South-west residents speak out about confusing and contradictory coronavirus messages

A Heywood mother whose son became a contact of a positive coronavirus case has spoken out about advice she received from health authorities about isolating.

Louise Fadersen said her 20-year-old son came into contact with a case on July 18 connected to now what is known as the Portland district's first cluster.

She said he drove to Hamilton to be tested as a close contact immediately after learning he was a contact.

The family then began isolating at home for two weeks after the contact occurred, but nine days in her son received a text from Western District Health Service (WDHS) saying he was negative, but wrongly telling him "home isolation may now cease".

Ms Fadersen said she called the coronavirus hotline and was told her son could not stop isolating until he received a second negative nest.

"It's confusing and you can totally understand why people don't know what they are doing," Ms Fadersen said.

Ms Fadersen said her son remained in isolation until Saturday, August 1 when he was cleared of the virus for a second time.

"I can understand that message going to people that are just getting tested because they may feel they have symptoms, but for those people who have been in direct contact with a positive case, that message is not good enough," she said.

"We were lucky we called the COVID hotline and we knew he had to be in isolation for 14 days, but for others that is giving them the wrong message and saying they are fine to leave the house."

WDHS chief executive Rohan Fitzgerald said the health service "generally notify people of a negative result via text message" but recommended they follow Department of Health and Human Services contact tracing team advice.

"Until more local tracing solutions are developed, all agencies need to direct people to follow the advice of the assigned contact tracing team," Mr Fitzgerald said.

He said the case showed a "centralised approach to emergency management" was "not adequately supporting regional communities".

"There is too much fragmentation in the system, which, as evidenced in this case, can lead to communication breakdowns," he said.

"Local people should be accountable for their own community contact tracing, which I believe would address the current tensions and shortfalls."

On Thursday, a Warrnambool couple spoke out about what they describe as the "stuff ups" of the Department of Health and Human services after one of them tested positive to the virus twice.

The Warrnambool man, a 36-year-old worker at Australian Lamb Colac, tested positive to coronavirus on July 22.

He then tested positive again for the virus three weeks later, but was told by DHHS he could return to work within 24 to 48 hours if he wasn't showing symptoms but they couldn't say with 100 per cent certainty that he wouldn't be infectious.

His partner, a teacher at Warrnambool's Special Developmental School, came forward to The Standard because she didn't want people in the community to think there was another outbreak.

She was tested three times, yielding negative results each time, but didn't return to the classroom because she was living with a positive case even though the department said she could.

"We're both still living within our home, we're not out and about in the community. We're trying to do the right thing," she said.

"We want to show just how stuffed up the whole process really is. It's been so confusing for us, we can't comprehend what we're meant to do and how we're meant to do it."

If they had followed DHHS guidelines they would both be back out in the community today, but the pair said they were not prepared to risk it.

Premier Daniel Andrews was questioned by The Standard about the case on Friday morning.

Mr Andrews said the chief health officer said there could be "dead virus" that still triggered a positive test but infectivity was very low.

"On infectivity and people testing positive again, I'm not a doctor I will get a doctor to speak on the issue," he said.

"We are seeing a little bit of it, when someone has a positive test and a second positive test.

"What the chief health officer tells me infectivity is very, very low but for the abundance of caution, particularly as you explain the person's partner works doing that amazing work at the special developmental school, let me have someone from the public health team come back to you directly.

"If that worker needs further advice or clarity we'll make sure he gets it today."

A DHHS spokeswoman said unless somone is a close contact of a known case, there is no current requirement for a person to return a negative test result prior to clearance.

"Some people may still return positive test results despite meeting clinical clearance criteria," she said.

"Current literature has shown persistent intermittent shedding of the virus for a long period after the initial infection. This shedding does not reflect whether a person is infectious or not.

"In Victoria, a case is considered recovered when all of the following criteria are met: at least ten days have elapsed after the symptom onset and the patient has not had symptoms for the previous 72 hours, there has been an improvement in symptoms and a risk assessment has been conducted by the department and deemed no further test base criteria is needed.

"Victoria's use of clinical criteria to clear a case and deem them to no longer be infectious is consistent with national guidelines.

"These guidelines are regularly reviewed to ensure they consider the most up to date research on virus transmission."

Regarding the Heywood case, she said close contacts should remain in quarantine for 14 days following their last exposure to an infectious case.

"The text message in question was from a health provider, not DHHS," she said.

"The home isolation referred to in the message relates to an individual staying at home while awaiting a test result, not mandatory quarantine for close contacts or isolation for cases.

"DHHS acknowledges the potential ambiguity in the message and has contacted the health service to ensure this is clarified."

South West Coast MP Roma Britnell said the confusion was hindering regional Victoria's response to the pandemic.

"We are six months into a pandemic and still confusion prevails around what should be a very systematised approach to testing," she said.

"What I am seeing locally is very well managed outbreaks and that's because the health system, the business community and the people affected are wanting to work together. I am very impressed but not surprised."

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