Queensland changes isolation rule amid concerns of Covid complacency
Queensland’s Covid rules have changed as people “get reinfected, and reinfected quicker” with the new Omicron sub-variants.
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Queensland’s Covid rules have changed due to the threat of rapid reinfection posed by the new sub-variants of Omicron.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath on Tuesday confirmed changes to the Covid-19 isolation rule.
People who were previously infected should get tested and isolate if they had symptoms from four weeks after their initial infection, reduced from 12 weeks.
“People can get reinfected, and reinfected quicker with the BA. 4 or 5 strain,” Ms D’Ath said.
It comes amid concerns Queenslanders have become alarmingly complacent about a surge in Covid-19 cases, even though more patients are turning up at hospital much sicker than at any other time in the pandemic, an emergency doctor reports.
The “she’ll be right” Aussie attitude has shocked a frontline medic at Ipswich Hospital, one of the busiest in the state.
“The combination of influenza and Covid just makes for a bad formula,” the doctor said.
It comes as hospitals battle Covid-19 patient rates almost as high as during the peak of the state’s first wave this year, with the third wave of the pandemic still on the rise.
The doctor said there were no triage tents outside the hospital to deal with the onslaught, but they had reopened Pod B to be a Covid-19 ward.
Pod B was originally a short-stay unit, but is now used for the Queensland Ambulance Service to ramp patients.
It transforms to an ED Covid-19 space when there is an influx of patients.
“Walk-in patients sit in chairs; it’s a mess,” the doctor said.
Triage tents are being used at other hospitals, in the Gold Coast and Metro South Hospital and Health Services districts in a bid to meet demand.
Ms D’Ath said that 928 public and private patients were in hospital with Covid or influenza, with the pressure on the health system exacerbated by more than 2300 health staff furloughed due to Covid-19.
“We know that we’ve probably got another two or three weeks before we hit this peak, and we expect these numbers to climb,” she said.
Most hospital and health services had moved to tier 3, meaning elective surgery was delayed across the state.
More than 6000 new cases were recorded in Queensland on Tuesday, with more than 43,000 active cases. Queensland has never exceeded 1000 Covid-19 hospitalisations, health data shows, but the current number of patients is similar to those before the first wave’s peak in January.
Queensland Health confirmed that there had been 15 more Covid-19-related deaths, bringing the total pandemic toll to almost 1340. Twelve people were in intensive care, four requiring ventilation.
Ms D’Ath also confirmed
Chief health officer John Gerrard said he believed the message about booster shots was getting through.
Almost 18,000 Queenslanders received their fourth vaccine dose in the previous 24 hours, bring the total to more than 515,000. But the state’s booster rates remained the second-lowest in the country.
Dr Gerrard also reiterated it was unlikely a mask mandate would be introduced again and that the waves would continue for some time, but said the Ekka would still go ahead.
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