Disability Covid clinic opens right off the bat at Blundstone Arena
Not every Tasmanian gets to see their cricket heroes in the flesh while they’re getting their coronavirus jab, but Karl Virieux got more than he bargained for when he rolled up his sleeve at the new Additional Support Clinics Covid-19 clinic.
Tasmania
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Not every Tasmanian gets to see their cricket hero in the flesh while getting their coronavirus jab.
Hurricanes fan Karl Virieux was receiving his jab at the new Blundstone Arena Additional Support Clinic when he spotted Tim Paine on the oval.
He was overjoyed when the cricket pro came to meet him.
The Bellerive clinic and a northern clinic at the Vinnies Building, Mowbray opened this week for people withdisabilities, mental illness, anxiety about medical procedures or who work in the disability sector.
Mr Virieux said he wanted to avoid another lockdown, which would keep him apart from loved ones and prevented him from attending music lessons.
“I could see what was happening in New South Wales – I don’t want to get sick,” he said.
Tasmanian Vaccination Emergency Operations Centre commander Dale Webster said the dedicated Additional Support Clinics would allow group bookings for disability service providers.
“The clinic has longer appointment times, easy to read resources and experienced staff who can help people through the vaccination process,” Mr Webster said.
“Tasmanians working in the disability sector are especially encouraged to take up the opportunity to get vaccinated right now because of the vulnerable people that they are working with.”
Possability CEO Drew Beswick said people were “welcome to come along, get more information about the vaccine and make a decision”.
“Having a safe and supportive space that people with complex disability can go if they choose to get the Covid-19 vaccination is so important,” Mr Beswick said.
The two clinics will run 9am-4pm until July 16.
A Quiet Day Clinic will operate on July 16 at the sites for a lower sensory experience.
More information coronavirus.tas.gov.au/vaccination-information/covid-19-vaccination
Tasmania eases border restrictions with parts of Queensland
A BAN on travellers into Tasmania from 11 Queensland local government areas has been lifted by authorities.
From midnight on Thursday, the City of Ipswich, Logan City, Redland City, Sunshine Coast Region, Shire of Noosa, Somerset Region, Lockyer Valley Region, Scenic Rim Region, City of Gold Coast, City of Townsville (including Magnetic Island) and the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island were classified as low-risk areas.
The development means anyone in quarantine who had been in any of the areas before arriving in Tasmania were allowed to leave quarantine.
However, the City of Brisbane and Moreton Bay Region will remain as high-risk.
These two local government areas have the majority of current Queensland high-risk Covid-19 exposure sites.
Anyone who has been in these areas prior to arriving in Tasmania must stay in quarantine, while those intending to come to Tasmania from those areas must be approved as an essential traveller.
Tasmania’s Public Health Director Mark Veitch is expected to review the high-risk declaration for those two regions on Friday.
Current border restrictions are listed on public health’s website.
‘Unacceptable’: Vaccination rollout under fire
THE head of a not-for-profit disability services provider has lamented the “glacial speed” at which Covid-19 vaccines are being administered to her Tasmanian clients.
Kate MacRae is the chief executive of Able Australia, which assists people living with disability in Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, as well as in Tasmania, where the organisation has its largest client base.
She said of the 138 residential clients in this state, more than 90 per cent had consented to receiving a Covid vaccine.
And yet just 14 have had their first dose administered, and only seven of those have received their second dose to be fully vaccinated.
“The rollout … (has) been extremely slow in all states but it’s been at a glacial speed in Tasmania,” Ms MacRae said.
“We’re really talking about a group of people that were classified as 1A and 1B in the first tranche of vaccines. So these were the most important people to be vaccinated – the people with disability and their workers.
“It’s really unacceptable.”
The federal government is responsible for vaccinations in aged care and disability care. Vaccination providers, contracted by the federal government, are visiting disability accommodation to administer the vaccine to residents.
Alternatively, residents can be vaccinated at home by a GP or go to a vaccination clinic or general practice.
But not all disability accommodation residents are comfortable with leaving the house.
Jo Lang, the house manager of an Able Australia property at Kingston, said Paul Castles, a resident there, struggled with severe anxiety.
“We’ve actually got to source a GP that will come to the house to do this sort of treatment,” Ms Lang told the Mercury.
“But with Covid, obviously, we can’t get anyone to come out and vaccinate him.”
NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds said 46.5 per cent of Tasmanian NDIS participants living in disability accommodation and 74.3 per cent living in residential aged care had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
“In Tasmania, 29 per cent of all Tasmanian NDIS participants over 16 years have had at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine compared to 25 per cent nationally,” Senator Reynolds said.
Record numbers of Tasmanians tested for Covid-19
TASMANIANS have turned out in droves to be tested for Covid-19, with more than 1000 swabs being taken in each of the past two days.
Following a record day of 1289 tests being taken at state clinics on Monday, the number of tests again surpassed four figures on Tuesday but an exact figure was not yet known.
It comes after a rise in the number of coronavirus cases reported on the mainland, prompting lockdowns in several Australian states and the Northern Territory.
Many people travelling to Tasmania from affected areas in the past week have been urged to be screened for Covid-19, which has driven testing numbers up.
Health department secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said of the 1289 tests recorded on Monday, more than 700 were at the Macquarie Point site in Hobart.
Ms Morgan-Wicks said testing numbers at the Launceston, Devonport and Burnie clinics were close to four times the usual testing numbers.
Monday eclipsed the previous record testing day which was 1229 on May 30 this year.
“Out of all tests conducted, approximately 60 per cent were symptomatic and 536 were confirmed as returned travellers following Public Health advice,’’ Ms Morgan-Wicks said.
Meanwhile, three people who worked at a Northern Territory mine site where a positive Covid-19 case was confirmed remain in isolation in Tasmania.
All have returned negative tests but remain in quarantine until their 14-day isolation period is up, and they will have another test nearing the end of that two weeks.
Two of them are in home quarantine in suitable premises, while the other is in hotel quarantine.
Authorities have encouraged anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms, even if they are mild, to present for testing, which can be arranged by calling the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738.
20 travellers fined for refusing to wear a face mask at Hobart Airport
MORE than 20 mask-averse people have been stung with fines totalling a combined $16,000 for refusing to wear a face covering at Tasmanian airports.
The directive to wear a mask at airports has been in place since January, and noncompliance carries a fine of $774.
Under the rule, people aged 12 years and older are required to wear a face mask when at a Tasmanian airport, even if they are not travelling, and applies at all times inside the terminal, unless the person was eating or drinking.
It also applies when a traveller is on board a flight, including during boarding and disembarking, while flying, and on the tarmac.
Airport employees and non-travellers such as people who are greeting, picking up and farewelling travellers also have to mask up.
But under current rules, a face mask is not required when in the car park of the airport or when inside a vehicle.
As of this week, 21 infringements had been issued to people flouting the rule, including eight of them at Hobart Airport.
It equates to $16,254 worth of fines being dished out.
A further five people have been given formal cautions for the offence, including four at Hobart.
Tasmania Police Inspector John Toohey said police worked with airport management and Biosecurity Tasmania staff to encourage compliance with Covid-19 directions.
“Tasmania Police officers regularly patrol Tasmania’s airports, making sure people are acting responsibly and adhering to Covid-19 directions,’’ he said.
“The majority of people attending Tasmania’s airports are doing the right thing.
“Advice and education where compliance could be improved is provided in the first instance, with infringements only being issued as a last resort.”
‘At some stage we will get another case’: A dire warning for Tassie
TASMANIANS could soon be required to wear masks at outside events as the latest national Covid-19 outbreak continues to unfold.
Premier Peter Gutwein said this morning an announcement would be made on that change later today.
Meanwhile, three fly-in, fly-out miners who arrived in Tasmania from a gold project in the Northern Territory which is under lockdown due to a Covid-19 outbreak have returned negative tests.
The workers, who have been in quarantine since arriving last week, will be tested again before they are released from isolation.
Mr Gutwein also announced that the West Australian capital and the Peel region will be declared high risk from 10am today and no-one will be able to fly in Tasmania unless approved as an essential traveller.
Western Australia now has three active Covid-19 cases and has gone into a snap 48-hour lockdown.
Mr Gutwein said Tasmanians should only travel interstate if they really needed to as the government continues to monitor the situation.
Covid CASE LIKELY
TASMANIA’S Premier says he expects Tasmania will record a fresh Covid-19 case but says he will not slam the State’s border shut to all interstate travellers yet.
“At some stage we will get another case, that is a given,” Mr Gutwein said.
He said Tasmania was watching the situation in all states but was particularly concerned about potential community transmission in regional NSW and the situation with FIFO miners returning to Queensland from the Northern Territory.
“If the situation gets worse we ill take advise and take action,” he said.
Tasmania’s 8500 residential aged care workers will be vaccinated by mid September, the head of Tasmania’s Health Department says.
Kathrine Morgan-Wicks.
The rush on worker vaccines follows the Federal Government’s announcement that Covid-19 vaccinations would now be mandatory for all residential aged care workers.
Ms Katherine Morgan Wicks said those working in hotel quarantine and testing clinics are also strongly advised to get the vaccine.
Appointments can be made at clinics at Rosny, Scotsdale, the RHH, the LGH, Wellington, Moonah and Burnie.
Under the new rules, people aged between 16-and 40 can receive the AstraZeneca vaccine if they give “informed consent” to their GP.
So far, 37 per cent of eligible Tasmanias have received their first dose of vaccine.
Tourism operators expecting Qld cancellations to increase
TOURISM operators like bed and breakfast owner Don Maguire are keeping their eye on updates on a possible border closure with Queensland as a flurry of cancellations come in from NSW travellers now shut-out of Tasmania.
The Queensland Government announced on Tuesday morning it would lock down South East Queensland – including Brisbane – Townsville, Noosa, Gold Coast and Palm Island for three days from 6pm.
Staff at Salamanca Inn are also taking a lot of cancellations from NSW tourists and others from Melbourne and Queensland as the border situation continues to change.
“The situation is changing so quickly it its making travellers really nervous about locking a holiday in,” a Salamanca Inn receptionist said.
The owner of Donalea Bed and Breakfast at Castle Forbes Bay said he had received numerous booking cancellations in the last three days from Sydney and Woollongong visitors.
“We have a feeling a border closure with Queensland is just around the corner and there is where most of our bookings come from,” Mr Maguire said as the wider tourism industry braced for another hit.
He said there were still a lot of Tasmanians out exploring their state and he expected them to fill some of the void if the island State reinstated its “moat” and closed itself off completely
Premier Peter Gutwein on Tuesday announced people from Perth and West Australia’s Peel region would be banned from entering Tasmania due to that city’s snap lockdown.
The government is also watching to see if there is any community transmission in regional NSW to prompt a total border closure with that State.
Mr Gutwein also warned Tasmanians to not travel interstate unless they absolutely had to.
“If you don’t to need to travel, don’t,” he said as the national outbreak situation continued to evolve.
‘Stop politicking on the issue of Covid-19’, Libs say
Labor’s “unnecessary scare campaigns” do little to help Tasmanians through the pandemic, Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff says.
Mr Rockliff has responded to Labor spokesman Dean Winter’s comments on Monday afternoon, which sought more open messaging from the Tasmanian government around how the state would respond if Covid-19 returned.
“I would urge the opposition parties to stop politicking on the issue of Covid-19,” Mr Rockliff said.
“Our state has been one of the safest places on earth throughout the pandemic.
“The health, safety and wellbeing of Tasmanians has and continues to be the Government’s number one priority during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we are focused on putting the necessary measures in place to protect Tasmanians and meet any future challenges posed by Covid-19.”
Mr Rockliff said the government had invested in resources to better cope with outbreaks and would aim to continue being the leading state in the vaccine rollout.
Mr Winter had said Tasmanians deserved to be better informed about the government’s handling of the worsening Covid-19 situation nationally.
EARLIER:
June 28, 2.24pm
Tasmanians who live with an overburdened health system have a right to know more about the government’s strategy against national the Covid-19 case surge, Labor spokesman Dean Winter has said.
Mr Winter was concerned Tasmanians were in the dark about how the government will proceed amid the “alarming increase” in Covid-19 cases in other states.
“We’re keen to ensure that Tasmanians are well-informed about how the government’s planning to deal with that here in Tasmania,” he said.
“The last thing we need is Covid-19 or a pandemic to impact Tasmania because we know we’ve got a health system that’s in crisis.
“Over 50,000 Tasmanians are waiting to see a doctor at the moment, that’s simply not good enough.”
Mr Winter applauded the community’s co-operation with Public Health guidelines thus far.
“Tasmanians are really willing, and so is Labor, to work with the government and to listen to the Public Health advice and act accordingly, we just need to hear what it is,” he said.
“As an opposition we’ll be acting responsibly, we won’t be playing politics and we have full faith in the relevant agencies to make the relevant decisions.”
Mr Winter said concerns were ongoing over the vaccine rollout in the state and across the country as Tasmanian GPs waits for Pfizer doses.
“Tasmanians like me still can’t access a vaccine and I think Tasmanians would have expected the rollout would be going a little bit better, a little bit faster,” he said.
The state Labor newcomer was similarly scathing of the government’s lack of sitting weeks as the resignation of former Liberal member Adam Brooks creates lingering impacts.
Tasmanian parliament has had two sitting weeks since the state election with a winter break on the horizon.
“It is simply not good enough that the Legislative Council this week will be debating appropriation bills, budget bills, that need to be put in place by (June 30),” he said.
“There’s no plan for Tasmania’s budget because there’s no plan for Tasmania’s economy.”
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