Covid, flu and RSV numbers drop despite superspreader fears

Queensland is still registering thousands of new Covid cases each day and yesterday recorded 29 deaths, but concerns over another peak in transmission following the Ekka have failed to eventuate.

COVID-19, flu and RSV cases and hospitalisations figures are continuing to drop across the state, despites previous concerns of another peak in transmission following Brisbane’s Ekka Show.

While experts previously labelled events like the Ekka and Splendour in the Grass as “potential superspreaders”, case numbers and hospitalisations have now dropped across the board.

Covid-19 hospitalisations have fallen significantly since the week prior to the Ekka where daily figures reached a peak of 815 people in hospital including 28 in the ICU.

Now, two weeks after the Ekka event, daily hospitalisations have dropped to 376 including 12 people in intensive care.

However, there were also 2612 new cases yesterday and 29 deaths which is the highest number of daily deaths the state has seen in two weeks.

Meanwhile, reported flu cases have more than halved since the week before the Ekka to now, with 466 cases reported in the week to August 7 and 217 cases reported last week.

There was also a slight drop in the number of people admitted to hospital for the flu with just 29 last week down from 33 the week prior.

And following a peak of RSV cases in June when there were more than 2300 reported in a week, cases have now dropped significantly.

Before the Ekka, there were 1006 weekly cases reported, now in the most updated data from last week there were just 259 cases.

Dr Paul Griffin says the pandemic isn’t over despite the downward trend in numbers.

Infectious diseases expert Dr Paul Griffin said the drop in numbers shows just how complex the viruses are.

“It goes to show there’s so many drivers to what we see in terms of case numbers and transmission,” he said.

“Clearly we were at the tail end of the most recent wave before the Ekka and even though there was likely some transmission occurring at the Ekka, the overall trend downward is probably more pronounced than those cases.”

But the downward trend doesn’t mean the pandemic is over just yet, according to Dr Griffin, who said it was clear there would be another wave in the future.

However, Dr Griffin said the government’s prediction of the next wave hitting in December was an “oversimplification”.

“I think it’s an oversimplification, I don’t think it’s just a function of time. What really contributed to the most recent wave was the emergence of BA. 4 and BA. 5,” he said.

“We could have another more infectious variant today that could result in a wave sooner or we might not have one for a few months.”