A dozen staff members at a Perth hospital are in isolation after coming into contact with a man infected with COVID-19, one of two new local cases recorded in Western Australia.
Announcing the latest cases, WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said one was an unvaccinated man aged in his 50s who had been in quarantine and who was linked to the Cockburn cluster of Omicron cases.
She said the second was a man in his 60s who was also likely linked to the Cockburn cluster, although it was not yet clear how he was infected.
The man has been vaccinated but was not isolating for his whole infectious period, and he attended Fiona Stanley Hospital's emergency department while unwell.
He was not admitted and the staff who treated him were wearing PPE, but several have been deemed contacts.
"I think there is around 12 staff that have been identified as close contacts and they are being tested and isolated," WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said.
The staff are required to isolate for 14 days under current protocols, but Ms Sanderson said they would be assessed on a case-by-case basis to see if they could return to work earlier, provided they test negative for the virus.
Contact tracing 'not straightforward'
The man in his 60s and three other men he lives with are being placed in quarantine, with further COVID-19 tests and genomic sequencing to be carried out.
Ms Sanderson said the man had not reported respiratory issues or other symptoms related to coronavirus, but had subsequently returned a positive test result.
She said it was believed police had linked the man to an exposure site and information had also been provided by a third party.
The Cockburn cluster has so far been significantly linked to three massage parlours in Perth.
"The contact tracers are working hard to get information from this gentleman. I don't think it's been straightforward," Ms Sanderson said.
"While the outlook is more positive than where we were on Sunday, with community cases like this man in his 60s, we are still not out of the woods."
Among new exposure sites listed online by WA Health today was the Hit Studio Karaoke Bar on Francis Street in Northbridge.
Anyone who was there between 8pm on Friday night and 2am Saturday morning is directed to get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days.
AMA questions CHO's absence
Neither Premier Mark McGowan nor Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson joined the Health Minister at the media conference.
Australian Medical Association (AMA) WA president Mark Duncan-Smith has raised concerns over the absence of Dr Robertson at media updates about COVID-19.
"The AMA WA is calling on the Premier to increase transparency in decision making," Dr Duncan Smith said.
"We have noticed that the Chief Health Officer has not been at any press conferences for some time now.
"We have concerns that the advice of the Chief Health Officer is either being gagged or is not being followed."
Dr Duncan-Smith said breakdowns in the relationship between senior doctors and politicians in Victoria and New South Wales had led to poor public health outcomes in those states.
"I call on the Premier to have the Chief Health Officer at every press conference," he said.
"At an absolute minimum to answer questions by the media as to the advice that's been given and taken, and so that questions can be asked of him regarding the medical advice that he has given."
No gag, Health Minister says
Dr Duncan-Smith also again called on the government to publish its post-February 5 transition plans as soon as possible.
"At the moment, we don't know what the Premier is wanting to do with respect to controls when February 5 comes along," he said.
"And this is why we are calling for the Chief Health Officer at a minimum to attend press conferences, so that he can be asked questions directly."
Ms Sanderson denied the CHO was being gagged.
"I can assure you I see him several times a day, I think I see the Chief Health Officer more than I see my own family," she said.
"I'm more than happy for him to come along to the next press conference."
Health sector to learn new isolation rules
Ms Sanderson said it would be challenging for the health sector if large numbers of staff had to isolate.
"That is why we are looking at what the WA requirements are, and definitions for close contacts, and furloughing of staff," she said.
"When we move to a surge plan, we will move to a different arrangement around close contact definitions and staff requirements."
All of the nation's leaders, except WA Premier Mark McGowan, have agreed to a new definition for close contacts.
Ms Sanderson said WA's plans would be communicated to hospitals in the coming days, but the government was still watching how things were transpiring interstate.
"I would like that information to be delivered this week, and there will certainly be information going to the healthcare workforce this week around what they are," she said.
"What the broader industry requirements will be are being worked on as well, and that will be communicated.
"We need to continue essential public services and to continue the community running, so there will be definitions around essential workers."
Government trying to achieve 'delicate balance'
Ms Sanderson said a delicate balance had to be struck with rules for close contacts going forward.
"[Between] essentially keeping people off work who are potentially contagious, versus keeping businesses and the health system functioning," she said.
"In some states, the peak hasn't even arrived, so there is information to learn every single day.
"There will probably be changes to the current 14 days, but what that looks like I couldn't tell you today."
The Health Minister maintained that current modelling on Omicron was only "preliminary" in nature and varied in its predictions.
"Essentially, we are not going to be relying on modelling as such to be making these decisions at this point," she said.
Opposition calls for more transparency
WA Liberals leader David Honey called for more transparency around the border opening plans and accused the government of being "the most secretive" in the state's history.
"This is a government that thinks that whatever it does is the right thing, and it doesn't have to justify those decisions to the people of Western Australia, and it doesn't have to disclose information to the media, and it doesn't have to disclose information to the opposition," he said.
Mr Honey said it was a matter of urgency that protocols for the isolation of close contacts post-February 5 be revealed.
"Businesses don't know what they have to do. For example if someone in their workplace gets COVID, what do they have to do?
"Do they have to shut their business down? Do they have to do additional testing? We haven't seen any of that."
More RAT tests on the way
WA Health currently has about one million rapid antigen tests (RATs), but Ms Sanderson said that supply would grow by several million before the border came down.
"We will have several million by February 5 and that will increase exponentially as we move through the month," she said.
"The overall order from Health is very substantial, upwards of 80 million RATs, and we are essentially working with all providers to try and procure as many as we can."
Ms Sanderson said the state's first RAT order was made in early December but numerous subsequent orders had been made and that would continue.
