Amidst the Victorian Premier's depressing daily stocktake of the sick and the dead this week came a number that was met with genuine surprise and anger.
Teams of defence personnel and Victorian health officials knocked on more than 500 doors on Thursday to check if known coronavirus patients were staying at home, as required, in isolation. A staggering 130 of them — roughly a quarter — weren't there.
This was on the very day Victoria recorded 723 new coronavirus cases, the highest to date.
It was on the day another 13 deaths were announced. It was after three full weeks of a second lockdown that has closed bars and restaurants, left thousands out of work, forced kids to stay home from school and kept family members apart.
Despite all the misery so many in Melbourne are going through, an extraordinary number of people aren't staying home despite being confirmed as carriers of this highly infectious and insidious virus. This is surely a problem that needs urgent attention.
The tragic deaths in aged care facilities and intensive care wards, the tension over border closures, the anger over rule-breakers and the mounting national economic toll all stem from the high level of community transmission in Melbourne right now. Or more specifically, workplace transmission.
There may be a good reason why some of those 130 known coronavirus carriers weren't home on Thursday.
Some might have been getting some fresh air. Some may have been out collecting basics, unaware of the supports available to those who need help with groceries and medicines.
There may be language issues and a need for better communication when someone receives a positive test result that they really must stay at home, even when asymptomatic.
Clues in high-transmission workplaces
The door knocking teams on Thursday, however, clearly didn't believe most of the 130 who weren't home had a valid excuse to be out. They referred more than 100 cases to police.
So why are so many flouting the most important rule right now?
Is it complacency, carelessness, heartlessness or a desperate need to turn up to work? The truth is we don't know.
The data is being crunched further. There is a clue, however, in looking at where the worst community transmission, or more specifically workplace transmission, is occurring in Melbourne.
According to Daniel Andrews, the virus is spreading in the following sectors: "aged care, health care, meatworks, warehouse and distribution centres, food production and food distribution".
What do they all have in common? Most of the workers in these sectors are low paid and many of them are casual. Unions say a significant number either don't have sick leave or have used it up.
A $1,500 "hardship payment" is available for those who test positive and don't have any leave, but there have been complaints it's not easy to access.
A federal scheme won't come cheap, but what's the alternative?
The ACTU, along with Labor, has since March been calling on the Federal Government to provide two weeks' paid pandemic leave to vulnerable workers to ensure they stay home.
After resisting the idea for four months, the Prime Minister shifted on Tuesday. "It is a matter I have discussed with the Minister for Industrial Relations," he said, announcing Christian Porter would raise the issue with union and employer groups.
Even the Morrison Government's deputy chief medical officer weighed into the argument about vulnerable workers. "There are reasons why people have to keep going to work to earn a crust because they're in financial hardship, because they're in casual employment," Nick Coatsworth told the ABC's Patricia Karvelas. "We need to try to find something as government to help people to get the message to stay at home."
The Fair Work Commission has now ordered two weeks' paid pandemic leave be available to all permanent and casual aged care workers required to self-isolate. Importantly, it's the employer that must pay and not all of them say they can afford it.
Christian Porter is now considering a broader scheme to cover more than just aged care workers, but he warns "it represents a cost impost potentially on businesses at a time when they can least afford that cost impost".
Employer groups agree, and perhaps not surprisingly, argue it's the government that would need to pay.
If indeed the Morrison Government decides to fund a national paid pandemic leave scheme it won't come cheap. But the alternative could be far more expensive. The Victorian economy is being crippled by this virus and no one knows how long it will take to bring community transmission under control.
As the Premier said on Friday: "There can be no economic recovery until we deal with this public health challenge".
A paid pandemic leave scheme won't be a silver bullet. It won't necessarily mean everyone with a confirmed case suddenly stays at home and it would need to be carefully designed and tareted to prevent any rorting.
The case is strong, however, for the Government to put some sort of leave scheme in place for workers who risk being seriously out of pocket when they're required to isolate.
As we've been told from the outset of this crisis, we're meant to be "all in this together".
David Speers is the host of Insiders, which airs on ABC TV at 9am on Sunday or on iview.
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