New wave to hit before year ends as more Covid measures watered down
Health authorities are calling for restrictions to be retained with fears Queensland’s next Covid wave is just weeks away. VOTE IN OUR POLL
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Infectious disease experts fear further Covid public health strategies being scrapped from this weekend is sending the message the pandemic is over when in reality another wave is bound to hit the state by the end of the year.
“We are in a “go for it” green light zone when it comes to public health messaging when we should remain cautious in the amber zone,” infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist Assoc Prof Paul Griffin said.
“Queenslanders need to remain vigilant, the pandemic is not over and we have no idea what variant will hit in the next wave due within weeks or months.”
The warning comes days after the startling revelation the state had recorded its 2000 Covid death.
This weekend sees the end of Queensland Health’s reporting of weekend case numbers. Only daily cases will be monitored.
From Friday isolation periods for positive cases reduce from seven to five days following a positive test, if you have no symptoms on day five. The seven days isolation remains for workers in high-risk setting including aged care, disability care, those providing care in the home.
Friday also sees the end of the face mask mandate on domestic flights. Last week the government ended the Covid vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in the private sector — a move that has been slammed as “too early” by the Australian Medical Association Queensland.
“The question is “Can we quickly upscale these measures when another wave hits?” Assoc Prof Griffin said.
“There has been a number of predictions when a new wave will come. The chief health officer said probably December but we don’t know exactly, we just know it will happen. Yes we do need to trend towards some relaxing of restrictions but without past restrictions the impact could be significant,” he said.
The Australian Medical Association’s national president Steve Robson said that with the watering down of Covid protections such as isolation and mask wearing and an end-of-year wave predicted then it is important to know how people are being affected more than ever.
“We need to know that if reports come out weekly that daily analysis is still happening,” he said.
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