I have as personal COVID-19 anecdote that may relate to why Melbourne cases #s are not dropping quickly

I live in a 16 floor apartment complex

Today a resident notified building management that s/he tested positive 4 days ago

#CovidVic #COVID19Vic #covid19au #covid19australia

The resident has been mostly isolating but has walked through the common areas and visited the trash room (according to the resident)

The building manager was tested today and is now isolating, awaiting results

The residents of the building have not been advised to get tested

I only discovered this because a colleague in a neighboring building received an email notice

I did not receive the email

I asked two residents who also were unaware of the situation

There is still no notice on the building (5 hours later)

I see a few problems here with the Victoria public health response:

#1 Voluntary Isolation is a bad idea

Since April experts have recommended mandatory centralized isolation based on evidence transitioning from unsuccessful to successful suppression https://twitter.com/XihongLin/status/1251339883676909568

That may be a bit much, but at the very least we should have a closely monitored at-home isolation

Even in Kentucky they are putting ankle-monitors on COVID-19 positive cases who don't consent to close monitoring https://abc7.com/health/couple-under-house-arrest-after-testing-positive-for-covid-19/6323759/

#2 Testing is poorly targeted

Victoria has ample testing capacity. Sentinel surveillance is a stated goal

Why not advise those living in an apartment block with a known positive case to test?

Shared communal spaces and sewage system seems to justify:

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/coronavirus-hong-kong-high-rise-sewage-pipe-investigation-2020-2?r=US&IR=T

#3 Communication is poor

Public health authorities should notify building management when a resident becomes COVID-19 positive (there must be a way to protect privacy!)

Our building management had to reach out to @VicGovDHHS for advice, after the resident notified them

My building may not have as many cases as in Flemington & N. Melbourne (for now), but the VIC public health authorities could do better than this

They should be more pro-active

I hope this is not representative

FYI, for comparison, this was the response in Flemington & N. Melbourne: https://twitter.com/pauldowsley7/status/1279525418941341698