Queensland gears up for Covid

Queensland Health has had months to prepare for Monday’s reopening of the state’s borders and an expected influx of Covid-19 patients. It is a worrying sign that bed shortage emergencies were declared 19 times in the state’s overcrowded public hospitals in November, with doctors warning that the system was already at breaking point ahead of an influx of travellers from Covid-hit states. Capacity-driven code-yellow alarms, which triggered the discharge of non-critical patients and ambulance diversions, were enacted in recent weeks at Wide Bay, north of Brisbane, in central Queensland and in Townsville.

The predicament facing patients is inexcusable. Queensland is a high-spending state. And due to rigid border lockdowns and other restrictions, it has remained largely Covid-free in recent months. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has boasted about the state’s “double-doughnut days’’ of no locally acquired or quarantine cases.

Kim Hansen, a senior Brisbane emergency physician, says hospital staff are exhausted and worried about the impending surge of demand for their services. Dr Hansen, who chairs the Australian Medical Association Queensland’s Ramping Roundtable, said: “There are not enough beds and … not enough staff, it is as simple as that.” Incoming state chief health officer John Gerrard, who starts on Monday, said hospitals had enough room to deal with a Covid surge. “We’ve been planning for this for two years so there is the capacity to make way for extra patients.’’ With hospitals already overcrowded, it will be a challenge.

After lagging behind, the state has done well to lift its rate of double vaccinations to 80.6 per cent of adults. That coverage, and reopening borders, will stand workers and businesses in good stead, especially in the tourism and hospitality sector, hit hard by restrictions. With Queensland opening, albeit with cumbersome conditions, Western Australia remains the last state yet to rejoin the nation. True to form, Premier Mark McGowan marked Queensland’s reopening by imposing arduous new requirements on anyone entering WA from Queensland. Travellers must not only be fully vaxxed but quarantine for 14 days and undergo Covid tests on arrival and on day 12.