Dear colleagues,

Happy new year to everyone. I hope you all had a great Christmas and the opportunity to spend some well-deserved time with your family and friends.

CHO Announcement – Change to testing

In the last 24 hours, the Chief Health Officer made the announcement that anyone who has been in Victoria on or since the 21 December 2020 should get tested immediately and quarantine at home or their accommodation until they receive a negative result.

This sudden announcement has resulted in a significant increase in the number of people seeking testing at our Metro North Fever Clinics, and has made it necessary for our hospital and community respiratory clinics to support the increase through additional staffing so that we can manage the demand with increased capacity and hours.

I appreciate this sudden change in direction has been extremely challenging for everyone and I thank all staff for their high level of responsiveness and cooperation in ensuring we can support this unanticipated demand.  It is a reminder to us all to remain alert, flexible and agile!

Rapid staff testing

Metro North staff who have been in Victoria on or since 21 December and who need to work today or tomorrow can get rapidly tested on GeneXpert (rapid test) which will help expedite results and preserve staffing during this busy time.

Staff who are at work today should be promptly identified, isolated and undergo rapid testing immediately to avoid any risk of workplace-based spread. Staff who need to work tomorrow should contact their supervisor to discuss if they need to be urgently tested or tested as normal (the current turnaround time remains at around 24 hours).

Staff who have been in Victoria on or since 21 December and who have not yet been at work and can delay return to work until Tuesday, should get tested through the normal process at any available testing site before returning to work.  There are testing facilities available today at our major hospitals, at Nundah and Morayfield Respiratory Clinics. The private pathology laboratory testing sites have also expanded their hours today.

Fever Clinic hours

Due to the demand, the majority of Metro North Fever Clinics will be extending their hours of operation today and/or tomorrow. Queensland Health is in the process of updating its central COVID-19 website regarding fever clinic hours and locations.

Moving forward, we will be working closely with each of our Fever Clinics to determine appropriate hours of operation based on daily demand.

Thank you everyone for your continued hard work and support in keeping our community safe.

Regards

Dr Liz Rushbrook

Metro North Incident Controller

Current MN Response Tier Activated – Tier 0

Metro North HHS – overview of Cases*

*With effect 03 January 2021, 1100
**Metro North has three recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)
*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North.