NSW Health says most Covid patients in hospital unvaccinated
NSW Health says most of the people in hospital with Covid have the Delta strain, not Omicron, as the Health Minister dished out some “pragmatic” advice.
NSW
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Only a handful of Covid-19 cases in intensive care are believed to be infected with the dominant Omicron strain, with NSW Health revealing they believe it is Delta that is putting people in hospital.
In news that is likely to reassure vaccinated residents, NSW Health also said that 34 out of 52 patients in ICU are unvaccinated and it is understood that an overwhelming amount have pre-existing health conditions.
The promising findings come as Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Premier Dom Perrottet said everyone in Australia should prepare to catch Covid-19 — but assured the public there was no need to cancel New Year’s Eve plans or skip jam-packed events such as shopping sales.
“Everybody in NSW is probably going to get Omicron at some stage. Everyone in Australia,” Mr Hazzard said on Sunday.
“From early indications NSW Health believe the majority of ICU Covid patients have the Delta variant. Health are seeking to confirm this through additional tests.”
Mr Hazzard also dished out some “pragmatic” advice in the face of a further 6394 cases in NSW — including a suggestion to choose rapid antigen tests over the more accurate PCR tests because of a delay in getting results back.
He also suggested sufferers could self-manage Covid-19 with fluids and Panadol and should be able to leave a 10-day isolation without medical clearance.
“If you have a test today and then you are visiting Aunty Mabel in three or four days, it may well be that by then, you are positive,’’ he said. “A far simpler, far quicker measure would be simply to be get a rapid antigen test … preferably half an hour or an hour beforehand.
“If you’re not particularly sick, you probably don’t need to be doing very much except probably taking some Panadol if you’ve got a temperature and making sure you’re drinking plenty of fluids.”
Mr Hazzard said these measures will help reduce strain on the healthcare workforce which is “run off their feet” and currently grappling with 2000 staff off work isolating because they have either tested positive or are a close contact.
Public Health Orders currently in place require a positive case to be cleared by NSW Health or a doctor before they can leave self-isolation, but Mr Hazzard reassured people going against these laws that they will not be fined $5000 by the police because NSW Health guidelines supported the new approach.
“(On day 10) you may get advice from NSW Health by way of a text giving you some advice but if you don’t and you are symptom free, you are entitled to leave your home,’’ he said. “You don’t need to wait for someone to give you (approval). You are very unlikely at that point to be infectious and that again will take the pressure off everybody as long as we realise we don’t need to be rushing out to get medical approval to get out.”
The suggestions aligned with Mr Perrottet’s emphasis on personal responsibility which he said will become more commonplace in 2022 with the rollout of free rapid antigen tests in the works.
“This will be the new normal – personal responsibility, living with Covid,” he said.
But despite Mr Perrottet hoping that widespread accessibility to rapid antigen kits will help ease pressure on the state’s testing clinics, there is no guarantee the other states will come to the table and support NSW by waving off tourism testing demands.
Mr Perrottet (pictured right) again thanked Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for agreeing to review PCR testing requirements for NSW travellers.
But the sunshine state has made no promises as their Treasurer Cameron Dick responded on Sunday that no changes were confirmed.
“We’ve said we’ll consider that over time and look at how the current policy position of the government may be changed from January 1, but there is no change to that position at the moment,” he said.
“But we will continue to monitor it and take health advice.”
It comes as an optimistic Mr Perrottet, who walked his talk for promoting boosters by getting his third dose on Sunday, refused to discourage people from attending shopping sales or end-of-year festivities, despite earlier warning people not to “mingle” too much.
“Take personal responsibility, socially distance, follow the rules that are in place … but we are about instilling confidence in our people, confidence has been key. Whether that’s consumer confidence, business confidence,” he said. “We are going to get through it … let’s not look at the negative, let’s look at the positive.”
The comments will offer relief to retailers looking to the annual end of year sales event as their saviour in 2021 – but Mr Perrottet fell short of promising struggling businesses any compensation as they face the risk of closing down due to furloughed staff.
“We’ve always said we will adjust our settings based on circumstances we find ourselves in … throughout the entire pandemic, and this is as a Liberal government, we have said that we will put our people and our businesses before our budget,” he said. “We have done that time and again.’’
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Originally published as NSW Health says most Covid patients in hospital unvaccinated
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