Yvette D’Ath comments on mask mandates, says third Covid wave to be worse

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has said the third wave of Covid cases had not yet peaked and would likely be worse than the second wave, as she commented on talk of mask mandates.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has said there is no plan for mask mandates to return despite admitting that Covid cases would continue to rise.

The Minister on Sunday said the third case wave had not yet peaked and would likely be worse than the second wave due to the stronger B4 and B5 Omicron sub variants.

It comes as Australia reached a solemn milestone of 10,000 recorded Covid deaths on Sunday.

“We know that we’re hearing that this wave that we are in, the third wave, could end up peaking higher than what we saw the second wave and we are not at that peak yet. So that means we’ve got extra strain on our system again,” Ms D’Ath said.

But despite the rapid case rise and more than 500 Queenslanders currently in need of hospital care, there is so far no plan in place to assist hospitals with the growing demand and no recommendation for people to start wearing masks again.

Ms D’Ath simply advised people to “make those decisions for themselves”.

“There’s no change in masks. I know that the Chief Health Officer said the other day that there were discussions occurring at a higher level,” she said.

“We’ve got over 1500 staff furloughed again and we ask for everyone’s patience as our hospitals, our health staff do their best to look at everyone in these very trying times.”

Her comments come after a leading infectious-diseases expert warned against enforcing the use of masks amid Queensland’s worrying new Covid-19 wave, saying people are “just sick of a lot of these rules”.

Associate Professor Paul Griffin said the return of compulsory masks would not work “because I think people are just sick of a lot of these rules and are not keen for mandates to return”.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath.

Ms D’Ath said a suspension of planned care at the state’s hospitals “could occur” over the next few weeks when the case wave is expected to peak, and private hospital’s would be “called on” when additional beds are needed.

“There isn’t a recommendation at this point to implement a statewide suspension of planned care, but individual hospitals will move up and down the tiers which might mean that there might be temporary suspension of some surgeries to do with those demands and those staff shortages,” she said.

“That could occur if we start seeing numbers reaching up to as high as what we saw in the first way or potentially beyond that.

“But at this stage we don’t know when it’s going to peak...that could be another couple of weeks away, if not more and, there could be future waves, so all of those options are on the table.”

Although Ms D’Ath said she raised the issue of Covid in disability and aged care settings with the Commonwealth last week, no restrictions or mandates would return to either service.

“Aged care is very much a Commonwealth responsibility, and aged care will manage any outbreaks they have.”

“I’m also mindful that there are some outbreaks in disability providers, and we’ve been stepping in and supporting... we feel they don’t have the capability of managing the Covid outbreak.”

Ms D’Ath was in Redcliffe on Sunday to announce a $1.6 billion investment to expand the Redcliffe Hospital.

Her comments come as federal Health Minister Mark Butler said there was no medical advice to federal and state health officials saying mask mandates need to be reinforced.

But he urged anyone eligible for their booster shot to get it, as he warned there would be an increase in cases in the current months as more omicron sub-variants continue to spread throughout the population.

Mr Butler’s comments follow a meeting with all his state counterparts on Friday.

“There’s no health advice before health ministers to introduce, or reintroduce, new mask mandates,” Mr Butler said on Sunday.

“We received updated reports from the deputy Chief Medical Officer, who had just met with her (state) equivalents as well.

“It’s clear that we expect an increase in cases in the coming months with an increased prevalence of the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of the omicron variant.”

He said this reinforced the need to the six million Australians who are eligible for a booster shot, or third dose of the vaccine, but had not yet had it to get the jab.

“Get out and get a booster. You are not fully protected against these sub-variants with just two doses of the vaccine,” Mr Butler said.

“It is critically important that people get that third booster.”