Health experts are demanding Premier Dominic Perrottet reverse course and reintroduce mandatory mask-wearing for indoor environments as the Omicron variant takes hold in NSW
Health experts are demanding Premier Dominic Perrottet reverse course and reintroduce mandatory mask-wearing for indoor environments as the Omicron variant continues to surge across the state, just days after a major unwinding of COVID-19 restrictions.has also learnt several members of Mr Perrottet’s current cabinet – who spoke on condition of anonymity – support reinstating compulsory masks and QR code check-ins to slow the spread of the virus.
In the past week, daily COVID-19 cases in NSW have surged from 560 to 2482 in just seven days. The number of cases in hospital has risen from 156 to 206, but fell by nine on Saturday, while the number of people in ICU has remained roughly steady at 26.Just 226 of Saturday’s cases were confirmed as Omicron, but NSW Health advised the variant of concern likely accounted for the majority.
“Even if Omicron isn’t that bad, it’s still going to cause a lot of illness, a lot of death and a lot of disruption in the community if it’s left to run riot,” he said. “The impact on hospitals is the big unknown. We will know within a week or two what the likely severity is going to be and therefore what hospitals might expect.”Professor Kaldor, who was broadly supportive of the NSW reopening plan following the Delta wave, said the coming weeks would be “crucial to our decision-making”.
“The impact on hospitals is the big unknown. We will know within a week or two what the likely severity is going to be and therefore what hospitals might expect.”On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said while more information was needed about the severity of illness caused by Omicron, “there is nothing to suggest it is certainly worse and a lot to suggest that it is less”.
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