Latest SA Covid wave to peak in the middle of Mad March festivities
South Australia’s Covid wave is expected to peak in the middle of Mad March. This comes as SA Health has issued a warning not to touch bats in the Adelaide parklands.
SA News
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The present Covid wave is expected to peak right in the middle of Mad March as tens of thousands revellers enjoy crowded Fringe, Festival and Womad events.
New modelling shows the peak of around 1100 cases a day will be recorded around the middle of March as festivities are in full swing.
It will be lower than the December wave’s peak and is partly due to waning immunity from previous infections.
Hospital cases are expected to peak at almost 100 cases a day towards the end of March or early April.
Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier noted an extra booster shot will become available later from next Monday.
She urged the public to take sensible precautions to avoid spreading infections if feeling ill.
“If we get sick we stay away from other people, we stay at home, we consider wearing a mask if going out when we know infection rates are very high,” she said.
Last week, Blackwood High School at Eden Hill scrambled to contain a Covid outbreak, introducing a “range of measures” are in place in an attempt to stop the spread.
In the week 3 February to 10 February SA recorded 1495 Covid cases.
There were 52 people with Covid in hospital, including four in ICU. Of those hospitalised, 41 people had received three or more vaccine doses, eight people were either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and three had an unknown vaccination status.
Following a reconciliation of data received from Births, Deaths and Marriages SA, SA Health identified 94 people who tested positive for Covid who passed away between 24 November 2022 to 9 February 2023 who had not been previously recorded.
The ages range from people in their 50s to 100s including four deaths in people aged under 70 years old.
Nationally, more than 2600 Australians have died with the virus since October. Around 800 of those deaths were aged care residents. Last Wednesday the government announced it had accepted advice from the nation’s vaccine advisory to expand eligibility for a Covid booster to all Australian adults from February 20.
Meanwhile SA Health has warned people not to touch bats to avoid contracting potentially fatal diseases.
With the Adelaide festival season just around the corner, festival goers attending events within the Adelaide parklands have been reminded by SA Health to avoid the bats.
Bats can carry germs including Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLC) infection, which according to SA Health is a rabies-like disease that can be transmitted to humans who are bitten or scratched by an infected bat.
While the bats are commonly spotted in the parklands, they do travel long distances and have also been found in other parts of Adelaide and the state.
The risk of contracting the disease is extremely rare unless people attempt to handle a bat without appropriate training and vaccination.
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