Thank you for joining our live Q&A and thank you to Dr Jeannette Young for taking the time to answer our reader questions.
I hope you all found some benefit in having your questions answered direct from Queensland's chief health officer.
Live Q&A: Your questions answered by Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young
Queensland's chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has revealed what it will take to lift tough coronavirus restrictions in Queensland as she confirmed only five cases of community transmission had been recorded in the past week. FOLLOW THE Q&A
Queensland's chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has revealed the first of tough social distancing restrictions could be lifted in Queensland in weeks as she confirmed only five cases of community transmission had been recorded in the past week.
But she warned lifting the restrictions too soon could be 'disastrous' and it would require several weeks of low numbers of cases before lifting restrictions could be considered.
Dr Young made the revelations during a live Q&A with Courier Mail readers on Thursday afternoon after they submitted a wide range of questions to the state's top health boss who is guiding Queensland through the coronavirus pandemic.
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She said 92 per cent of Queensland's confirmed ,1001 coronavirus cases were acquired overseas or they were a close contact of someone who had been overseas.
"We are seeing low numbers of community transmission in Queensland at this time," she told readers during the Q&A.
"92 per cent of the current total 1,001 cases were acquired from overseas or acquired from a close contact of someone who had recently returned from overseas, such as a partner or a flatmate.
"Another 1.8 per cent of confirmed cases had a history of recent interstate travel.
"In total, only 39 cases have been determined as community transmission – that is, we don’t know the source of infection. In the past week, we have confirmed five cases of community transmission across the whole state."
She said while most of those community transmission cases had occurred in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Cairns, there had been one case in Central Queensland, two in Wide Bay and three in Sunshine Coast over the last few months.
"We are seeing signs of flattening the curve, but now is not the time to be complacent. It’s encouraging that numbers have stayed low over the past week, and we want to keep it that way," she said.
She said lifting restrictions would require sustained low numbers of cases for a few weeks.
"Lifting restrictions too early could be disastrous and cost lives. We need to sustain these low numbers at least for a few weeks until we can look into lifting any restrictions, she said.
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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TERM 2
Just five new cases were recorded overnight - the lowest rise since early March - with the state’s tally now sitting at 1001.
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Updates
That concludes our live Q&A
Question 18: Why is Australia's death rate so low?
READER QUESTION: Hi, Why do you think Australia and Queensland have such low death rates from Covid?
Even adjusting for testing and population? Could it be correlation to sun/Vit D?
I know the care at hospitals is world class but surely not that much better than other first world nations?
DR YOUNG: Australia was lucky that we had time to prepare for COVID-19.
While many other countries were suffering high numbers of cases, we still had low numbers and were able to see what other countries did, and what worked and what didn’t.
It also gave us time to prepare for different scenarios, and order additional equipment.
Because it’s a new virus, we’re still learning about it.
Most Queenslanders who have contracted COVID-19 have experienced mild symptoms.
Currently we only have 21 of our 554 active confirmed cases in hospital.
The remainder are currently recovering at home.
442 people who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Queensland have now recovered.
Question 17: How long until we see restrictions eased?
READER QUESTION: How long until we see restrictions eased? Infection rates are low, how much longer does this need to happen and what would be the first restrictions to be lifted?
DR YOUNG: While we are seeing signs of flattening the curve, we’re not out of the woods yet.
We have to continue to have a sustained period of flattening the curve. If we were to suddenly lift all restrictions, the result could be disastrous.
We will continue with restrictions as they are currently, and these will continually be reviewed as long as case numbers drop.
Unfortunately, this virus is likely to be around for many months and it is important that we sustain and then lower the curve.
Question 16: Why is our advice different to other states?
READER QUESTION: Dr Young – what is the difference in medical advice held by the Palaszczuk government to that provided to the Morrison government by Dr Murphy as Australia’s CMO?
As that advice held by Dr Murphy is clearly considered by the Palaszczuk government as being incorrect, exactly what part(s) are deemed to be of such inaccuracies that it poses a risk to students attending schools?
How and when did your counterpart in Victoria and you compare and contrast your advice to that provided by Dr Murphy, and further, were your counterparts in the other States and Territories also involved in this discussion(s)?
When will the people of Queensland get to make their own comparisons, that is, when will these conflicting medical advices be placed into the public domain?
If the intention is that the above is not considered to be appropriate, when will you allow your counterparts in other States and Territories who are more aligned with the advice of Dr Murphy to view your advice? That is, when will a ‘peer’ review be undertaken in order to ensure – for quality assurance purposes – that your advice is appropriate, well considered and made without undue influence from external parties who have a vested interest in your findings?
DR YOUNG: Each state and territory government has the ability to implement restrictions based on advice from the Australian Government’s National Cabinet on COVID-19.
We are acting in the best interests of Queenslanders to save lives.
The Chief Health Officers from all States, Territories and the Commonwealth teleconference every day to work through the advice to be provided to the National Cabinet to ensure the best outcome in Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Question 15: Why can't I visit my dying spouse?
READER QUESTION: It is absolutely cruel to prevent a spouse who has been isolating at home, to visit a dying resident in a nursing home while nursing homes staff go backwards and forwards from their residence to the nursing home and we don’t know what their home circumstances are like.
Why can’t a partner go straight to a nursing home room to be with their loved one?
DR YOUNG: I’m sorry to hear about the illness of a family member.
Queensland Health’s Aged Care Direction allows a care and support visit to a resident of the residential aged care facility on a particular day, as long as it is the only care and support visit made to the resident on that day.
You cannot visit an aged care facility if you have:
- Been overseas or had known contact with a person who has a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the previous 14 days
- have a temperature equal to or higher than 37.5 degrees or symptoms of acute respiratory infection
- you don’t have an up to date vaccination against influenza as of 1 May, 2020
- you’re aged under 16 years
Aged care facilities can also help residents stay connected with family and friends by phone and video calls.
Question 14: Why were border restrictions made tighter?
READER QUESTION: Why are schools being restricted to children of essential workers when the infection rate has dropped significantly as compared to when schools were open prior to the holidays when the infection rates were increasing and much higher than they are now?
Why were border restrictions made tighter between Qld and NSW when the existing restrictions did not seem to be causing an issue with the infection rate? In fact, the infection rate has dropped in Qld and NSW over the 3 weeks that the previous permit and restrictions were in place so what has changed to warrant the tighter restrictions?
DR YOUNG: The majority of our cases are in Queenslanders who had been overseas.
When schools were still open, many more travelers were returning from overseas and we were seeing very little community transmission.
Since then, we have seen some small pockets of community transmission and also New South Wales has now identified 13 COVID-19 hotspots in New South Wales, this is why we have decided to maintain border restrictions and only allow vulnerable students and children of essential workers to attend school.
Question 13: Why can't we wind back restrictions?
READER QUESTION: Why do you think it’s necessary to send small businesses broke unnecessarily?
Can you explain why we are not winding back the restrictions when the number of infected is a minuscule percentage of the population.
Do you think we will continue to follow these rules for 6 months?
DR YOUNG: This is an unprecedented situation and most importantly, we are working to limit the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.
Unfortunately, to help limit the spread of COVID-19, we know many businesses have had to close and many people are without jobs.
If we didn’t do anything and let the virus run without controls in place, the number of cases would inundate our health system.
Many more lives would be at risk than there is currently as there wouldn’t be enough beds or equipment.
If we didn’t put restrictions in place then there would be many more infections, so we don’t feel our measures are unnecessary.
We are only just seeing signs of flattening the curve. It’s encouraging that numbers have stayed low over the past week, and we want to keep it that way.
We need to sustain these low numbers at least for a few weeks until we can look into lifting any restrictions.
Our response to this pandemic is constantly evolving and we are assessing measures daily.
READER QUESTION: My daughter, who has three children, is also studying at University.
Her lectures are now being streamed live, which is great, but with three kids at home it is nigh on impossible to focus on the live lectures.
She may not be an essential worker but is a student.
Question, can she send her kids to school so she can keep on top of her studies?
DR YOUNG: I know many people are facing difficult situations, but unfortunately, it’s necessary at this time to have some controls in place such as limiting the number of people in a classroom.
This is an unprecedented situation and most importantly, we are working to limit the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.
At this time, schools are open for vulnerable students and children of essential workers to maintain a balance between enabling essential workers such as our healthcare workers to attend work and minimising the number of people in a classroom at one time.
Essential worker means any worker who must continue to attend their workplace for essential business during this time.
Vulnerable children include children identified by schools or who are currently receiving services from Child Safety, including children who are subject to a child protection order, or are subject to a youth justice order.
Question 12: Can anyone send their kids to school?
READER QUESTION: My daughter, who has three children, is also studying at University.
Her lectures are now being streamed live, which is great, but with three kids at home it is nigh on impossible to focus on the live lectures.
She may not be an essential worker but is a student.
Question, can she send her kids to school so she can keep on top of her studies?
DR YOUNG: I know many people are facing difficult situations, but unfortunately, it’s necessary at this time to have some controls in place such as limiting the number of people in a classroom.
This is an unprecedented situation and most importantly, we are working to limit the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.
At this time, schools are open for vulnerable students and children of essential workers to maintain a balance between enabling essential workers such as our healthcare workers to attend work and minimising the number of people in a classroom at one time.
Essential worker means any worker who must continue to attend their workplace for essential business during this time.
Vulnerable children include children identified by schools or who are currently receiving services from Child Safety, including children who are subject to a child protection order, or are subject to a youth justice order.
Question 11: Are you taking into account the mental health impact due to restrictions?
READER QUESTION: Is anyone with economics and small business knowledge advising the government on the lockdowns, or only health experts?
If there are people with other expertise involved, what are the scenarios and time frames being considered?
Are the health experts considering the health implications of people losing their jobs, their businesses, their homes etc etc in part of their decisions, and the long-term effects that takes on health including depression and suicide?
DR YOUNG: We do realise the mental health impacts this pandemic may be having on people and additional funding has been allocated to help those affected.
Earlier this week, the Queensland Government announced a $28 million fund to support community organisations delivering public health services such as mental health and alcohol and other drugs services.
The restrictions we have in place are necessary to save people’s lives.
If we did nothing, the number of cases would inundate our health system.
Many people are involved in the decision-making process. Federal and State Governments from across the country are meeting regularly to discuss options and consider the best way forward balancing the health of Australians and the economy.
There are many scenarios being considered, but at the moment we are focussed on flattening the curve, maintaining that, and then lowering the curve, and we’re currently tracking towards this result.
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