People have been asking me, both in public on Twitter and privately, for clarity on what is happening with COVID +'ve cases in the towers, and their close contacts, not being relocated, and why I think this is of concern.
Is it that people don't want to be relocated, or is it that the offer is not being made? And does it matter so long as people are self-isolating. Well, some of all that, and different in different cases.
This thread contains as much detail and clarity as I have been able to muster from various sources, in the absence of clarification from @VicGovDHHS to whom I have had questions waiting for answer since yesterday morning.
The info below can be added to the statements of community leaders Mr Elhadi Abass and Dr Berhan Ahmed, which I have reported previously, and which cover similar ground.
Clearly, there is concern that residents should not be forced to move, or pressured to move, and I and my sources have no reports to suggest that is happening.
Before I get into it, I note that Daniel Andrews had a shift in language at his update today, emphasising quarantining at home for tower residents who are positive or close contacts, rather than, as previously, talking about them being encouraged to relocate.
So may be there is a difference in government approach, in which case I hope it will be clarified.
Also, media is reporting 280 cases in the N Melb and Flem towers. DHHS said to me on Thurs (see previous Tweets) that it is 189 ACTIVE cases, with the 280 figure being ALL cases. Still a considerable challenge re relocation. On Thursday, DHHS said just 19 cases had been relocated
So here is what I understand to be the various different issues around relocation. My sources include my own interviews with residents, an interview with an interpreter working on the estates and community workers who have had first hand conversations with residents.
I understand that a number of COVID positive people at 33 Alfred Street want to be relocated, but this has either not been offered or not offered in a way that they have undeerstood. Perhaps this will change with the end of the hard lockdown of that tower tonight.
Of great concern, on the Flemington estate there have been first hand reports of COVID +’ve people in the corridors and various spaces outside homes, apparently not observing or not understanding quarantine requirements
As a result, COVID negative residents at Flemington are worried about the safety of the laundries, lifts and stairwells, with the laundries now opening up. Keep in mind that residents of these flats who are not positive are now returned to work etc under Stage 3.
There are third hand reports – which I have not been able to confirm - of children from COVID +ve households sharing play equipment with children from COVID -’ve households.
Some people on the Flemington estate do seem to have been offered the opportunity to relocate, and the reasons they give for not taking this up suggest that communication difficulties are at least partly to blame:
They are not clear about whether the family would be able to stay together, or whether COVID –‘ve, including children, would have to be left behind; They are fearful because they don’t know where they would be taken to;
They are worried that being moved would make it public to their neighbours that they are positive, and that this would carry a stigma; The offers are not being made by people they trust, but by strangers.
The overriding concern has to be that the quarantine of positive cases in the towers may not be as tight or reliable as we are being told, in part because of – as of Thursday – just 19 people being relocated.
I will be updating and clarifying as I am able, and the Ombudsman confirmed in her interview with me yesterday (see tweeted audio file) that this is one of the issues she is looking at with some urgency.
