Covid Qld: Booster shortfall warning as fourth wave’s ‘variant soup’ leaves bitter taste

Queensland is behind all other jurisdictions on third jab coverage, as the state comes to terms with the onset of a fourth Covid-19 wave made up of a “soup of variants” and putting authorities on amber alert.

A fourth Covid-19 wave made up of a “soup of variants” has hit Queensland with hospitalisations nearly doubling in a week.

The spike in active cases and ambulance call-outs has prompted chief health officer Dr John Gerrard to escalate the state to “amber” on the pandemic traffic light response scale.

Authorities expect the current wave, which Dr Gerrard said is not unexpected, will peak before Christmas.

The impact of the fourth wave on the health system was not expected to eclipse the hospitalisation horror in July, when patient numbers peaked at more than 1100.

Queenslanders are being urged to get their Covid-19 booster shots now, with the state lagging all other jurisdictions on third jab coverage — at 65.2 per cent — while less than 50 per cent of eligible people covered with a fourth dose.

Dr Gerrard confirmed 203 people were in hospital for Covid-19 across the state as of Thursday — a near doubling from last week when 104 people were being treated for the virus.

People are being urged to consider wearing masks in certain settings as Covid-19 cases start to rise in Queensland. File picture: Steve Pohlner

The number of active cases has also increased 58 per cent week-on-week, 3919 in the previous seven days to 6199.

Infections in aged care were also rising.

“Interestingly, most of the increase in activity has been seen over the past week, particularly since the weekend,” Dr Gerrard said.

He said the state was facing a “soup of variants” including Omicron’s latest offerings of sub-variant XBB and BQ. 1, with the latter “growing quickly” in the state though it is unknown if it will become the dominant strain.

These sub-variants are not expected to make people more sick than previous iterations but are more likely to “escape immunity” built up from previous infection and vaccination.

Treatments for immunocompromised were also less effective against the strains which was a cause for concern Dr Gerrard said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said people should not be alarmed.

“We have been living with this virus for a long time and Queenslanders know what to do,” she said.

Dr Gerrard said under the move to “amber” the advice was for everyone to wear a mask in crowded indoor settings where social distancing is not possible, including public transport.

Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard during a media conference in Brisbane on Thursday. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

People who are vulnerable to Covid-19, like older Australians and the immunocompromised, should also consider wearing masks.

He made clear this was only advice, and were not enforceable rules.

Dr Gerrard said masks would be required at hospitals and other health facilities like GP clinics — a rule that has been in place since the pandemic began and put in place by the facilities themselves.

Under new laws which came into effect on November 1 the chief health officer’s ability to declare public health directions has also been greatly limited.

Queensland’s emergency declaration for Covid-19 also ended on October 31.

Dr Gerrard cannot, under the new framework, order Covid-19 lockdowns, that borders be shut, or that people arriving via plane be forced into quarantine.

But he does have powers to issue a public health direction to wear masks in vulnerable settings, require workers in certain settings like healthcare be vaccinated, or for close contacts and cases to isolate.

“I cannot see a circumstance under which we would do anything, having any additional mandates, between now and Christmas,” Dr Gerrard said.

Dr Gerrard said the bar for hitting “red” on the traffic light system was if the hospital system was being “significantly challenged” by Covid-19 patients numbers.

But he said it was “unlikely” the fourth wave would be bad enough to warrant going to “red”.

Queensland will not be returning to weekly reporting of Covid-19 deaths, cases and hospitalisations as the move away from daily reporting helped “smooth out” noise in the data according to Dr Gerrard.

The latest Queensland Health data revealed 14 people died with the virus between October 27 and November 2.