ACT preparing to change contact tracing process

coronavirus,

The ACT’s Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman has signalled changes to the contact tracing system as the territory moves towards accepting “a degree of community transmission”. “We are looking at, as we have alluded to, what some of our processes might be when our numbers do increase, and we have started very seriously being able to implement that if need be,” she said at Sunday’s COVID-19 press conference. “Moving forward, we won’t be able to, or there won’t actually be any benefit in picking up every single case, and actually going out and identifying every single contact.” Dr Coleman said on Monday it would mean fewer exposure locations will be published in the coming months. “Those monitor and casual sites will become less important as our focus … switches from trying to find every case to really trying to find those ones where we know they’ll have a bigger impact.” The ACT is also considering having people fill out online forms when they test positive, rather than contact tracers conducting phone interviews. “We’re actually trialling an online form at the moment,” she said on Sunday. Dr Coleman also said they would consider having positive cases notify their own contacts to quarantine, “rather than relying on us to make that next step to contact those contacts.” Around 100 healthcare staff are currently quarantining for five to 14 days due to COVID-19 exposures across Canberra Hospital. The Chief Health Officer said on Monday updating quarantine requirements for healthcare staff going forward would be “really challenging” but may involve a “more nuanced consideration of risk.” “It’s a really challenging one isn’t it? Because the healthcare system is one of the settings in which we need to have the most protection, so the less circulation and transmission we have within a healthcare setting the better.” “What we are doing, and I understand AHPPC and national cabinet is considering a risk-based approach to how we do manage healthcare workers, based on vaccination status as well as PPE coverage and other risk mitigation strategies in place,” she said. “So the very near future will hold a more nuanced consideration of risk of transmission to healthcare workers based on the actual strategies that are in place to protect from transmission.” Dr Coleman said she would start “flagging” some of these things with the community on Tuesday when she would give an update on the outbreak, and a spike in cases seen over the past three days. NSW on Sunday announced a change for fully vaccinated close contacts, whereby they only need to quarantine for seven days rather than 14. Those who test negative on day six will be allowed to leave quarantine but must work from home where practicable, not attend hospitality settings, and not attend a high-risk settings even if it is your place of work. Chief Minister Andrew Barr has previously said that it would be months before substantial changes to methods were made. “I wouldn’t be anticipating radical change by the 15th of October, but by December 1 and beyond we may well have transitioned into a different model,” he said. “There’s still a lot of policy work, a lot of expert advice to receive, absorb, and then make a decision.” The test, trace, isolate and quarantine (TTIQ) system has been part of a three-fold approach to containing the virus in the territory, alongside vaccinations and public health restrictions. As vaccination rates go up and public health restrictions are relaxed in line with the national plan, the TTIQ system will need to adapt to higher daily case rates, as communities plan to live with the virus. Dr Coleman also said it was unlikely the ACT would return to daily case rates below 20s, after a record-high of 52 cases repeated over Friday and Saturday. “I don’t think that we will get down to below 20, I think that we’re looking at 30s, 40s, 50s at a minimum moving forward.” Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

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