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Recent news reports have said that a high number of people who have tested positive have not been isolating at home when contacted by DHHS. But it seems that there are also people who have been waiting to be contacted by the health department, but have not been phoned. Because of the high numbers of positive cases, the system is struggling to cope. Doctor Haikerwal in Altona is very concerned that contacts of positive cases are not being contacted quickly enough. He is making sure these close contacts are tested as they are not being advised by the public health team. Two people whose entire households tested positive for COVID-19 have accused the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) of not contacting them and being slow to pass on information.
Contact tracing becomes impossible when you get very high numbers of infections every day. Tracing needs to be done quickly.
People in Melbourne have been wearing masks for two weeks now, so we should be seeing a downturn in infection numbers, but in the past 24 hours Victoria recorded another 725 cases of coronavirus, which worryingly is the worst daily tally we have had. There were around 24,000 tests processed, so this is back up to around 3 per cent again. I think there is a lag here too, due to the number of tests having to be processed. When I had my test back in early June, it took less than 24 hours to get the results. Now it’s taking several days at best. Some people are saying it’s taking up to six days to get their results.
Stage Four workplace restrictions come into force at midnight tonight. Essential workers will now have to carry a permit.