COVID-19 case total, vaccination rates for Fraser Coast

From case warnings and vaccination rates to updated mask-wearing rules and the readiness of the region’s hospitals, here’s how the Fraser Coast stands when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are now five active cases of COVID-19 in the Wide Bay, Queensland Health has confirmed.

The cases are spread between Bundaberg and Hervey Bay.

So far, alerts have been issued for two Bundaberg venues -The Club Hotel, Bundaberg, from 8.30pm to 10pm on December 18 and Central Hotel, Bundaberg, from 10pm on December 18 to 3am on December 19.

This is in addition to the alert for the Bundaberg Bunnings exposure last week.

WBHHS said in a statement “our public health unit is communicating with close contacts. Regardless of where you’re located in Wide Bay, everyone needs to be vigilant about mask wearing, social distancing and staying home/getting tested if you start to feel unwell.”

The service has been asked whether the five cases include the two previous Hervey Bay cases confirmed last week.

Those two cases did not trigger Covid exposure warnings on the Fraser Coast because the patients travelled straight to private addresses and isolated.

Mandatory mask-wearing rules, already in place for hospitals, aged care and retail are to expand as of Thursday morning to include cinemas, theatres and hospital staff going from table to table.

On Wednesday morning, 186 new cases had been confirmed in Queensland with 5000 people in quarantine.

According to the Queensland Health website there were no active cases in the Wide Bay but by Wednesday afternoon, WBHHS Acting Chief Executive Fiona Sewell confirmed there were five active cases with all patients being cared for under the “hospital in the home virtual care model, including two people who had returned to Wide Bay from a designated COVID-19 hospital”.

“This model allows us to remotely interact with patients in the community, to provide treatment and monitor progress,” Ms Sewell said

Fraser Coast leaders at the forefront of the community’s COVID-19 response have maintained the region can expect to see more cases but are adamant the region is up for the challenge.

It comes as open borders and Christmas holiday crowds and events continue to result in a surge of positive cases across the state.

Ms Sewell this week told reporters in Hervey Bay more local cases were likely but the region’s health service was “Covid ready”.

“We are prepared, we knew this was going to happen,” said

“We’ve put our plans into action … we have our incident team meeting every day now and we’re just rolling through.

“We don’t expect to see anyone in hospital … we can look after people in their home if they have mild symptoms.

“Ofcourse, if someone if someone is sick with Covid, then we can care for them in our hospitals and ICUs.”

Ms Sewell was speaking at a conference alongside Fraser Coast mayor George Seymour and Hervey Bay MP city’s TAFE which as doubled as a vaccination hub.

There, the region’s strong vaccination rate (Hervey Bay was leading the state with a 96% vaccination rate) was praised as were the efforts

The conference also coincided with a training day for ‘junior jabs’.

This is so staff are ready to vaccinate Fraser Coast children aged between five-11 with the Pfizer shot from mid-January.

While vaccination hubs were to be closed over the Christmas break, Ms Sewell confirmed that due to demand, hubs would remain open in Hervey Bay and Bundaberg next Wednesday and Friday and asked people to be “kind”.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Wide Bay Health district has recorded 47 COVID-19 cases.

Of those, 18 fall within the Fraser Coast council area – 12 were acquired overseas, four locally (two via a known contact and two listed as source unknown) and two interstate.

The two recent cases linked to the Fraser Coast did not trigger contact tracing alerts in Maryborough or Hervey Bay due to the fact they travelled straight from where they had been to a private address.

Speaking about the region’s low risk following the Bundaberg Bunnings alert Ms Sewell said “I really enough people to continue to check the (Queensland Health) website on what places are (listed as exposure sites) and just make sure that if you have been in that area to go and get tested and if you have symptoms, to go and get tested again.”

Mr Seymour said “we knew eventually we would have cases” but he was “so proud of Hervey Bay and all the nurses” who had helped get the vaccination numbers up.

“We are anticipating the (case) numbers will go up but it’s really important people get vaccinated so they don’t end up in an ICU”, he said

Christmas testing at Fever Clinics

Christmas Day: 8am-12pm

Other days: 8am-3pm