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Swine flu: SA refuses to confirm reports

Posted on June 16, 2009, 8:08am and updated on June 16, 2009 at 6:18 pm

The South Australian Government yesterday refused to confirm or deny if swine flu has arrived in Mount Gambier, despite new calls from the Opposition to reveal details to the community.

The Border Watch received several calls from people claiming they knew of patients being treated for the virus.

In a statement to this newspaper late yesterday afternoon, the SA Health Department said it was protocol to not release the specific location of new swine flu cases.

There were 65 confirmed cases across the state.

The Health Department also would not be drawn into commenting whether any patients with swine flu had been admitted to Mount Gambier Hospital.

The secrecy surrounding the number of swine flu cases in Mount Gambier triggered a backlash from the State Opposition, which called on the government to increase the level of information to regional areas.

Shadow Minister Vickie Chapman claimed the government was failing to provide enough information about possible contacts with infected people and should be declaring what regions of the state were affected.

“The government through the Health Department is required to notify people in country areas when their town is the subject of notifiable disease outbreaks such as Q Fever or salmonella outbreaks and they do that,” Ms Chapman said.

“The same should be occurring for swine flu.

“They have failed to keep communities such as Mount Gambier informed so residents can be kept calm.”

Ms Chapman said the government must continually update the Mount Gambier community and surrounding areas of the number of people infected.

She said current notifications from the government were totally inadequate and local figures should be provided.

“How can people be expected to come forward for screening and testing if they don’t know they’ve been involved with a suspected case?” she asked.

“They should do more than just put out a state tally on the number of swine flu cases.”

Meanwhile, SA Health claimed it was providing daily updates on the number of cases of swine flu in South Australia, and any affected temporary school or workplace closures.

“We have not released personal details of any individual that has tested positive for swine flu. It’s important to remember that a person with an illness also has a right to privacy,” a spokesperson said.

“We have only provided information relating to specific school locations when there has been a precautionary and temporary class closure.”

The Victorian Government last week released a statistical breakdown of swine flu showing the number of cases in each municipal area.

  • Do you know anyone in Mount Gambier with swine flu (names not requested)? Comment here, email scoop@borderwatch.com.au or SMS 0427 135 114.
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One Response to “Swine flu: SA refuses to confirm reports”

  1. the diplomat on June 16th, 2009 9:07 am 1

    So somebody sees some hospital staff desterilizing an area at a hospital and they automatically assume it is swine flu. Could it have been blood or vomit from another sick person? And some other people see hospital staff wearing face masks and assume the worst. Every year at the height of flu season it is common to see hospital staff and allied health people wearing these masks. It happens every year. Last year I went up to a local clinic for an injury and many people were choosing to wear them. Don’t let truth get in the way of a good story! Speculation and second guessing if far more exciting! Yes the swine flu is real and it is here to stay and it is a bad strain of the flue but only 140 people world wide have died directly from the disease and none in Australia. More people died while we slept last night world wide from TB, measles, influenza A and dirty water. I am more concerned about the poor child who has measles in our community. As I said previously, the real risk in terms of a pandemic is the rise of an old disease that the world has become complacent on due to lack of immunisation or thinking the threat is over. Every 30 — 40 years there seems to be a pandemic and we are due for one but it is not swine flu so everyone calm down. Though it wold not be fun to have it, it is treatable and you are not likely to die directly from the disease. The vulnrable need to exercise caution and the rest of us need to be responsible and rational people. Knowing the mentality of some people in this community, if the identity of a swine flu victim was discovered, they would grab weapons and go around to their house and drag them out of the city limits. Fear and ignorance are powerful tools.