As Australia prepares for another wave of the pandemic, health officials in the Northern Territory are calling for the return of masks to protect people living in remote communities and more resources to deploy vaccines.
Key points:
- Australia faces its third Omicron wave
- BA.4 and BA.5 have become the dominant COVID strains and are more infectious and more able to evade vaccine immunity
- NT health director Dr Charles Pain says the government is “beyond” mandates
Almost all restrictions have been relaxed as the nation tries to restore an appearance of normalcy, but two new strains of COVID-19, BA.4 and BA.5, slanted to bring Australia to its third wave of Omicron in in the coming weeks, they could reverse progress. .
Healthcare organizations warn that much more needs to be done to prevent a further increase in COVID from threatening the country’s most vulnerable people, who live in Australia’s most remote pockets.
Especially amid a sharp rise in flu cases across the Northern Territory, which has already exacerbated the shortage of beds and ongoing staff in hospitals, according to Katherine West Health Board Executive Director Sinon Cooney.
“We are concerned about the decreased immunity of the first two doses of the vaccine and the slower absorption of the third dose,” Cooney said.
“COVID is still very real and is still here, and the new variants are worrisome.”
Otherwise Cooney says the new dominant COVID strains are a concern. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
BA.4 and BA.5 are more infectious than previous variants and subvariants of COVID, and appear to be masters at evading immunity.
NT health director Dr Charles Pain says the number of COVID cases has been rising over the past 10 days and is expected to continue to rise until “maybe by the end of the month”.
Only 70% of people over the age of five, who live in remote communities in the Katherine region, have received their third vaccine.
Cooney said a tense health system, plagued by staff shortages, already posed difficulties in distributing fourth doses, which would be critical as cases increase.
“We still have a job ahead of us. And it’s very important for us that we have the resources available to do that. And we ask the government to provide resources to services like ours, to make sure we can vaccinate people when they want to vaccinate. -se, ”he said.
He said a “level of fatigue and tiredness” in the COVID space and a bombardment of messages we are now living with COVID add to the challenges.
“We would like to see [mask] mandate, but we understand that it may not be a result the government is looking for, “Cooney said.
“So we are encouraging people to still wear masks when they are in indoor places where they cannot distance themselves socially.
“Because if the government doesn’t impose it, we can still make a difference by implementing these actions ourselves.
“The use of a mask remains the best protection against serious illness and transmission.”
NLC President Samuel Bush-Blanasi. (ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)
Northern Land Council President Samuel Bush-Blanasi said he would also like to see stronger regulation on the use of masks and entry into remote indigenous communities.
He also said he would like Aboriginal people to rejoin the list of “vulnerable people” under the directions of the health director, to ensure that organizations are clear on whether they should impose vaccines in the workplace.
“The flu is already in the community and COVID is starting to be introduced now.”
“If it reaches the community, it will be a massive spread of COVID.”
Yesterday, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said there would be no changes to COVID’s current regulations at this time, including changing the rules on the use of masks.
This has aroused the concern of Mr. Bush-Blanasi.
“I support the government saying that, but on the other hand I’m not very happy,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I need the NT government to protect vulnerable people and we are vulnerable, and if it enters the community it will cause major disruption,” he said.
Deb Aloisi says a mask warrant could help reduce COVID’s transmission rate. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
In the remote Binjari community near Katherine, residents are still suffering a loss, after a 78-year-old man became the first person to die from COVID-19 in NT.
The community suffered one of the NT’s strictest blockades, which saw unprecedented measures taken to enforce bans on people leaving their homes to stop the spread of COVID.
“I don’t want to go back to when we had a hard block, it was scary and hard,” said Binjari Community Aboriginal Corporation CEO Deb Aloisi.
Forced to isolate itself in chronically crowded homes, COVID spread through the community like wildfire and with the recent closure of NT Isolation Center, Howard Springs, Ms. Aloisi is concerned that a third wave may see the same results.
“It would just be a nuisance,” Ms. Aloisi said.
“I would like the government to try to put something in its place now before it’s too late.”
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says there will be no changes to CHO’s directions. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
“Masks can be a very useful tool, but this is part of the change in this pandemic where we provide the direction of CHO to an endemic where we are learning to live with the consequences of COVID-19,” the chief minister said. Natasha Fyles on Thursday in the media. .
Dr. Pain shared the sentiment, but said that while it would not be an excessive reaction to reintroduce a mask mandate, amid growing pressure nationwide and discussions within other states, for now in the NT, it should be a personal choice.
“We are not reacting to a more serious disease, we are only reacting to something that is more infectious.
“As the prime minister said, we are not going to impose a mandate, we are now beyond, people do not want us to tell them what to do, but we hope they will follow our advice.”
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Posted 3 hours, 3 hours ago, Friday, July 8, 2022 at 1:42 AM, updated 2 hours ago, 2 hours ago, Friday, July 8, 2022 at 2:36 AM