Coroner to investigate possible covid death after two recent deaths

A coroner will investigate whether the death of a 36-year-old woman in the state’s north west was Covid related, after the woman died over the weekend. LATEST COVID UPDATE >>

A coroner will investigate whether the death of a 36-year-old woman in the state’s north west was Covid related, after the woman died over the weekend.

The Department of Public Health confirmed the death on Monday but said the circumstances around it were unclear.

“While there has been speculation in the community that the woman died from Covid-19 complications, this has not been formally determined,” state health commander Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said.

“Given the circumstances surrounding her death, the matter has been referred to the Coroner for determination.

“On behalf of the Department of Health and the Tasmanian Health Service, I extend my condolences to the woman’s family and loved ones.”

Kathrine Morgan-Wicks secretary department of health. Covid presser with Premier Peter Gutwein. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

If the death is linked to Covid, it will be the state’s third Covid related death since the borders reopened on December 15.

The death has not been included in daily Covid statistics.

On Thursday the Premier confirmed a 90 year old unvaccinated woman who contracted the virus had died.

He said Covid had not been recorded as the cause of death on her death certificate, but the infection could not be ruled out as a contributing factor.

An 85 year old man was confirmed dead on Saturday after being admitted to the Mersey Community Hospital on Thursday.

Primary industries minister Guy Barnett provided an update on Tasmania’s Covid cases this morning and was asked several times if he could confirm there had been a third death.

“As soon as any death related to Covid becomes clear to the government, that is made public as soon as possible,” Mr Barnett said.

Second Tasmanian dies with Covid after borders reopen

Another Tasmanian has died with Covid.

Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the 85-year-old man was admitted to the Mersey Hospital at Latrobe on Thursday.

Mr Rockliff said the man was very unwell when he got to hospital and had significant existing medical issues.

Two people are in intensive care and 31 people remain in hospital.

The latest Public Health data on Saturday showed there were 726 new Covid cases in the State – down from the 866 new cases reported on Friday.

There are now 5746 active Covid cases in Tasmania.

There have now been 15 deaths in Tasmania since the pandemic began two years ago.

First patient since 2020 dies with Covid in Tasmania

AN UNVACCINATED elderly woman with Covid died in Hobart, Premier Peter Gutwein has confirmed.

The 90-year-old woman, a resident at New Town’s Barrington Lodge Nursing Home, died on Thursday.

TRAGEDY: An unvaccinated elderly woman with Covid has passed away in Hobart, Premier Peter Gutwein has confirmed. Picture: Kenji Sato

Mr Gutwein said Covid had not been recorded as the cause of death on her death certificate, but the infection could not be ruled out as a contributing factor.

It is unknown how the woman contracted Covid.

“These unfortunate circumstances are a reminder that Covid is around,” he said.

Mr Gutwein said the woman was unvaccinated, reminding other Tasmanians to ignore “the messages that are on social media”.

“If they have doubts or concerns, they speak to a medical practitioner and discuss those concerns.”

“As we’ve said continually, the best defence we’ve got is to be vaccinated.”

Julie Graham, Deputy Director of Public Health, said the woman had been asymptomatic and there had been no need to transfer her to hospital.

She said the woman’s positive result had been recorded as part of a testing sweep of all residents and staff at the facility.

Mr Gutwein said new case numbers for Friday were 866 - fewer than the 1009 people who had recovered and released from isolation in the same period.

He said Tasmania now had 5984 active cases, with 17,083 people who had recovered in total.

Dr Graham said the woman had a number of co-morbidities, but declined to discuss the woman’s health details further.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anita Dow said she was “extremely sad” to hear the news of the 90-year-old’s death.

Ms Dow said the government should be doing more to make booster shots more readily available for Tasmanians.

“Other jurisdictions have reduced the time frame to three months for their citizens to get their booster. It’s not clear why the Tasmanian government haven’t done that,” Ms Dow said.

“We think it’s a good idea to protect Tasmanians to make sure they get access to their booster in a timely manner, to make sure we prioritise vulnerable and at-risk Tasmanians as we now have increasing cases of Covid across our communities.”

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