Andrews stands by nebuliser story after patient hits back
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has stood by his claim that a man broke rules governing quarantine when he used a nebuliser suspected of a role in the Holiday Inn coronavirus outbreak.
At a press conference on Friday, the Premier was adamant the nebuliser was never declared by the returned traveller.
“Short of barging into people’s rooms multiple times a day – which, again, I think might well produce a pretty big infection control risk itself – you have got to rely on people’s judgment,” Mr Andrews said on Friday.
Speaking from his bed in a Melbourne intensive care ward, the 38-year-old Victorian man said he declared his nebuliser to hotel quarantine staff, who also offered to source more of the medication administered by the machine.
He said that the public portrayal of the situation had made him feel like a criminal.
Asked about the conflicting accounts, Mr Andrews said on Saturday that the head of COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Emma Cassar would front the media to answer questions about the issue later in the day.
Mr Andrews said that he did not believe he had made any inaccurate comments.
“I have no advice that sees me doubt what I’ve been told by CQV,” Mr Andrews said.
“I don’t believe I have said things that are inaccurate, I got the advice provided to me.”
Mr Andrews said he had never made a negative comment about the man who was now in hospital.
“In terms of these issues, I’m not reflecting on the person, I don’t think that’s fair, and that is not something I’ve said today,” he said.
“Ultimately, it is my understanding, the advice I have is that machines have been taken from people, that is the normal process.”
Mr Andrews said the working theory remains that the use of a nebuliser by a guest at the Holiday Inn spread the disease through the airport hotel, infecting multiple staff in a super-spreading event.
A detailed ventilation audit was not conducted at the hotel prior to the outbreak, but Mr Andrews has consistently said there is no evidence poor ventilation has been a factor in the outbreak.
“The theory is not a ventilation problem, the theory is the nebuliser was the issue,” he said.
“Again, I’m not making any judgements, reflections or comments on the individual –[but] that is the working theory, not that there is a generic airflow issue.”
Questions have also been raised about the capacity of Victoria’s contact tracing team after The Age reported that some close contacts of confirmed cases were not being contacted within the benchmark 48 hours this week.
Mr Andrews said he has been told that adequate resources have been deployed to this task, with more than 2100 people working within the state’s contact tracing team.
More to come
Aisha Dow reports on health for The Age and is a former city reporter.