COVID-19 update 340 | 01/02/2022

Dear colleagues,

• Hospital visitors 
• International travel 
• Face masks in hospitals 
• Working from home 
• School vaccination clinics 
• Fit testing and fit checking 

Today there are 7588 reported new cases of COVID-19 in Queensland.

Hospital visitors 

The Hospital Entry Direction (No. 10) has been updated.

The direction now allows birthing mothers to have a support person who is COVID positive and still in their isolation period, if the hospital approves their entry.

The direction also says birthing mothers may have a support person in their birthing suite who is in their quarantine period as a close contact.

Birthing mothers are allowed up to two support people including their partner.

The Isolation for Diagnosed Cases of COVID-19 and Management of Close Contacts Direction (No. 5) has also been updated to reflect this change.

International travel 

The Hospital Entry Direction (No. 10) also allows international travellers arriving from an safe travel zone country within the past 14 days to a healthcare facility with an exemption.

Staff who are arriving from overseas can seek an exemption to return to work during the 14-day period from the Chief Health Officer through the exemptions portal. If you need assistance with your application, you can contact the Metro North EOC.

Under the Quarantine and other Requirements for International Arrivals Direction (No. 21), fully vaccinated international arrivals are not required to quarantine if:

• you have undertaken a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of your arrival in Queensland, and
• you isolate at your residence, accommodation, or boat until you receive a negative result.

An international arrival who undertook a COVID-19 test in another State or Territory within 24 hours of arrival in Australia and received a negative test result, does not have to undertake a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of arrival in Queensland.

Face masks in hospitals 

Face masks are mandatory in hospital and healthcare settings under the Mandatory Face Masks Direction (No. 3) and Public Health Face Mask Requirements Direction (No. 4).  

Face masks are defined under the above public health directions as flat surgical masks, P2/N95 masks or triple layer cloth masks that cover both the nose and mouth (but does not include a face shield).  

Under both directions there are exemptions to wearing a face mask such as for children under 12 and for people with a physical or mental health condition or disability which makes wearing a face mask unsuitable.

As healthcare facilities, it’s likely we will have people attending our sites who fall within a category of exemption under the above directions and thereby have a lawful reason for not wearing a mask.

When you see someone in our facilities without a mask, you can politely remind them of the mask wearing requirement and encourage them to wear a mask if they can.

If the person says they cannot wear a mask, you can ask them whether they have a lawful exemption to wearing a mask but you do not need to know the details of the exemption or have proof it. We must consider the impact the questions might have on a person and respect a person’s privacy and dignity.

Working from home 

The current working from home arrangements will continue as planned until Sunday 13 February.

This will ensure we have limited movement across our campuses while we continue monitoring the current COVID situation.

School vaccination clinics 

We are seeing good numbers through our school pop up clinics this week. Around 40% of people attending are adults coming for their boosters.

These clinics will operate this week:

Fit testing and fit checking

Metro North Health is committed to prioritising fit testing for all our frontline staff. Please check the fit testing schedule on the extranet for local information.

The National Guideline, referenced in the Queensland Health guideline, recommends that you do a fit check every time you don an N95 mask to ensure you have a good seal. In an emergent situation, if your fitted mask cannot be located, please escalate to your team leader/hospital coordinator. A fit checked P2/N95 can be worn, as a last resort, until you are fit tested. You should not participate in aerosol generating procedures if you are not wearing a fit tested mask. 

Have you been fit tested at a different HHS to where you currently work? You might   not need to be fit tested again, if: 

• you have your fit testing report 
• you were fit tested in the past 12 months 
• your facial features have not changed significantly 
• you were fit tested to a mask available in your current HHS. 

You can show your line manager a copy of your fit test report and have this information recorded in the system. You don’t need to have another fit test. 

If you have any concerns about fit testing, you can submit them via the fit testing feedback portal. Urgent issues should be escalated to your supervisor and local EOC for resolution.

Regards,

Louise O’Riordan
Metro North Health Incident Controller

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Helpful links

• Register your positive RAT result
• Upload evidence of your vaccine
• Qld Health contact tracing list
• Register for your vaccine
• Qld Health general COVID-19 page
• Metro North COVID-19 extranet
• COVID vidcast recordings on QHEPS

Metro North HHS – overview of cases*

Norfolk Island – overview of cases****

*As at the above date

**Metro North Health has 21 recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)

*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North Health.

**** As part of an Intergovernmental Agreement, from 1 January 2022 Metro North Health is providing a number of health support services to Norfolk Island. This includes advice and support to staff on island in terms of managing COVID patients.  The numbers in this section of the table refer to COVID patients who remain on Norfolk Island and are receiving direct care by staff on Norfolk Island.