Push for masks, testing return as latest Vic Covid figures released

Victorian hospitals and aged care services are being urged to make staff in clinical areas wear masks and test patients, as reports emerge RATs are taking longer to work with Covid RN.1.

Victoria’s chief health officer Claire Looker has called for health, aged care and disability service providers to consider enforcing N-95 mask wearing in clinical care settings and reintroducing Covid testing of patients, staff and visitors, amid the state’s horror JN. 1 wave.

The state’s official Health System Response officially remains at Stage Two — which allows hospitals to make their own rules — but the Victorian Department of Health on Friday told the Herald Sun that for the protection of patients, visitors and workers, health services were being “reminded” to follow guidelines for mask requirements during a Covid wave and those for testing of asymptomatic Covid patients.

“This includes that during periods of high Covid-19 activity, health services should require all staff in clinical areas to wear N95 or P2 respirators and should undertake asymptomatic surveillance Covid-19 testing on admission of all patients being admitted overnight,” the department said.

It comes as some experts report RATs are taking longer to return a positive result with the latest Covid strains.

Some experts report RATs are now taking longer to return a positive result.

International infectious diseases expert Dr Elizabeth Hudson said in the Los Angeles Times, previously, people had typically tested positive for Covid one or two days after the onset of symptoms using a rapid test.

Now, however, positive results sometimes did not show up until the fourth day after symptoms started.

The delay in accurate test results was probably the result of people having accumulated immunity from Covid over the years, whether from vaccinations or previous infections, she said.

“It’s actually pushing back the time that people’s Covid tests are coming up positive,” Dr Hudson said.

There are also reports of RAT shortages in some Australian states, including New South Wales.

Earlier this week Dr Looker said Covid was surging across Victoria due to the new variant JN. 1, which was causing large numbers of people to be hospitalised.

She stressed Covid was airborne and to reduce the risk of catching or spreading it, Victorians should try and increase ventilation indoors as much as possible by opening windows and doors, and meet outdoors whenever possible.

In a health alert this week, Dr Looker said sectors providing housing, care or other services to people at increased risk of severe disease should “consider activating policies to reduce transmission during this wave”, which could include the use of N-95 masks in clinical care settings and use of surveillance testing for patients, staff and visitors.

In good news, the number of Victorians in hospital with Covid declined slightly this week to a daily average of 369, compared to 377 a-day last week.

The seven-day average of patients in intensive care also dropped, from 23 last week to 16.

There were 143 Covid deaths across the state in the most recent 28-day reporting period.