Sydney Covid wards shut as hospitalisations plunge

The closure of temporary Covid wards in Sydney hospitals as patient numbers plummet is proof vaccination works.

Exclusive: Covid hospitalisations and ICU admissions have plunged dramatically in the last fortnight as high vaccinations rates ease the pressure on Sydney hospitals.

The improvement has been so dramatic, St Vincent’s Private Hospital has been able to close one of its temporary Covid wards, breast screen services are reopening across the state and non-urgent day surgery has recommenced.

The number of patients in hospitals with the virus has plummeted 32 per cent from a peak of 1266 on September 21, down to less than 856 yesterday.

ICU admissions have fallen 30 per cent and are now down to around 170 patients from a peak of 244 over two weeks ago.

The number of patients using ventilators has fallen 39 per cent down to 75 patients from a peak of 123 on September 21.

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A nurse attends to a patient with Covid-19 in the ICU in a Sydney hospital. Picture Chris Pavlich for The Manly Daily

St Vincent’s Private Hospital’s USpace Young Adult Mental Health Unit was closed last month and re-purposed as a mental health public inpatient SCOVID unit (SCOVID patients are those at higher risk of contracting Covid because they have been in close contact with an infected person).

“Owing to the fact that demand for such a SCOVID Unit appears not to have met the levels projected for this period, we agreed that the USpace Unit can now be reopened,” a spokesman for the hospital said.

NSW Health said thanks to the faster-than-estimated rates of vaccination hospital demand “is currently tracking lower than expected”.

“As a result, non-urgent day surgery recommenced on Tuesday 5 October for both

public and private patients in private facilities only,” a spokesperson for the department said.

BreastScreen NSW had also resumed operations in a phased approach, the Department said.

The massive turnaround is compelling proof that vaccination works.

Covid infections peaked at 1570 cases on September 11 when double vaccination rates hit 46.2 per cent and have fallen by roughly two thirds since then.

People who have been vaccinated can still catch Covid and pass on the virus.

New evidence shows the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine in protecting people against Covid plunges rapidly four months after they receive their second shot.

Professor Brendan Murphy said there will be less need for quarantine. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

However, a US Centres for Disease Control study published in the Lancet medical journal last week found the vaccine remained 90 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation six months on.

Two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 per cent effective against hospitalisation from the Delta strain, a Public Health England analysis found.

In NSW in the latest outbreak just 2.6 per cent of all Covid infections occurred in fully-vaccinated people.

Since June 16, 96 per cent of people hospitalised with the virus were not fully vaccinated.

Already state and federal governments are preparing us for changes to the way we keep track of the infection once lockdowns end.

Federal Health Department secretary Professor Brendan Murphy said this week there was “less likely to be a need to quarantine all casual contacts for a long period of time” as vaccination rates rise.

However, doctors warn the huge strides made in cutting the hospitalisation rates could be at risk after last minute changes to reopening rules announced by new premier Dominic Perrottet.

To be protected against Covid and against hospitalisation and death from the virus you need to wait two weeks after your second jab.

Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid. Picture: Supplied

On Monday when lockdown eases, slightly more than 4 million NSW residents will have this status, which means more than half of the state’s 8.2 million population will not be fully protected, allowing the highly infectious virus plenty of scope to spread quickly.

“What we don’t want is to open up and be forced to go back into lockdown for Christmas,” NSW Australian Medical Association president Dr Danielle McMullen said.

“If the hospitals are overwhelmed now we risk completely burning out the workforce, not to mention the impact it will have on both Covid and non-Covid care.

Federal AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid accused the premier of “sidelining public health advice”.

“NSW must not be reckless at this critical time. That would cost more lives, cause more suffering, and put the economies of NSW and the nation at risk,” he said.