Michaela Meade
Update: Victoria’s COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar has said he is “exceptionally concerned” and “disappointed” that a nurse working on a COVID ward at Epping Private Hospital was also allowed to work at Northern Hospital.
“That should not have been allowed to happen,” he said.
“I’m very unhappy.
“I’m exceptionally concerned – we have very clear expectations and strong requirements of the designated COVID wards.
“One of those expectations is that staff are dedicated to that particular ward.
“This appears to be an operational error being made at Epping Private … it is disappointing, I’m very unhappy about that situation.”
When questioned about why the nurse was allowed to work at Northern Hospital, Northern Health referred Star Weekly to the Department of Health.
Epping Private also did not answer questions about why the nurse was permitted to work at both hospitals.
A Northern Health spokesperson said Northern Hospital has not implemented any special methods as a response.
“We are implementing our normal infection prevention processes – contacting staff, swabbing and furloughing staff where necessary,” the spokesperson said.
“Northern Hospital Epping is fully operational with a medical ward temporarily declared a Red Zone as a precaution.”
Earlier: A nurse who worked at Epping Private and Northern hospitals while infectious also visited Northern Health’s vaccination clinic, it has been revealed.
COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar said the woman visited the clinic on June 14.
Thirty-one personal close contacts, including 25 patients, have been identified from the clinic, and all are in isolation currently, awaiting negative test results.
Mr Weimar said this case “highlights the importance of not working across multiple sites”.
He said genomic testing is expected to confirm the cause of infection for the nurse, with the leading line of inquiry that the nurse had been working with three positive cases from the Maidstone Arcare outbreak.
Nine staff members at Epping Private Hospital have been identified as tier 1 personal close contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 case.
All nine staff will be required to quarantine for 14 days.
All other staff at the hospital have been tested and will be required to receive a negative result before returning to work.
The COVID case was a nurse who had worked a shift at the hospital on Monday, June 14, while likely infectious.
The nurse had also worked on a medical ward at the Northern Hospital on Friday, June 11 and Saturday, June 12.
COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar yesterday called the latest positive result a “very concerning case”.
Twenty-two staff in the affected section of Northern Hospital have been identified as primary close contacts and will be required to quarantine for 14 days.
All other staff in the affected section are being tested.
The health department said further contact tracing and public health risk assessment is under way to identify any other exposure sites.
This comes as metro Melbourne has a further easing of restrictions introduced, effective 11.59 tonight.
For more information on exposure sites: www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites
