Latest Omicron wave sweeping across Tasmania

Tasmanians have been warned to shake their Covid complacency as the Federal Health Minister issued a dire warning that the latest Omicron wave could last another six weeks. Do you think a mask mandate should be brought back? VOTE IN OUR POLL

Australians have been warned to shake their Covid complacency as the Federal Health Minister issued a dire warning that the latest Omicron wave could last another six weeks.

Tasmania recorded 1812 new Covid cases and 9833 active cases on Tuesday, both three-month highs.

The death of a women in her 90s in the state’s south took the pandemic death toll to 102.

“I extend my sincere condolences to her families, friends, and loved ones,” Premier Jeremy Rockliff said in a statement.

There were 100 people hospitalised with Covid in Tasmania, a new record, of whom 28 were being specifically treated for the virus.

The BA. 4 and BA. 5 Omicron subvariants now comprise the bulk of new Covid-19 infections in Australia.

Across Australia, there are more than 4300 people hospitalised with the virus.

Federal modelling indicated that figure and case numbers were only going to continue to grow over the next four to six weeks, Mark Butler said.

“We’re going to continue to see case numbers rise, we’re going to continue to see increased pressure on our hospitals,” he said.

Around 300 people are dying of Covid every week, but Mr Butler said he did not have an official prediction of how many people would lose their lives over the course of the wave.

It comes as the nation also grapples with a concurrent surge in influenza cases.

The Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler.

Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly said it could lead to some states holding off on elective surgeries.

Mr Butler suggested it was a symptom of the community’s Covid fatigue but indicated his support for masks in crowded indoor spaces.

“I don’t see a position where governments are going to start sort of ordering people to do that (wear masks),” he said.

“I’m not sure that wouldn’t be counter-productive, given where the community is at.”

Tasmanian Greens health spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said she could not understand by the government wasn’t reintroducing measures designed to slow the spread of the virus.

“Since the borders reopened, the Liberals have always claimed Tasmanians shouldn’t worry about rising case numbers, because it is hospitalisations and deaths that are the real metric of concern,” she said.

“Hospitalisations are the highest they have ever been in Tasmania, but still the Premier won’t reintroduce mask protections.

“What advice is Premier Rockliff relying on to say masks should stay off, and people remain unprotected?

“It is a despicable irony the government has ended the public health emergency declaration and dropped mandated mask wearing in facilities for the most vulnerable, as Tasmanians and healthcare workers are groaning under the weight of a massive Covid wave of infections.

“Premier Rockliff owes Tasmanians an explanation – if it’s not hospitalisations or deaths, what is the threshold for implementing critical protections and Covid mitigations?”

Hospitals ‘struggling’ as Covid runs riot among staff - July 11

THE state government says it is confident the hospital system can withstand a surge in Covid cases that has taken its toll on the Tasmanian health workforce.

There were another 1355 cases of the virus confirmed overnight, with 201,712 people recovered and released from isolation since December.

Nearly 300 health workers are currently furloughed due to Covid.

There were 99 people in hospital with Covid, 26 who were being treated specifically for the illness.

The currently dominant omicron BA. 4 and BA. 5 substrains of Covid have been described as the most infectious viruses ever known to man, although they do not appear to carry an elevated risk of death.

The North-West Regional and Launceston General Hospitals continue to operate at level three of their COVID-19 management escalation and the Royal Hobart Hospital and Mersey Community Hospital are operating at level two.

“As a short-term temporary measure while at level three escalation, elective surgery lists at the NWRH and LGH are being reviewed based on operational requirements and available resources,” Acting State Health Commander Dale Webster said.

Liberal Minister Guy Barnett said he was confident the state’s sometimes fragile health system was up to the challenge.

“Certainly as a government and I know the Premier and the Minister of Health is confident that the health system can do the job,” he said on Monday.

Guy Barnett.

“It’s dealt with these challenges in the past. It has been difficult, but we do have those policies and processes in place to respond to the increase in numbers, more than 1400 today, for example, but we need to be able to respond to that.

“We’ve dealt with it in the past, it’s been challenging, it’s been difficult, but we’ve dealt with it in the past, and we have every expectation that will be dealt with into the future.”

Premier Jeremy Rockliff has recommended people wear masks in indoor settings, but public health authorities said there is no plan to make them mandatory again.

Masks were mandatory in public during a snap lockdown between October 15 and 18 last year — after a single case was detected and total case numbers stood at 37.

Masks also were mandatory in many community settings including public transport, schools and early childhood centres from December 19 last year, when the state had experienced 247 cases and was experiencing single digit increases each day.

They were gradually eased between March and June this year, by which time the state was experiencing 1200 cases a day and a total of 187,000 infections.

Greens Health spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said she understood around 300 healthcare workers were unable to work because of Covid.

“Predictably, Tasmanians hospitals are struggling as the current Covid wave continues,” she said.

“Tasmania is recording well over 1000 new cases a day and is heading towards half the state’s population being infected or reinfected. As BA. 4 and BA. 5 infect in large numbers, we’re looking towards rates seen earlier this year.

Labor's Ella Haddad speaks to the media on parliament Lawns in Hobart on Monday, July 11, 2022.

“This is shaping to be January all over again. The Rockliff Government knows what to expect in terms of high absenteeism, mass infection and hospitalisations, and health system overload. “The only difference is, in January a mask mandate was in place. “

She urged the government reinstate mask protections immediately to protect the state’s most vulnerable.

Labor’s Ella Haddad said she was not convinced by the government’s reassurances.

“The government’s been ripping the guts out of the public sector and in particularly public health since they came to office in 2014,” she said.

“The biggest issue facing the health system right now is staff recruitment and retention.

“We know that there are enormous pressures across the acute health system and across the health system more broadly, Tasmania has struggled to attract professionals to come and work in our health system.”

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