CORONAVIRUS — TESTING — WASTEWATER
888. Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the opposition's
calls in May for COVID-19 sewage testing and note that there has still been no
active testing of the state sewerage system since that time. When will the
Minister for Health provide an update to the house on what date sewage testing
will commence in Western Australia? I am referring to not only hotel testing,
but also community testing, as we asked for back in May.
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
I thank the member for the
question. We come across many people who have opinions on the COVID-19
pandemic, but none of them necessarily like to politicise it in the way that
the member for Dawesville does. It is incredible. We have had so much success
around the COVID-19 pandemic. The Western Australian public has been incredible
in the way that it has got behind all the
measures that we have needed to take to make sure that we get on top of this
disease. The only people in the state who have not got behind it are our
friends opposite. They continue to politicise. They continue to snipe and be
negative.
The work that the government has done around COVID-19 is a cause
for celebration by the WA community. The wastewater
testing, which we have commenced, is a way of continuing to add to our armoury
of defences against this disease,
whether it is testing, contact tracing, isolating people in hotels and making
sure that people in the community do all the things we know are
necessary, such as physical distancing, personal hygiene and making sure that
if we are sick, we get ourselves tested and
stay away from school or work. We know that all those things have been a
great part of our success. But we also want to make sure that we do other
things and inform ourselves on all the measures that we have available to us.
Wastewater testing is another way that we can step forward.
A hallmark of the government's
approach to the COVID-19 pandemic has been to back the science, to back the
evidence that builds that science and to make sure that we take careful,
cautious steps in protecting the people of Western
Australia. A partnership between the Department of Health, PathWest and the
Water Corporation has been carefully
examining historical samples of wastewater to make sure that we understand what
a presence of the disease in those tests means. If we have a positive test, for
instance in Albany, what does that mean? Does it mean that there is an outbreak
in that community or that someone is continuing to shed the disease, is no
longer infectious and may already have completed their journey with the
disease? We need to understand the science that backs up wastewater testing,
which is the difference between what we have done and what perhaps has been
done in other jurisdictions.
I
am very pleased to report to the house that that testing and scientific work
has been done and we are now undertaking live testing at hotel precincts and across five metropolitan wastewater
treatment plants as part of our live program of continuing to test wastewater.
It will be really important work, but it is not the only work. Other measures that
we have put in place are obviously important in making sure that we continue to
stay on top of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue do so, because we
are following the science and the medical advice, and we are taking a cautious
approach to COVID-19. That has been the hallmark of the Premier's
leadership, which has helped to ensure that people get their jobs back,
businesses are up and running again, and communities are brought back together.
It has been very successful.