cause for great concern. The long period of relative normality they have enjoyed through the pandemic has ended in an instant.
But other states — Queensland, South Australia, even the northern beaches of New South Wales and northern Tasmania much earlier in the pandemic — have shown that outbreaks can be brought under control very quickly and that relative normality can resume soon enough.
By the end of a week unlike any other in the last century in WA, West Australians will find out whether that will be their fate too.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTAyLTAxL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWxvY2tkb3duLWxlYXZlcy13YS1mYWNpbmctYS13ZWVrLWxpa2Utbm8tb3RoZXIvMTMxMDgyMTbSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTMxMDgyMTY?oc=5
2021-02-01 01:20:00Z
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