An interesting observation. How many coronavirus cases were there that started with a healthcare workers in Victoria?

It occurred to me that an interesting figure would be the number of cases of coronavirus occurred as a result of an infected healthcare worker passing coronavirus on to family, friends and coworkers. This isn't to highlight one group, but to highlight the importance of ensuring our healthcare workers are given the best possible equipment and support to keep themselves and the community safe.

When I was growing up I recall there was the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital and I couldn't help wonder what is done now in terms of infectious diseases. With a relatively low number of cases of coronavirus, a single hospital with the best facilities and controls could keep or minimise infections reaching the community via healthcare workers. It appears there's now infectious disease departments in multiple hospitals which means multiple points of exposure for the community.

As an example, if we look at the most recent outbreak at the East Preston Islamic College, there was a total of 39 infections across 11 (/13) households. The originating case for this outbreak appears to be a healthcare worker from the Box Hill hospital.

As of November 8th there were 3,574 healthcare workers that had been infected. One of these healthcare workers in theory was the origin of possibly 38/39 cases. With a total of 20,345 coronavirus cases so far in Victoria, it's not inconceivable to think that perhaps the majority of coronavirus cases may have come about from healthcare workers if one infected healthcare worker can result in 38/39 cases. This highlights how critical it is to ensure everything that is possible is done to ensure healthcare workers are given everything above and beyond what is needed.

It would certainly be interesting to see what the final number of cases of coronavirus were that started with a healthcare worker as it might highlight where one of the greatest exposures are in terms of the spread of the coronavirus and where more resources could be focused.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.Mapz.com.au/coronavirusvictoria/