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Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has been criticized over the state’s handling of the second destructive wave of the coronavirus.
The parliamentary inquiry focused on contract traceability and the testing regime in Victoria, assessing how the health department has responded to the pandemic.
Dr Sutton said authorities began to be overwhelmed by their efforts to track infections in the community when the state was registering 200 new cases a day in late May.
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“When you get to hundreds of cases, at that kind of level of 200 or more cases a day, it really starts to test your ability to get all that timely information for close conflicts … within that critical time frame.” Prof Sutton told the investigation.
“When you get to very, very high numbers, the ability to surpass them degrades.”
Liberal MP Georgie Crozier urged members of the Department of Health and Human Services about the “huge issues” identified in the search for contracts, which have led to the system becoming overwhelmed by the increase in the number of cases.
DHHS head Euan Wallace said the department was slowed by the lack of a digitized platform to calculate case numbers when infections have increased dramatically.
RELATED: How the Adelaide Outbreak Began
Software company Salesforce launched a digital platform at the department, but this was initially rejected.
Senior DHHS figures were unable to reveal who made that decision during the investigation, but Professor Wallace said he was too deeply involved with the increasing case numbers to implement a new system.
“It is not a case of rejection in itself. There have been several approaches to the department, “he told the investigation.
He said the decisions made at the time were based on what would be most beneficial now, rather than a more practical option across the board given the emergency response needed to contact Trace statewide.
“The decision was made to make improvements to the existing platform because those improvements could be delivered and implemented much faster than buying a brand new platform,” said Prof. Wallace.
“As our response has evolved, it has allowed us to say” OK, the long-term solution is a fully digital product. “
He said the department was focused on interviewing cases and putting contact tracking information into their system, and “putting down tools and building a new platform just wasn’t the appropriate decision.”
Reflecting on the state’s handling of the second wave, Prof Sutton said the biggest frustration was the lack of national support mechanisms to track down cases where clusters have emerged.
He said the health department was struggling to keep up with administrative responsibilities.
“The additional support has been straightened out and is handled much more smoothly,” Prof Sutton told the inquiry.
He said last week South Australia was able to seek help from multiple jurisdictions to manage its outbreak, but not enough has been done to help Victoria during its second wave.
Professor Sutton said SA’s recent response to the Parafield cluster shows that the neighboring state had learned from Victoria and created a blue print for future epidemics.
“I think it will also reflect that they need to have a person-centered approach in their contact tracing interviews so that they build rapport and trust and that they get accurate information to the fullest extent possible,” he told the inquiry.
Professor Sutton said public defamation of people caught lying to health officials, such as the pizza delivery man in Adelaide, is problematic.
“It sends a message to the wider community not to come forward with information, or maybe not even to undergo testing and be investigated as a case,” he said.
“Australia will protect this valuable low or absent community transmission status that we have and respond very quickly and decisively (to new outbreaks).
“If it’s too early, we’ll probably live with that.
“If we can take a few days to get more information to make sure we are in a good position and reduce the restrictions accordingly.”
The investigation comes as Victoria reported her 24th consecutive day of zero new coronavirus cases and no deaths on Monday.
The state has recorded 20,345 coronavirus cases and 819 deaths since the start of the pandemic, with 19,524 people recovering as of Monday.
A total of 7261 COVID-19 test results have been received in the past 24 hours, down from 10,530 on Sunday with a series of restrictions being relaxed in Victoria overnight as the state moves towards normal COVID.
The number of visitors allowed into homes each day has gone from two to 15, while outdoor gatherings have increased to a maximum of 50.
Masks are no longer mandatory outdoors but must be worn indoors and outdoors where there is crowds and socially escaping is not possible.
Hospitality venues will also be able to serve more customers: smaller venues can accommodate one person every 2 sq m up to 50 clients, while larger venues can accommodate up to 150 people per space with a total capacity of up to 300.
Financial reporter
Sydney
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