Queensland has reported 25 flu-related deaths so far this year and health director John Gerrard warns that a third wave of COVID-19 is also affecting the state.
Key points:
- Queensland has recorded 1,199 deaths from COVID
- Queensland’s free flu vaccination program for over-six-month-olds ended Thursday
- Nearly 30,000 Queensland residents have been diagnosed with the flu by 2022
Dr. Gerrard said 624 people were in Queensland public hospital beds yesterday with the flu or COVID-19.
“This is effectively an entire teaching hospital removed from the system with these two viruses,” he said.
Dr. Gerrard said Queensland was also experiencing an epidemic of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), with the biggest problems occurring in children.
Combined epidemics of influenza, COVID-19 and RSV are expected to put unprecedented pressure on state hospitals this winter.
Hospital admissions due to COVID-19 have increased throughout June, and Dr. Gerrard said 38% of genomically sequenced cases in Queensland were the newer Omicron BA-4 and BA-5 subvariants.
“Just three or four weeks ago, it was below 2 percent,” he said.
“We are now on another established wave of COVID-19 due to the BA-4 and BA-5 subvariants.
“There will be tension in hospitals in the coming weeks as more and more people come in.”
Dr. Gerrard urged Queenslanders over the age of 65 and those who were immunocompromised to make sure they receive the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We now have data showing that people over the age of 65 who have only received three doses of the vaccine are twice as likely to die as those who have received a fourth dose,” he said.
“This fourth dose is very critical and as we enter another wave of COVID-19 … I really implore everyone over the age of 65 to receive this fourth dose of vaccine because it really makes a difference.
“We don’t respond so well to new viruses once we’re over 40; that effect increases as we age, even if we’re physically fit.”
Ask your doctor about COVID antivirals, says CHO
Since the pandemic began, Queensland has recorded 1,199 deaths from COVID-19, all but seven during the Omicron wave.
Dr. Gerrard urged Queensland residents to discuss their eligibility for COVID-19 antiviral drugs with their GPs, saying access to the drugs had greatly improved in recent weeks.
Queensland residents over the age of 65 with two or more risk factors and adults with moderate to severe immunosuppression are eligible, along with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents over the age of 50 with at least two medical conditions. .
Risk factors include being under-vaccinated for COVID, being a caregiver for the elderly, obesity, chronic kidney failure, living in remote parts of the state with reduced access to higher-level health care, congestive heart failure, chronic lung disease and disease scars. liver.
“[The antivirals] they should be taken within the first five days of illness, ”Dr. Gerrard said.
“They’re not for everyone, so for a younger person with no medical issues they’re probably useless.
“But in the older age group, in particular, people over 65, and immunosuppressed people, have value.”
Mandates to be reimbursed
In an extensive interview with the ABC, Dr. Gerrard defended the decision to withdraw vaccination mandates for specific occupations, such as teachers, starting Thursday, as part of a shift toward personal responsibility.
“We are entering a different phase of the pandemic,” he said.
“There will be ongoing waves with new variants for months, or even years, and the era of public health directions is coming to an end.”
Dr. Gerrard hinted that mask mandates on public transportation, care for the elderly, and health care settings could also be lifted in the coming weeks or months.
“This will end when the public health emergency ends,” Dr. Gerrard said, adding that the decision would be made by Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.
“I imagine this will end in the next few weeks or a couple of months,” he said.
“The public health emergency will not continue forever.
“That said, individual hospitals may still require masks in the hospital setting regardless of directions.”
“So far I’ve escaped”
Queensland was the first Australian state to declare a public health emergency on January 29, 2020, in response to the global outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Dr. Gerrard, an infectious disease doctor before becoming health director late last year, said he was not yet infected with coronavirus.
“I’m not sure why,” he said.
“Some people don’t seem to understand it, and so far I’ve escaped.
“My wife and her twin sister have had it, living in the same home as me.
“I don’t think he’s more prudent than the average Queenslander.”
“It’s not too late to get vaccinated against the flu”
Dr. Gerrard said Queensland’s free flu vaccination program for over-six-month-olds ended Thursday.
He said it was not too late to get vaccinated against the flu.
Nearly 30,000 Queensland residents have been diagnosed with the flu by 2022, more than triple the five-year average at this time of year.
“There’s a lot of flu in the community,” Dr. Gerrard said.
“People who are not vaccinated with the flu are often much sicker than people who are vaccinated with COVID-19.
“We do not underestimate it: the flu is a bad disease.
“We have more people in our intensive care units (ICUs) with the flu than with COVID-19.”
Queensland Health data showed yesterday that there were seven people in the ICUs of public hospitals with COVID-19, five of them with ventilators.
Ten people were in the public ICU with the flu.
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