COVID infections are on the rise again in Australia and the peak is not expected to be a month or so.
It is putting pressure on hospitals, where more than 5,200 Australians are currently being treated for the disease.
This is close to the peak of hospitalization in January this year as a result of the reduction of restrictions and the spread of the Omicron variant by the community. And yesterday more than 50,000 new cases of COVID were reported across the country.
He has caused the nation’s medical director, Paul Kelly, to issue new warnings during a media bombardment in the past 24 hours.
That is what he has had to say.
Do I have to wear a mask again?
You should start taking them in more situations, Professor Kelly said.
However, he stopped enforcing the new mask mandates, but says the increase in cases means we should consider wearing them in many more situations.
“We are facing a new wave of this very infectious variant and we need to do some things differently, at least for a short period of time,” Professor Kelly told RN Breakfast.
“I have recommended that we increase the use of masks … we have left it there for others to consider the pros and cons of how to do it.”
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Professor Kelly said schools and school systems were making their own decisions about the use of masks.
“It’s a very difficult situation in schools,” he said.
He urged people to follow the advice of Australia’s Main Health Protection Committee (AHPPC) to “wear masks when away from home in crowded indoor environments, including on public transport”.
But this is not about masks. Hospitals are facing a “very difficult” situation.
This has been driven by an increase in the cases of the new BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the Omicron COVID-19 strain.
“I think next month will be very difficult for our hospitals,” Professor Kelly said.
“It’s already difficult for our hospitals. We’re starting from a very high base.”
He says hospitals, which have been battling COVID-19 for more than two years, are already experiencing high levels of patients and absenteeism due to staff illness.
No one wants to hear about it, but that could lead to an increase in deaths from COVID.
“Due to the number of cases, we can also see an increase in the number of people who die with COVID-19, especially among those who have a higher risk of serious illness, especially people over 80 and those who do not they have done so. he received all the recommended doses of vaccine, “Professor Kelly said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
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He explained that vaccination alone was not enough to prevent the spread of new infectious variants.
“These variants are highly infectious and have the ability to evade immune protection from previous infection or vaccine,” Professor Kelly said.
“While three or four doses of vaccine are still very effective in providing protection against serious BA.4 and BA.5 diseases, vaccination alone is not effective in stopping infection or transmission of the virus from person to person. “.
He expects cases to continue to rise in Australia over the next month.
“Yesterday reaching 5,200 hospitalizations with COVID is very close to our maximum throughout the pandemic, and it will be more,” he told RN Breakfast.
Employees are asked to allow work from home whenever possible
Professor Kelly said the AHPPC had asked employers to allow them to work from home if feasible.
“Employers should review their occupational safety and health risks and mitigations, and their business continuity plans,” he said.
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“They should consider the feasibility of some employees working from home, wearing masks in the workplace, and supporting employees to take leave when they are sick.
“We can’t stop this wave of infections, but we can slow the spread and protect the vulnerable. We’ve done it before and we can do it again.”
Australians are taking their fourth dose of COVID vaccine
Thousands of Australians received their fourth dose of vaccine after the Australian Immunization Technical Advisory Group made it more available.
“Very pleasantly, this has had an immediate effect, with almost 560,000 fourth doses administered during the first week of the extended release, compared to about 180,000 the previous week, an increase of three times,” Professor Kelly said.
He encouraged people to show up and receive their COVID booster vaccines if they had not already done so.
“I also remind any Australian who has not had a third dose of vaccine that two doses of COVID vaccines simply do not provide adequate protection against serious illness.”
“Having the recommended vaccines for your age group or risk profile is the most important thing Australians can do to prevent a serious COVID that requires hospitalization or even death.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Clock duration: 4 minutes 29 seconds 4 m 29 s The risk of long COVID builds up with reinfection, says Norman Swan.
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