To: All IHCS Personnel

From: Directors

Date: 17 March, 2020

Subject: INFECTION CONTROL – ADDITIONAL PRECAUTION REQUIRED

It is a direction that as from Monday, 2nd March 2020, any person returning from overseas travel from Italy or South Korea must not return to work for a quarantine period of 14 days.

  • This memo applies to all employees of IHCS and those contracted to provide service to clients on its behalf.

  • Please notify the IHCS office if you have returned from any overseas travel before returning to work.

  • This direction will remain in place until Australia’s Chief Medical Officer lifts this requirement for additional precautions.

Notes to the Memo

This additional precaution is intended to reduce the risk of our clients being infected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and has been advised by the Commonwealth Government and the Chief Medical Officer. Currently quarantine is required only for those returning from Italy or South Korea, however this may well change as time goes by so we are asking that all people returning from overseas travel contact our office before returning to work.

Currently the national strategy is not to stop the infection but to try and slow the spread of COVID-19 so that hospitals are not overwhelmed by an influx of new presentations. However, it is known that those most susceptible to poor health outcomes from catching the virus are our senior population and those living with chronic illness. As a result, we must remain vigilant with applying standard precautions so that we do not introduce the virus to those we serve.

Handwashing is the primary protection available to us. To exemplify this we can look at the spread of the previous Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus. SARS was found to survive for some time outside the human body within faecal matter. Because of poor personal hygiene practices by some, infected faecal matter was spread around the environment. This was then picked up on the hands of susceptible hosts who then transferred the virus to themselves by touching their face (with the virus entering via their eyes, nose or mouth). Handwashing can effectively stop this pathway to infection.

So please be vigilant, start and finish all visits to each client by washing your hands and apply standard precautions throughout your service as required.

Please see this page for some protection tips from the Department of Health. If you would like any further information or a copy of IHCS’ Infection Control Policy and Procedure please contact John, or another Director, at our office – 6228 3899. Many thanks.

Matthew Vickers
Executive Director

*A printable version of this memorandum can be downloaded from here.