'Appalling': Government blamed as almost 2700 health workers contract COVID-19
Medical groups say fit testing of face masks must immediately be made mandatory for front-line health workers after state government analysis showed up to 80 per cent of Victorian healthcare staff infected with COVID-19 caught it at work.
While the findings validated the concerns of medical groups that have long disputed government suggestions only 10 per cent to 15 per cent of COVID-19 cases among healthcare worker were acquired on the job, they have also prompted fury.
Victoria's healthcare workers are hampered by fundamental failings with the system. Credit:Jason South
The government is facing an intense backlash from the healthcare sector after it opted to run a single "fit testing" trial – which uses a machine to ensure mask are sealed to the face – for staff at Northern Health, rather than making the infection control practice mandatory across the state.
Fit testing is mandatory for workers dealing with asbestos and silica, but not always for hospitals dealing with COVID-19, leaving doctors and nurses vulnerable to the deadly virus.
Australian Medical Association national president Omar Khorshid has demanded revised guidelines on protective gear, arguing the current infection control measures were clearly not working in Victoria.
"Why you need a trial to work out if people should be fit tested is beyond comprehension," he said.
"We know this works and it should be immediately rolled out to all front-line healthcare workers across the country. Will it take the deaths of healthcare workers to convince them?"
Victorian Australian Medical Association President Julian Rait agreed that fit testing should be mandatory across the state, noting it was already routine practice in some hospitals in South Australia and NSW.
"Experts advising the AMA believe that fit testing is justified for all healthcare workers required to wear N95 masks," he said, adding that the AMA had requested the government’s raw data to do their own analysis and examine the protocols in institutions where there had been clusters.
The long-awaited analysis, which examined healthcare worker infections during the state's second wave, also found COVID-19 cases among aged care workers in Victoria accounted for more than 60 percent of all infections.
Victorian Chief Medical Officer Andrew Wilson said there had been 2692 cases of COVID-19 among Victorian healthcare workers as of August 23, most occurring in July and August.
He said about 70 to 80 per cent of the healthcare workers that had caught the virus contracted it at work. In the first wave, only 22 per cent of infected healthcare workers were believed to have caught coronavirus on the job.
Leading causes of infection were substandard personal protective equipment – including misuse of face masks – and transmission through shared spaces, such as contact in break rooms.
Dr Khorshid said the analysis showed health authorities had failed to adequately protect Victorian healthcare workers, which should be a "warning and wake-up call for the rest of Australia."
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid says current infection control measures are not working in Victoria.Credit:Tony McDonough
Dr Khorshid said he had asked the federal government to revise current guidelines that do not require higher-grade P2 or N95 respirator masks for use with all COVID-19 patients.
"We need to ensure this diaster is not replicated," he said. "Two weeks ago, the AMA asked the infection control expert group to rethink guidance that currently does not mandate respirator mask use for positive or likely COVID-19 patients. No other workplace would accept workers being exposed to illness at the rates we are seeing carers, nurses, and doctors falling ill in Victoria."
Melbourne doctor Benjamin Veness is one of a group of front-line healthcare workers who has called on federal Health Minister Greg Hunt to reform the national advisory panel on infectious disease, arguing its advice on masks in hospitals is outdated.
"To tell us now they are only going to do a trial for some staff in a single site when you've got nearly 3000 workers infected with COVID-19 is not only insulting, but it also completely underlines this lack of emphasis on occupational health and safety," Dr Veness said.
"This is an absolutely appalling denial of responsibility."
Last week the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists wrote to Mr Hunt as well as Victorian and NSW health ministers to raise serious concerns that fit testing was not being conducted at all hospitals.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the virus had often spread among colleagues when they had taken off their masks while on a meal break, or were having a cup of coffee together in a tea room.
The Health Minister said the government's healthcare worker infection prevention and well-being taskforce would examine the adequacy of lunch and break rooms at aged care facilities and hospitals.
Ms Mikakos also vowed the government would ensure there were regular, asymptomatic testing of healthcare workers in COVID wards, as well as fit testing of N95 masks.
In hospitals, 70 per cent of infections were among nurses, while about 11 per cent were doctors, the data showed.
The government has also announced a range of measures to reduce healthcare worker infections, with staff to have greater access to N95 masks in emergency departments, intensive care units, aged care facilities and COVID-19 wards. Designated spotters will also help monitor the proper use of protective gear in all health services.