Victoria COVID LIVE updates: Exposure sites in Bendigo, Axedale as Greater Melbourne braces for more cases; restrictions reintroduced - The Age

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The Department of Health tweet has arrived and it’s not good news. Victoria has recorded 10 new cases of COVID-19 but it’s worth noting that half of those were the five reported late yesterday.

So we have five new cases today. Acting Premier James Merlino, Health Minister Martin Foley and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton will be up at 9.45am. We’ll keep you updated!

And in more footy news, The Age’s chief AFL writer Jake Niall has this update for Collingwood and Port Adelaide fans who attended Sunday’s clash at the MCG.

A footy fan attended the Magpies-Power match at the MCG on Sunday before testing positive to COVID-19.Credit:Getty

Five thousand spectators at the Collingwood-Port Adelaide last Sunday at the MCG have been contacted by the Department of Health, requesting that they be tested and isolate until the result of the test, after the department confirmed late on Tuesday night that a woman – who is part of the Whittlesea COVID cluster – attended the game.

The AFL believes that while there has been major disruptions and understandable complaints about difficulty with ticketing in going to games, the fact that the games can proceed at COVID normal capacity without further crowd restrictions justifies the tracing measures around barcodes, ticketing and booking.

Marvel Stadium’s roof will open for the first time in 2021 in order for crowd capacities to stay at 85 per cent, while Essendon and Hawthorn will flee Melbourne on Wednesday to guarantee their weekend matches.

AFL heavyweights were locked in late night discussions with health authorities on Tuesday.

As they did for much of 2020, they are frantically trying to move teams around the country before they are potentially locked down and unable to travel, which would risk the smooth continuance of the season.

Marvel Stadium’s roof is set to open this weekend. Credit:Getty

Sources familiar with the discussions have told The Age the AFL can deem round 11 matches at Marvel Stadium – including Friday night’s blockbuster between ladder leaders Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs – as “outdoor events” if they open the roof.

Government officials will allow crowds to stay capped at 85 per cent pending any further mystery cases on Wednesday, as long as games aren’t housed at “indoor venues”.

Essendon, who play the West Coast Eagles in Perth on Saturday night, will fly out of Melbourne on Wednesday.

Once arriving in Western Australia, they will be tested and forced to isolate in their hotel rooms before leaving to train or play.

Essendon officials have been told the test results in Perth are taking between six and 10 hours.

Hawthorn, meanwhile, who take on the Gold Coast Suns in Darwin on Saturday night, will have to fly via Sydney or Brisbane as the AFL desperately searches for flights.

League executives have been so far unable to locate a charter flight direct to Darwin and will therefore send Hawthorn players and officials via NSW or Queensland on a commercial flight first to ensure they depart Melbourne before the COVID situation can escalate.

The AFL is also looking closely at Adelaide’s Sunday fixture against reigning premiers Richmond at the MCG.

The Crows will likely have to fly in and out on the day of the game, but that may be difficult with the match scheduled to start at 1.10pm.

The league may look to push the start time back to allow the club extra time, or the match could even be swapped with one of the later games.

Sydney host Carlton at the SCG on Sunday, while Port Adelaide play Fremantle in the 4.40pm timeslot at the Adelaide Oval.

The Blues are yet to change their travel plans, as the NSW government have historically been less restrictive with travel from Victoria.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all the rumours flying around today? New exposure sites! More restrictions! Another (and I emphasise, it’s only possible at this stage) lockdown! Argh, it’s exhausting.

So let’s take a breath and have a look at some of the things we actually DO know. This considered piece from our health editor Aisha Dow is worth a read. She says outbreaks are inevitable, but disastrous outcomes don’t have to be and this latest cluster in Melbourne highlights the cracks in our coronavirus armour.

A mass vaccination clinic at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building.Credit:Tom Burton

It’s a telling fact that if you were an eligible older Victorian it was easier to get a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday than it was to queue for a test.

Experts have been warning for months that new outbreaks are inevitable in Australia, yet a collective complacency has us sleepwalking into another potential disaster.

It’s a script Victorians should be familiar with by now. On Monday morning, news came of the state’s first locally acquired coronavirus cases in 86 days. By Tuesday afternoon we had nine cases on our hands, and concern that we could have had at least one person infectious in the community from May 15, more than week before the cluster was detected.

Fresh restrictions have been introduced, limiting gatherings and mandating masks indoors, and only time will tell if more will be needed to tackle the outbreak.

After a 2020 marked by months of lockdown, and months without any community transmission, how did we get back here?

Read more here.

RMIT University has restricted student and staff access to the buildings visited by the contractor who tested positive for COVID-19.

The university contractor attended level two of RMIT’s Building 56 at Queensberry St, in Carlton, on Friday 21 May between 8am and 10.30am.

The university said there will be no access to buildings 56 and 57 while deep cleaning takes place. The remainder of the campus buildings will remain open.

The university also said the building would soon be added to the government’s exposure site list.

Cafes, pubs, supermarkets, toy shops and Clifton Hill Macca’s are among the exposure sites listed on the Coronavirus Victoria website. However, as we know, there are venues including RMIT, the MCG and Prahran bar Three Monkeys not yet listed. We’re keeping a close eye on the exposure sites and our fabulous graphic designer Jamie Brown is keeping this graph updated for you. We’re hoping the government’s press conference will be sooner than later this morning, and we’ll do our best to bring you that live.

Increased restrictions in Greater Melbourne wouldn’t be surprising in the wake of the spread of the northern suburbs outbreak, says Melbourne University epidemiologist Tony Blakely.

Dr Blakely said health authorities are probably discussing measures that would target the northern suburbs in an attempt to contain the spread, but that the outbreak may already have outrun public health teams.

There were long lines at a Northern Health COVID-19 testing clinic in Epping yesterday.Credit:Justin McManus

“I’m sure there’s a discussion that... is happening inside the Victorian government right now about whether to do some form of tighter restrictions in the northern suburbs,” he told ABC’s Radio National. “There’s a chance it may already be ahead of us.”

He also urged anyone living in the northern suburbs to work from home, if they can.

“My advice, if you’re in the northern suburbs, and you can easily work from home, do it,” he said. “The fewer people moving around the better.”

He said in pre-COVID times, epidemiologists estimated that an infected person could transmit the virus to, on average, 2.5 people. But, in this instance, he suspected it could be as high as five.

“In pre-COVID times, if I was infected, I’d pass this on to, on average, 2.5 people. For the current virus, that might be as high as five people,” he said.

Dr Blakely said it would be a “tough day” for Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.

As we mentioned earlier, a positive case attended the MCG last Sunday. It was revealed in a late-night tweet by health authorities but is yet to appear on the Victorian government’s official list of public exposure sites.

RMIT has also revealed a COVID positive case attended their venue last Friday but the Carlton campus is not on the list of exposure sites, either.

And now the Three Monkeys bar in Prahran has taken to social media to reveal a positive case attended their venue on Saturday night through to early Sunday morning. The post said the bar is listed as “a tier 1b exposure site”. To be safe, let’s assume that means a tier one site and anyone who attended the bar during the exposure period of Saturday, May 22 from 9.10pm until 1.30am on Sunday should isolate immediately and get tested.

In good news for the US, more than half of all adults across the country have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the White House said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).

That’s roughly six weeks before US President Joe Biden’s July 4 goal of 70 per cent of the adult population receiving at least one shot.

The halfway mark comes as federal, state and local leaders press ahead with delivering COVID-19 shots to people who have not yet received them, while also battling vaccine hesitancy, fears and misinformation.

“Now, with another week left in May, half of all US adults are fully vaccinated,” White House senior COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt tweeted overnight.

New coronavirus infections nationwide have settled into a sustained decline as more people become vaccinated.

US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday the seven-day average case count in the United States is now below 23,000 per day, down about 25 per cent from the prior week.

“I remain cautious but hopeful they will continue to trend downward,” Walensky said, adding that people who are not yet vaccinated should still follow federal guidance on social distancing and mask wearing during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. Reuters