Newnham COVID breach a case study into home quarantine system as department reviews incident

Public Health is currently reviewing the case, having identified further casual contacts, and with all 17 close contacts providing an initial negative test.

Close contacts will be tested again this weekend, which acting state health commander Dale Webster said was the most likely time when another positive case would emerge, most likely from the same household and already in quarantine.

The teenager was eligible for home quarantine as a returning unaccompanied minor - one of the 13,000 Tasmanians who have carried out home quarantine so far in 2021, along with others returning from lower risk areas.

READ MORE: More casual contacts of COVID-19 case identified

Compliance measures includes automated text messages and police checks.

Mr Webster said it was an opportunity to review processes, but he had confidence that the system was rigorous.

"I wouldn't call it silver lining, but to have one case allows us to test our processes and make sure they're sound, so this has been a good exercise as well as being a live case," he said.

"Compliance level is really high, but this case makes us review, as does every new situation we face.

"We'll look back in a weeks' time and say, 'how did we handle this? What can we learn from what we did? How can we do it quicker? How can we do it different?'"

The government is also trialling a home quarantine system for people arriving from lower risk NSW areas in certain circumstances.

Tasmania-specific modelling being compiled by Professor Raina MacIntyre from the Kirby Institute assessing levels of risk at varying vaccination levels is expected to be released within two weeks. The government will use the modelling to guide its reopening plan.

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Mr Webster said the plan would be comprehensive, including border entry requirements, what type of restrictions would apply and where masks would be required. It would move Tasmania away from Prime Minister Scott Morrison's national plan, which relied on lower vaccination levels.

Tasmania has ICU bed capacity of 60 - which can be scaled up to 80 if required.

Mr Webster said they would be staffed by doctors and nurses with ICU training from other parts of the health service.

"We've been putting additional training in over the last period as well," he said.

READ MORE: Vaccine-preventable disease a burden on Tasmanian hospitals

"We're confidently surveying to make sure we have that level of staffing available."

Public Health is continuing to monitor the latest science and data in regards to the potential need for booster or additional vaccination, and whether just vulnerable cohorts would require it, or the general population.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended a booster vaccine only be provided to vulnerable groups.

"We'll wait for the science as to what we do there," Mr Webster said.

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