Health chief Dale Webster warns Tasmanians to get their Covid and flu vaccinations
As winter begins so does the cold and flu season but experts are warning Tasmanians to get a Covid booster as a new strain emerges. Read why you should act.
Tasmania
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In the wake of a new, more infectious Covid strain in Australia, doctors and the state’s health department chief are warning Tasmanians to stay home if they are ill and get vaccinated.
The World Health Organisation has warned the new strain, NB. 1.8.1 is being monitored and is increasing across the world including China.
Health Department secretary Dale Webster said Covid cases had not increased in Tasmania he expected numbers would rise, along with cases of the flu, in the coming weeks.
“Our flu numbers are tracking as they have in previous years and there’s a common cold going around as well at the moment effecting a lot of people with some people getting quite serious coughs,” he said.
“What we’re saying is if you get any form or respiratory illness stay at home — that message is really clear.
“If you do need to go out, please wear a mask.
“Get your vaccinations. Every Tasmanian should get up to date with their Covid booster and for most people that is every 12 months or if you’re vulnerable or immunocompromised every six months.
“Every Tasmanian should get the flu vaccination from their GP or pharmacy.”
Mr Webster said Tasmanians aged over 65 could also get a vaccination for pneumonia.
Royal Australian College of GPs Tasmania Chair Toby Gardner also stressed the importance of Covid and flu vaccinations and for people with respiratory illnesses to get tested.
He said doctors were seeing a mix of Covid, flu, whooping cough, colds and pneumonia.
“The flu season started a lot earlier, particularly the influenza A,” Dr Gardner said.
“Then we’ve had a little bit of a lull and now we’re seeing some influenza B come through and it’s starting to really ramp up again and it’s affecting our workforce, it’s taking all of our workers out at the moment.
“We’re just seeing a lot of rhinovirus that’s around at the moment, which is the common cold, but it’s playing out as more serious than the usual common cold that we’re all used to.
“The other thing that we are seeing, and we’re seeing this reflected in the pathology testing we’re doing, is there is still mycoplasma (a type of pneumonia) and pertussis (whooping cough) around.”
Dr Gardner said testing for people who were unwell was vital.
“I think it’s still important to see someone in primary care to get tested because we do like this epidemiological data and if we are seeing some things like pertussis and microplasma still circulating, these are treatable conditions and they may manifest similar sort of symptoms to viral stuff, so getting tested I think is a reasonable thing to do as well.”
Experts say the new strain of Covid spreads more easily but the symptoms are not necessarily worse.
It has led to a big surge in cases in China and Taiwan and is believed responsible for Covid hospitalisations reaching 12-month highs in Hong Kong.
Originally published as Health chief Dale Webster warns Tasmanians to get their Covid and flu vaccinations
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