Queensland’s hospital system is straining under the weight of the third COVID-19 wave, as the health minister asks people to take “sensible precautions” to avoid illness.
Queensland’s health minister has pleaded with people to take sensible precautions, such as wearing masks against COVID-19 and the flu, as the twin waves of illness continue to stretch the state’s health system to breaking point.
At the same time, health minister Yvette D’Ath confirmed that 2477 health staff across the state were off just from COVID-19, and a number of others were off with flu and other illnesses. D’Ath said there was no need to publicly release modelling about the current wave, but said all indications pointed to the situation getting worse before it got better.“We are not at the top of this peak, we still have some time to go. So those pressures are going to get worse. I ask people [that] if you can see a GP instead of coming to an ED if it’s not an emergency, do so,” she said.
In one instance, in Gladstone Hospital, the pressure had spilled over to other areas, with the hospital’s maternity unit shut down as it didn’t have the staff to run it, in particular a resident obstetrician. “We heard some awful stories earlier in the year, where residents were being locked in their rooms … the food was inadequate because there was no staff members. I hope we don’t see that again,” she said.
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