Top doc reveals ‘tsunami’ of patients as Brett Sutton warns to ‘buckle up’ for Covid third wave

A Melbourne surgeon has said doctors “can’t transfer patients and can’t operate” and essential tests and treatments are being postponed and cancelled amid the state’s Covid surge.

Victoria’s chief health officer has warned Victorians to “buckle up”, as the state faces a worsening Covid wave.

More than 60 Victorians died of Covid over just two days this week.

“We’re in the midst of a damned Covid wave again and Covid is not over,” CHO Brett Sutton warned.

“So buckle up, mask up, get a vax if you’re due for any and make a plan with your GP if you’re eligible for antivirals.”

It comes as a top Melbourne surgeon tweeted there were now so many Covid inpatients in hospitals “normal care is displaced”.

“We can’t transfer patients and can’t operate,” head and neck surgeon Eric Levi said.

“There has always been a trickle of cancellations. It’s becoming a tsunami of patients that’s affecting the day to day care of the hospital. Essential investigations and treatments get postponed to make way for urgent care and Covid care. It’s been tough and will continue to be.”

On Friday there were 840 Victorians in hospital with Covid, with 24 people in intensive care including seven on ventilators.

Twenty-five Victorians died from Covid on Thursday.

It followed a horror day on Wednesday, with 37 deaths.

Health authorities have warned the state’s third Covid wave is yet to peak, with the worst expected to hit next month.

Hospitals hit as new virus threatens pandemic babies

The Royal Children’s Hospital’s Emergency Department is seeing more respiratory illness cases than previous winters’ pre-pandemic, as a senior doctor warns children are more vulnerable post-lockdowns.

Cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — a respiratory virus so common most children are infected by the age of two — have been increasing steadily at the hospital, overtaking Covid.

In the past fortnight, about forty per cent of the hospital’s RSV tests have been positive.

The children’s general medicine director Dr Sarah McNab said they have seen “high numbers of RSV and influenza” post-Covid restrictions, with some admitted to intensive care.

“(Respiratory illness) is typical for this time of year … (but) our emergency department is seeing more patients present than they saw in winters’ pre-pandemic,” she said.

“It’s busier than it was.

“Unfortunately, every year we see children in ICU with flu, or with RSV, and this year is no different.”

She said children who otherwise would have been exposed to viruses last winter “haven’t been exposed yet”.

Erin Lisk vaccinated her kids Emitt, 5, and two-year-old Beatrice, 2, against the flu this year. Picture: Wayne Taylor

“We haven’t seen any flu prior to this for the last two-and-a-half years almost and we’ve seen far less RSV,” she said.

“More children are vulnerable to getting RSV, and influenza at the moment than in a typical year.

“I would strongly encourage families and eligible children to be vaccinated for flu and for Covid.”

She said the increase in emergency department visits may not just be due to a rise in cases, but also uncertainty among parents whose children have “thankfully” avoided viruses until now.

“Parents are less sure about what to expect,” she said.

“For many of their children, it’s the first virus that they’ve ever had.”

She said it was too early to say whether the numbers would eclipse previous “bad winters” from before 2020, but influenza and RSV were “well and truly back”.

“This period of time that we had, where we had a nice reprieve from all of these typical respiratory viruses, is over,” she said.

While only a small percentage of children with respiratory illnesses need hospital treatment, but Dr McNab said they represent a “very large amount of our workload” and babies are among the most vulnerable.

Dr Sarah McNab from the Royal Children’s Hospital is urging parents to vaccinate their children against flu and Covid. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“This is illness that disproportionately affects younger children,” she said.

“It’s one of the most common reasons for a baby to be admitted to a hospital.”

While Dr McNab said they don’t know when rising RSV cases will peak, she said Covid hospitalisations were higher earlier in the year.

“In January, with Omicron, we were seeing a lot of children present to emergency with Covid,” she said.

“That has reduced substantially.

“But we’re certainly still seeing some Covid.”

It comes after daily hospital data obtained by the Herald Sun earlier this week revealed infants were the leading age group among children for Covid hospitalisation.

On Wednesday, 12 babies – including one infant on a ventilator in intensive care – were in Victoria’s hospitals with Covid.

Two children aged between one and nine years old, and 10 patients between 10 and 19 years old, were also included in the state’s Covid hospitalisation figures.

Originally published as Top doc reveals ‘tsunami’ of patients as Brett Sutton warns to ‘buckle up’ for Covid third wave