The state’s coronavirus commander has been slammed for telling Victorians they should “call out” people who have the sniffles – and tell them to get tested.It comes as Victoria recorded one new case of Covid overnight — a primary close contact who was already quarantining during their infectious period.Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar, a former senior bureaucrat at the Department of Transport until July last year, made the remarks on Saturday after noting a trend of decreasing test numbers.The call has sparked concerns from the Australian Medical Association that Victorians will now become “Covid police’’, telling people to get Covid tested, even if they have sniffles from allergies.AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said there were “certainly other reasons” for people to display Covid-like symptoms such as runny noses, headaches and allergies. “We are reluctant to encourage people to be Covid police – and if everyone does the right thing there will be no need to intrude on other people’s privacy,” he said. Yesterday Mr Weimar controversially said people should ask strangers if they have been tested if they were “walking around sniffling”.Just over 15,000 people turned out to get a test on Friday and Mr Weimar suspected there were people in the community who may still be harbouring the virus. “We know that, this time of year, a lot of us are going to start getting colds and sore throats and sniffles,” he said.“If your employees are coming to work symptomatically, send them home to get tested immediately. If you’re being served by people who are symptomatic, call them out in the nicest possible way … If you’ve got people at home who are walking around sniffling and saying, ‘I’ve just got a cold,’ ask them if they’ve had a test. That’s the collective response that we need to see.” Victoria COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar says he is concerned about the drop in testing numbers as restrictions ease across the state.Small Business Australia’s Bill Lang said it was unfair to force an extra burden on hospitality businesses, hit hard by the brunt of the pandemic. “On what legal basis does the commander have the right to say these things? It’s bad enough that he’s giving orders to Victorians which are not in any way related to legislation, but how does the government see this working? Enough is enough,” Mr Lang said. Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier slammed the language as alarmist. “Jeroen Weimar has a habit of using inflammatory language, but urging Victorians to dob in one another will do nothing to instil public confidence in the Andrews government,” she said. “It’s unreasonable to expect hospitality, or anyone else, to do the policing of this, especially when every second person will have a sniffle, because it is winter. This is un-Australian, nasty, and divisive and it’s the wrong approach.”Deoples COVID-19 Victorian Exposure Sites Table
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