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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Lucy Bladen, Karen Barlow

Calls for transparency as virus hits ACT's disability sector

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said there have been 14 COVID-19 cases linked to Canberra's disability sector. Picture: Karleen Minney

The community sector has urged transparency from the ACT government about a Covid outbreak in Canberra's disability care sector.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Sunday revealed a cluster of 14 cases had emerged across multiple disability support providers.

Authorities are also working on an "evolving situation" at a high-density public housing complex in Canberra's north, which has been named as a possible exposure site.

There were 19 new reported cases of COVID-19 in the ACT in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday, six of which were infectious in the community.

Seventeen of the new cases are linked to known cases and two are under investigation.

The new cases bring the total number of the current ACT outbreak to 121, with 117 of those linked to known cases or exposures sites. Four cases, in total, remain under investigation.

There are three people in hospital with COVID-19. Only one is due to coronavirus symptoms, although they are stable are not being ventilated.

Of the cases in Canberra's disability sector, four are people with disability, seven are ACT-based support workers and one is a tradesperson. The other two cases are disability support workers who live in NSW.

Ms Stephen-Smith said five disability service providers had been affected by the outbreak, but warned this number could increase.

"We recognise that these developments are raising anxiety and have worked with the sector to provide clear information directly to the people affected," she said.

Ms Stephen-Smith said she did not have the vaccination status of the people involved.

The ACT government had known about the disability cluster for a few days and Ms Stephen-Smith said they had been working with the sector to assist and protect privacy.

"The team have been working very, very closely with the providers involved and the individuals involved," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

"There are two outbreak management teams that have been formed in accordance with the protocol that exists to specifically focus on outbreaks."

ACT Council of Social Services chief executive Dr Emma Campbell said organisations representing people with disabilities, families, carers and people with disability needed to be updated in a timely way about the Covid outbreak.

Condamine Court in Turner has been identified as a potential exposure site. Picture: Dion Georgopoulos

Dr Campbell said information of cases needed to be communicated by the government before it was heard in the community.

"We need to maintain trust, openness and transparency so that people with disability and their families can make the right choices," she said.

"What's really important is the ACT government work very closely with organisations that represent the voices of people with disability."

Dr Campbell said the ACT's outbreak showed vulnerable communities were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and responses needed to ensure there was appropriate support for these cohorts.

Public housing complex, Condamine Court in Turner, has also been identified as a possible exposure site. ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said there had potentially been a case on the site at some point in time.

"What investigating it as a potential exposure site means is that we continue to talk with various people to get our stories right, get as much information as we can," Dr Coleman said.

"What we then need to do is work out what the were the timeframes where there was potential exposure, and then we can match our risk assessment and our response to that.

"We certainly don't want to under respond but we also don't want to over respond."

Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry said a person who had visited Condamine Court was in hospital with COVID-19.

Ms Berry said all tenants were being individually contacted on Sunday and arrangements had been made for on-site testing.

"The first part of this is a very person-centred response, and making sure that those people are supported," she said.

Testing numbers dropped over the weekend, with 3640 Covid tests conducted on Saturday. ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said despite the drop there was a healthy level of testing.

"Test numbers were never going to be sustained at the absolute peak, you don't set a new record for testing every single day," Mr Barr said.

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