Testing Positive For Politics?
Member for Western Victoria Beverley McArthur MP has called on Health Minister Jenny Mikakos and Premier Daniel Andrews to fix the failing Covid-testing system, which is seeing people in regional Victoria wait excessive periods for test results.
Mrs McArthur said: “In any system there will be occasional lapses, but I’ve now heard from a considerable number of people who have been waiting a week and sometimes much longer for their results. This points to a system which is over-stretched, and the problem seems to be worst in rural and regional areas.”
She noted the case of a Colac woman who waited fourteen days; a Western Victoria farm worker from who waited 13 days, and a health worker in Geelong who believes her 9 day-wait could have been much longer had she not repeatedly chased up the bodies involved.
She added: “The tests are practically pointless when the results take so long to process. It completely undermines the infection-control aim of prompt contact tracing, and it is having a disastrous effect on businesses too.”
“People who have had the test and not yet gained a result are required to stay in isolation, and the effect on small rural businesses can be catastrophic. For sole-traders or the smallest employers, it’s simply not possible to function when one or more staff members cannot work.”
“The figures show us that only 0.4% of those tested are positive, so the vast majority of these employees would be back at work as soon as their result was returned.”
“This latest economic damage is purely self-inflicted, it could be avoided if we had a functioning testing system, and that’s what I’m demanding for regional Victoria.”
Mrs McArthur went on to question the motive and effectiveness of Victoria’s current testing strategy. “It would be far better to have fewer tests, returned more promptly. Testing higher numbers gives big numbers for the Premier to boast about, but the reality on the ground is that it’s causing real problems."
"Testing beyond the system’s capacity just to bump up the numbers is deeply irresponsible. Daniel Andrews called for a testing blitz, but the system he put in place for it was clearly not fit for purpose.”
She also noted that health experts question the effectiveness of mass testing populations largely free of COVID-19 symptoms, noting the comments of Dr Michael Harrison, Chief Executive of Brisbane company Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, in this morning’s Age. (1)
Dr Harrison said: “It is a waste of everyone’s time and it is a waste of money.” ‘‘People still want reassurance that there isn’t a lot of undiagnosed COVID-positive people out there. That should have been put to bed a long time ago. ‘‘If you are swamped with collections from low-risk patients, it is likely to delay the ones you really want to get through. There is a certain craziness, which has swept through the country.’’
Mrs McArthur concluded: “It’s beginning to look like Victoria’s approach to testing is driven by political motives, not health requirements. Slow results mean contact-tracing is ineffective, and testing individuals so unlikely to be infected is in any case unnecessary."
"But the consequences of an over-stretched system aren’t simply political. It’s wasting huge sums of taxpayers’ money, and the paralysis slow results are causing small businesses is damaging to the regional economy too.”
21 May 2020