Considered one of Queensland’s main infectious ailments consultants has known as on the state authorities to rethink winding down Covid testing companies given the present wave of infections.
On Saturday, Queensland recorded 9,404 new Covid instances, with eight deaths, and 295 sufferers in hospital, together with 19 in ICU.
Covid infections had elevated by greater than 50% up to now two weeks, and the state’s chief well being officer, John Gerrard, stated on Friday that about one in 50 school-aged kids had examined optimistic up to now week alone.
From 7 March, the state authorities tightened eligibility in order that pathology labs might solely conduct free, Medicare-funded Covid checks for sufferers who current with a physician’s referral. For a free PCR take a look at and not using a referral, patients must present at one of the state’s testing and fever clinics.
Nonetheless, the state was closing lots of its testing and fever clinics. Of Brisbane’s 4 metro south neighborhood screening clinics, two closed on Friday: the Logan West Group Centre and Nathan RAT drive-through distribution centre. In Cairns, the Showground Testing and Fever Clinic would shut on Sunday.
The state’s online clinic finder additionally included a number of that have been not open, resulting in frustration and confusion amongst sufferers making an attempt to do the best factor.
Dr Paul Griffin, an affiliate professor of medication on the College of Queensland, stated closing testing and fever clinics as instances develop was “a horrible plan”.
“Winding these issues again proper now just isn’t the best time,” he stated. “There’s this notion that we’ve received, we’ve moved previous Covid and it’s clearly not the case.”
Debra Venables, from Woolloongabba, was isolating together with her second dose of Covid in a month. When she known as the Queensland Well being Covid hotline to explain her signs, she was informed she couldn’t have Covid twice in 4 weeks and shouldn’t get examined.
“As a scientist, that didn’t make sense. I had the identical signs as individuals in my household who had examined optimistic, I had totally different signs to final time, and I’d examined adverse on a PCR in between infections,” Venables stated.
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She stated she was pissed off by having to pay for a telehealth appointment together with her GP to test the official recommendation. “I didn’t need to be in my home longer than I wanted to be, however on the similar time I didn’t need to be on the street spreading Covid,” she stated.
Her GP informed her to get a PCR take a look at, which later returned a optimistic outcome.
Nonetheless, Venables stated even discovering an grownup clinic to conduct the take a look at was fraught. She ultimately managed to get examined on the Queensland Kids’s hospital clinic in south Brisbane, though the Queensland Well being web site stated the testing facility was just for “kids as much as 16 years” and accompanying adults. Employees on the clinic confirmed they have been testing anybody who turned up.
Griffin stated the state wanted to be making it simpler, not more durable, for folks to seek out out if their kids had Covid.
“We haven’t eradicated this virus, and as we calm down different restrictions similar to mask-wearing we have to rely extra on the fundamentals, which is vaccination and testing,” he stated.
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Mother or father Sascha Fung, from Buranda, just lately took her household, who have been displaying signs, to her normal pathology clinic. “Once we received the entrance of the road, we have been informed we now wanted a referral to make use of QML and we’d must pay $80 to get the take a look at. That may have been thrice $80,” Fung stated.
She stated her household went residence and remoted as a substitute, counting on outcomes from speedy antigen checks (RATs).
However with the sensitivity of RATs inferior to PCRs, Griffin stated it wanted to be straightforward to get the latter when required.
“If individuals have signs they usually’ve nonetheless examined adverse on a RAT they want a PCR,” he stated.
“We’re additionally seeing testing instances blow out and I’d have thought by this time within the pandemic we must always have been getting these items proper.”
