There were 381 active infections in Victorian healthcare workers announced on Sunday – an extra 81 since Friday. And that figure doesn’t include the hundreds of healthcare workers now furloughed while awaiting test results after being in close contact with a known case.
The infections have been fuelled by inconsistent training in use of personal protective equipment, amid a lack of transparency surrounding how the virus is being acquired and spread throughout workplaces such as hospitals and aged care homes, doctors say.
The head of the Australian Hospitals and Healthcare Association, Alison Verhoeven, says the pressures on hospitals and healthcare workers as they deal with the second wave of Covid-19 “has been immense”.
“Without strong community cooperation, our health services will be overwhelmed and the risks faced by healthcare workers will be even greater,” Verhoeven says. People need to adhere to public health directives to wear a mask, get tested and stay at home, she says, or health workers in the community risk being infected.