Covid-19: How inspectors in abattoirs caused an outbreak.

Last month, two abattoirs in south-west Victoria were visited by inspectors who later tested positive for COVID-19 and were contagious while on site, but only one of the cases led to a large outbreak.


There have been criticisms leveled over how the state's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) handled both cases, but experts say there are lessons to be learnt in understanding what happened.

 The largest meat producer in the state, Warrnambool's Midfields Meats, has been on high alert as clusters in other abattoirs continue to grow

.When general manager Dean McKenna found out that a meat inspector who had visited the site had tested positive, the company immediately shut the plant down — before it had heard from the health department.

 The company organised testing for nearly 1,000 workers via the local health service, but before the results were known DHHS advised that the meatworks could reopen.Mr McKenna said he ignored that advice and opted to keep the abattoir shut."We still wouldn't go back to work until we had a feel for where the testing was going," he said.


 The company made the inspector wear full personal protective equipment, a measure that is now being made mandatory across all Victorian abattoirs.

 For the Australian Lamb Company (ALC), based in the small town of Colac, it's been a different story.
A meat inspector there tested positive for COVID-19 in the same week.There are now more than 80 cases associated with the cluster, which has also spread into the community along with 11 more infections suspected to have been transmitted through the community.