Aged care death toll spikes amid Qld’s Covid surge

Dozens of Queensland aged care residents have died with Covid-19 in July, with half of the casualties reported in the most recent week amid the ongoing third wave.

More than 40 Queensland aged care residents have died with Covid-19 in July new data analysis has revealed, with half of the casualties reported in the most recent week amid the ongoing outbreak.

The latest federal health insight into Covid-19 across aged care also revealed 99 per cent of all facilities had now experienced an outbreak through the pandemic, up from 97 per cent previously.

In Queensland overall, the number of hospitalisations fell for the ninth consecutive day to 762 people from a pandemic peak of 1061 on July 23.

But high-profile former Australian Medical Association president Dr Kerryn Phelps has slammed Queensland’s pandemic response plan, calling for politicians to take the “courageous” step and enforce a mask mandate.

Dr Phelps’ comments come after she ripped into Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk online, saying vaccination alone would not control the pandemic regardless of the advice she may be getting.

The latest federal health aged care Covid-19 data revealed there were now 231 active outbreaks in Queensland — representing about 46 per cent of the state’s facilities.

A total of 20 residents died in the week ending July 29, meaning half of the state’s July pandemic death toll occurred in just seven days.

And the federal health document also revealed just five military personnel were deployed within aged care facilities nationally as of July 28 as “many teams (were) currently in their rest period”, though “deployments will increase in coming days”.

Dr Phelps, the former federal MP for Wentworth, said the country was expecting an additional 10,000 deaths from the virus this year if things don’t start to change and safeguards aren’t put in place.

Dr Kerryn Phelps slammed the state government for not reintroducing a mask mandate during the latest Covid wave. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

She said although the Queensland Government was initially handling the pandemic “very well”, the downfall came from an over-reliance on the vaccine.

“Vaccination alone will not control the pandemic, vaccines are a part of an overall strategy,” she said.

“Hospitalisation numbers and deaths are two outcome measures that we’re looking at but there’s also an enormous burden of illness in the community.

“I think political leaders need to make that politically courageous decision and introduce a circuit breaker. There’s evidence that masks will slow transmission.”

According to Dr Phelps the state’s self-responsibility approach to all preventive measures hadn’t proved effective and said Queensland now needs a “fearless public campaign” for a mask mandate.

“The thing about individuals just deciding for themselves if they feel like wearing a mask to protect themselves and others, is that that’s not how public health works. Public health is about collective responsibility,” she said.

Queensland recorded 4655 new cases of Covid-19 overnight into Sunday bringing the number of total known active cases to 53,100.

The state also recorded 62 new flu cases, bringing the total to 681 active cases.

Originally published as Aged care death toll spikes amid Qld’s Covid surge