The situation is dire for frontline workers who are working up to 18 hours a day to keep up with the surging demand as COVID-19 infections continue to place pressure on healthcare systems.
Alana Smith* starts her night shifts every day in a Sydney hospital knowing she will be overrun by exhaustion when morning creeps up.
"The workers were like, 'I'm not comfortable with the situation.' I was like, 'neither am I, none of us are having a nice pandemic. We're just going to be uncomfortable,'" she told SBS News.She's received calls from other hospitals in the state too, asking to transfer patients they can't cater for - a demand she can't bear either.
Another 23,131 cases for NSW. The 7-day moving average is up to 18,479, but the Reff is down to 1.86, a 4.5 day doubling time. There are 1,344 patients in hospital , and 105 in ICU . The 7-day %+ve tests is up to 14.0%As staff shortages in healthcare worsen due to rising COVID-19 infections, Dr Smith said senior executives at her workplace are considering allowing COVID-19 positive hospital staff to continue working if they are asymptomatic.
They're scrambling to control the demanding volume of calls as COVID-19 infections surge across the state, but he said the increased pressure has become "debilitating" for much of the workforce. "People are still having heart attacks and strokes and people are still having car crashes ... and any delay in an emergency situation puts patient safety at risk of an adverse outcome.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Almost 1pc of Australians have COVID-19 right nowMore people caught COVID-19 over the past 24 hours than in the 564 days from when the virus first reached Australia on January 25, 2020.
Read more »
COVID-19 Australia, omicron updates live: NSW reports 20,794 new cases, Victoria has 8,577NSW reports 20,794 new cases; Victoria has 8,577; “Australia’s COVID-19 strategy has run well and truly off the road,” two economists warned; Goldman backtracks on return to office; UK cases slow. Follow updates here.
Read more »
COVID-19 Australia, omicron updates live: Qld to update after cases surge to 4,249Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander said there were more COVID-19 cases in the first three days of 2022 than all of 2020; Qld’s top doctor says, “everyone is going to be exposed in the next few weeks” as cases surged. Updates here.
Read more »
Australian Open looms, but it doesn’t have to be a COVID-19 disasterThis seems like the worst of all possible times to host the Australian Open, but despite the high number of COVID-19 cases, there’s less reason to postpone the tournament than last year.
Read more »
Vaccinated security guard at quarantine hotel becomes latest WA COVID-19 caseA security guard at a Perth quarantine hotel has become Western Australia's latest case of COVID-19, separate from a recent local cluster sparked by a backpacker.
Read more »