Covid Qld: CHO confident in processes despite testing slowdown

The state’s chief health officer has backed the Covid-19 testing processes despite a slowdown on Christmas weekend.

More than 50 health workers have caught Covid-19 and hundreds of other staff have been put in quarantine as Queensland’s coronavirus case numbers dipped amid a Christmas testing slowdown.

Queensland had 714 Covid-19 cases on Sunday – a drop from 765 the previous day – as chief health officer John Gerrard said numbers could be “substantially higher” within days.

The state’s top doctor ­revealed 55 hospital and health service workers had tested positive, with 300 staff in quarantine as close contacts at a hospital or in public.

But Dr Gerrard insisted all the state’s healthcare services were functioning well and had plans in place.

“We have tens of thousands of healthcare staff in Queensland, so it is not at all surprising that some of them will get Covid, and that will continue to be the case and those numbers will rise,” he said.

“We ­always have a certain percentage of the staff who are sick and away from work.

“It is one of the things that will put a strain on hospitals – there’s no question about that. But all healthcare services have plans and they are managing well.”

Treasurer Cameron Dick said the Government was confident it could manage the ­impact of the pandemic on public service staff numbers.

“We obviously build in ­capacity for people on sick leave who aren’t otherwise able to come to work,” Mr Dick said.

“We’re confident we can manage that impact at this stage. But, again, we will continue to monitor that and see what happens over time.”

Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union Secretary Beth Mohle said health staff, by the nature of their work, were exposed to a greater risk of infection – and she ­applauded their hard work.

“Like all Queenslanders, they are also at risk of infection while in the community, particularly as borders open,” Ms Mohle said.

“Ensuring funding and planning are in place to maintain safe staff levels should surges in demand occur is a matter for Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the state government, QH and each HHS.”

Queensland has 2857 ­active Covid-19 cases, while the state’s total number of cases since the pandemic started in early 2020 has reached 5032.

Seven cases are being ­treated in hospital, but none are in intensive care.

Queensland notched up 29,918 tests in the 24 hours to Sunday morning – but this was down from the almost 34,000 tests the day before.

Victoria recorded 1608 new cases on Boxing Day, while 6394 were recorded in NSW.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard yesterday said everyone in Australia should prepare to catch Covid-19 – but assured the public there was no need to cancel New Year’s Eve plans or skip the sales.

“Everybody in NSW is probably going to get Omicron at some stage. Everyone in Australia,” Mr Hazzard said yesterday.

In Queensland, Dr Gerrard said about three-quarters of the Sunshine State’s cases were of the Omicron variant, while about a quarter were of the Delta variant.

“Three-quarters of the ­patients that we have seen in Queensland to date in the last two weeks with Covid-19 have been under the age of 35,” he said.

“So it’s a young cohort.

“We haven’t seen a lot of older people with the infection at this stage.”

Dr Gerrard said younger people tended to not fall as sick with the virus.

“I don’t want to over­emphasise the fact that we don’t have anyone in intensive care,” he said.

“It’s interesting and we’re watching it with great interest, but our age group (of patients) is young.”

Dr Gerrard said “things are likely to change in the coming weeks” with tens of thousands of cases, as he pointed out that there had not been a big spread of the virus among older age groups.

The CHO also issued an appeal for pregnant women to come forward to have the jab – saying “a lot” had not yet been vaccinated.

“Covid-19 is a very bad ­infection to get during pregnancy – it’s bad for the mother and it’s bad for the unborn baby,” Dr Gerrard said.

A Sullivan Nicolaides collection centre in Brisbane yesterday. Picture: Richard Walker