COVID-19 Case & Outbreak Management
When a case or outbreak of COVID-19 is identified in a setting (e.g. workplace), Public Health Services works closely and quickly with the business or organisation responsible for that setting to stop the virus spreading.
Planning and preparations are important to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 within workplaces and to the wider community. Settings are classified as either a ‘priority setting’ or a ‘general setting’. Your planning and response responsibilities will vary depending on your setting. However, a vigorous and rapid response will help to protect lives and livelihoods.
When someone is diagnosed with COVID-19, they become a ‘confirmed case’. Public Health Services interviews the case to work out where they might have caught the virus and who they may have passed it on to.
If the confirmed case advises they spent time in your setting while they may have been infectious, Public Health will contact you.
Public Health will work with you. For example, they will:
- advise about activating your outbreak management plan, if relevant
- advise about safely managing a confirmed case or cases in your setting (e.g. for residential services) and liaise with health services about their care including potential transfer to an alternative setting
- work with you to identify people who may have been exposed to the virus (‘close contact’) in your setting
- phone those close contacts and instruct them to quarantine
- advise on infections control and cleaning/disinfection requirements
- advise on limiting access to setting
- advise on communications with other people in or associated with your settings; and outbreak signage
- talk with you to identify risks associated with the setting.
Planning and preparedness are important for all businesses and organisations. The COVID-19 Safety Plan helps you in this process. Additional documents have been prepared by Public Health Services to help those developing plans.
Priority Settings
Some settings need more planning than others. COVID-19 priority settings are places where:
- people live in groups (residential facilities)
- experience from around Australia and overseas shows the virus may spread quickly (e.g. abattoirs)
- the management of cases and outbreaks may be complex (e.g. remote islands).
The following settings have been identified as ‘priority settings’ for the purposes of COVID-19 outbreak management planning.
Sector | Scope | Examples |
---|---|---|
Healthcare settings |
| THS hospitals Private hospitals |
Aged care |
|
|
Prisons and correctional facilities |
| Risdon Prison Complex Ashley Youth Detention Centre |
Disability settings |
|
|
Community sector |
| Overnight shelters for the homeless |
Education settings |
| Residential facilities for government schools, independent schools, TasTAFE or the University of Tasmania |
Remote island communities |
| Relevant regional emergency management plans |
Industry |
| Abattoirs with more than 50 site workers |
If you are responsible for a COVID-19 priority setting (places where the virus may spread fast or management of cases or outbreaks may be complex) it is vital that you develop an enhanced outbreak management plan for your setting, building on the information in your Worksafe COVID-19 Safety Plan. A single case in a COVID-19 priority setting is likely to be considered an outbreak.
Use the information and resources developed by Public Health Services to guide your planning and preparedness.
What to do
- Get familiar with the Department of Health’s Case and Outbreak management Framework for Tasmanian Settings, which describes the roles and responsibilities of organisations likely to be involved in controlling cases and outbreaks and how responses will be coordinated.
- Review the WorkSafe Tasmania COVID-19 Safe Workplace Guidelines for your industry.
- Review the Public Health Services’ outbreak management plan template and tools and use these as a guide to develop an enhanced outbreak management plan for your setting, to sit alongside your WorkSafe COVID-19 Safety Plan.
General Settings
General settings include workplaces and services that are not COVID-19 priority settings.
If you are responsible for a general setting, being prepared for COVID-19 cases and outbreaks is important and will help minimise disruption and protect lives and livelihoods.
The actions your business/organisation will take if there is a case linked to your setting should be outlined in WorkSafe COVID-19 Safety Plan (under the ‘Responding to an incident of COVID-19 in the workplace’ section). It is important to review this information now. Make sure the actions listed match Public Health Services information about case and outbreak management for general settings
What to do:
- Read the fact sheet: ‘Getting ready for cases and outbreaks – information for general settings’.
- Review the WorkSafe Tasmania COVID-19 Workplace Guidelines for your industry.
- Review your WorkSafe COVID-19 Safety Plan for each setting you manage.
Resources - supporting documents
- Case and Outbreak Management – List of guidance tools
- COVID-19 Case and outbreak management framework for Tasmanian settings
- Fact sheet 1: Getting ready for COVID-19 cases and outbreaks – information for priority settings
- Fact sheet 2: Managing cases and outbreaks - information for COVID-19 priority settings
- Fact sheet 3: getting ready for cases and outbreaks – information for general settings
- COVID-19 Plans for Tasmanian Settings: an outline of the COVID-19 framework, guidance and plans relevant to Tasmanian settings, including those for prevention (under WorkSafe Tasmania) and case and outbreak management (under the Department of Health)
- COVID-19 Outbreak Management Teams – Response Stage (graphic): An overview of the various outbreak management response teams that are activated in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.
- COVID-19 Case and Management – Key Activities for Settings (graphic split over three pages): A summary of the main activities for the affected organisation to take during the stages of
- Public Health Services’ outbreak management plan template