James Merlino maintains the “system is working” after more than 150 cases were recorded at Victorian schools on the second day back in the classroom.
AT least 120 Victorian schools have recorded Covid-19 outbreaks – just two days into the school year.
More than 150 new cases were recorded at state schools on the second day back in the classroom.
Despite the cases alarming some parents, a hopeful Deputy Premier James Merlino said the numbers proved the system was working as it was detecting the cases that would otherwise becovert.
“We know that there will be an increase, as you have a million students going back at school with all the teachers and all the staff,” Mr Merlino said.
The City of Bayside has been hardest hit in the reopening, with 21 schools in the council area recording cases. Students and staff are strongly recommended to do a rapid antigen test twice a week for the first four weeks of term.
However, the testing is not mandated.
Department of Education and Training deputy secretary David Howes said the numbers were comprised of “about 101 students … and about 55 staff”.
“Schools have been reporting that parents have been … very pleased to have access to these tests, and we’re not getting any reports of adamant refusal – not in any significant numbers anyway,” Mr Howes said.
The state government is reportedly relying on modelling showing the testing program does not require 100 per cent compliance to still be effective.
REPORTS OF RATS RIP-OFFS RISING
Complaints to Australia’s consumer watchdog over spiking rapid antigen test costs have continued to soar despite probes into prices at pharmacies and supermarkets.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has received almost 4000 reports from consumers about prices being charged for RATs around the country between December 25 last year and January 26 amid spiking demand for the tests as Omicron cases surged.
Pharmacies are reportedly the biggest culprits for price hikes with 34 per cent, or 1,309, complaints made about the sector since Christmas.
781 complaints have been made about petrol stations such as BP, while the watchdog received 764 complaints about supermarkets and tobacconists including IGA stores.
The complaints surged amid tip-offs that rapid tests were being illegally resold without being properly tested for use in Australia.
Almost 95 per cent of the complaints were about the price of rapid antigen tests, with some reports alleging single tests in some stores were being sold for $30 each
ACCC chair Rod Sims said businesses caught price gouging on rapid tests would be named and shamed because the high number of complaints showed the community were concerned about the cost and quality of the rapid tests available.
“Community concerns about sales practices for rapid antigen tests remain very high, for good reason,” Mr Sims said.
“Businesses now know we will be in touch very quickly if they choose to impose unjustifiably high mark-ups on rapid antigen tests, or make misleading statements to consumers.”
The average cost of a rapid test has reportedly sat at about $24 since January 12.
“While $20 retail prices remain lower than the more extreme reports received by the ACCC, this is still an unusually high mark-up that in our view is very difficult to justify,” Mr Sims said.
SURGERY BAN STILL IN PLACE
The Victorian government has failed to provide any clarity on when the state will resume elective surgery, despite New South Wales announcing restart dates for some ops.
It comes as the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) demand all levels of government develop a national plan to address the growing backlog of elective surgeries.
NSW Health on Tuesday morning revealed non-urgent surgery which required an overnight stay would resume to 75 per cent capacity in private and regional public hospitals from next Monday.
But Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said there were no changes to our settings, despite significantly less people in hospital.
On Tuesday there were 851 Victorians in hospital with Covid-19 including 106 in ICU and 30 on a ventilator. New South Wales had 2749 people in hospital with the virus, including 186 in ICU and 70 requiring ventilation to breathe.
Chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton on Monday said he believed hospitalisations had peaked.
“I think we’re unlikely to go above 1500 hospitalisations and I think it’s probably already peaked,” he said.
The predicted figure was 2500 hospitalisations when the “code brown” cancellation of all elective surgeries was enforced in mid-January.
AMA president Omar Khorshid said the state government’s postponement of some elective surgeries had become increasingly unstainable and should only be used as a “last resort”.
“The fact that these are still happening points to the failure of governments to properly invest in public hospital capacity, as well as a failure to undertake the necessary planning needed to avoid this outcome,” Dr Khorshid said.
Both the AMA and RACS have called for an urgent plan for the resumption of elective surgery as a priority in both private and public hospitals.
They also want a long-term funding arrangement to ensure the backlog is cleared. “One-off funding packages and elective surgery blitzes will not be enough to address the impact that the last two years have had on our stressed health system,” he said.
“The longer we wait to act on essential surgery, the sicker Australians will become, and the more expensive their care will be.”
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said there was “simply no justification to deny Victorians the critical care they need” when hospitalisations had fallen under 900.
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