CHO’s dire booster warning after shocking death stats revealed
The state’s chief health officer has issued a sobering warning to Queenslanders to get their booster shot after the state’s hospitals started erecting tents to cope with skyrocketing demand and shocking Covid death stats were revealed.
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Covid will find those who have not had a booster, the state’s top doctor has warned as he revealed only one of 45 Queenslanders to die in the latest Covid wave was triple-jabbed.
The stark warning and call to arms for Queenslanders – particularly the elderly – to get boosted comes as tents go up outside major hospitals to help deal with skyrocketing demand.
Chief health officer John Gerrard said it was critical people received their third dose – pointing to the fact just one person who’d received a booster had died with Covid-19.
That person had also suffered other underlying health issues.
“The virus does seem to be finding older people who have not received that third dose,” he said.
“Again, I would remind everyone that of the 45 deaths that we’ve had in Queensland so far, since the current wave which began on 13th of December, only one has received a vaccine booster.”
Queensland recorded its deadliest day on Tuesday with 16 people – all over the age of 70 – losing their lives while another 15,962 cases were added to the state’s tally.
Four of the people who died had not been vaccinated, two had received one dose, 10 were fully vaccinated and none had received a booster.
Nine of those people were in aged care facilities.
About 50 per cent of eligible Queenslanders have not yet received their booster, prompting Health Minister Yvette D’Ath and Dr Gerrard to clarify that those who have had Covid can still get the third jab as long as they’ve recovered from their symptoms.
Fifty people are now being treated in ICU with total hospitalisations now totalling 819, a significant jump from 702 the previous day.
Ms D’Ath said tent structures were being erected outside some hospitals to ensure there weren’t congested emergency departments.
These include at the Gold Coast University Hospital, Logan, Princess Alexandra and Ipswich with one to be operational at Robina later this week.
There are also plans to build one at Redlands.
“So they’re using it as a safe waiting area as they triage people,” Ms D’Ath said.
“We want to make sure that we can have that sort of space and social distancing as much as we can in our EDs.
“It’s part of the reason why we are limiting the number of people who come in with patients in EDs so we don’t have whole families of five or six people sitting there with the one person who actually needs treatment.
“It’s really important that we do implement these measures just to ease some of those pressures on our EDs.”
Just two visitors will now be allowed in a hospital ward at any one time while one person will be allowed to attend an ED with a patient.
There will be exceptions to this rule for palliative care, end of life visits and maternity.
Ms D’Ath urged Queenslanders to get vaccinated.
“We need vaccines in arms … we need elderly people getting their booster,” she said.
Helen Hughes, 70, says she was “really relieved” walking out of the Doomben vaccination clinic after receiving her booster shot on Tuesday.
“I was put on a waiting list by my GP, but that’s not until the 16th of February,” she said.
“I just thought it was a bit far away, with this peak they’re predicting.”
“I didn’t want to wait.”
Mrs Hughes said that she was also determined to get the booster as soon as possible as she was primary caretaker of her son, Ross, who has Down syndrome.
“I have to be on the ball, I can’t really afford to get sick,” she said.
Ms D’Ath said the number of people getting the jab aged 12 to 15 had slowed.
“But I remind everyone as schools are going to open in February, that it’s important that all of our school kids get vaccinated not just the five to 11-year-olds,” she said.
“Currently, 73.27 per cent of our 12 to 15-year-olds have had one dose and only 65.81 per cent two doses.
“Now I’d like to see that figure much higher as these young people, teenagers, look at going back to school in the very near future.”
The Minister said while many hospitals had negative pressure rooms to treat positive patients, there would never be enough to cater for the increasing demand amid the current wave.
“But we do have all the infectious control procedures in place to limit any spread outside of Covid wards into other areas of the hospital,” she said.
Dr John Gerrard numbers of hospitalisations were growing and the pandemic peak was looming.
“The virus is very widespread across Queensland, areas it’s increasing include the entire metropolitan Brisbane area,” he said.
“There’s quite a bit of activity in Ipswich, which is putting pressure on Ipswich Hospital, also a significant number of cases in Cairns and the Gold Coast.”
Meanwhile Dr Gerrard couldn’t say whether all 1000 beds at the government’s Wellcamp quarantine site would be required. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has previously said all 1000 would be needed.
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