Dear colleagues,

Queensland recorded one new case of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. The case has been linked to Brisbane’s southside and Queensland Health’s contact tracing list has been updated to include the movements of this new case. If anyone has visited the following locations, please watch out for any symptoms:

• Booval – Johnny’s Furniture – 29 August – between 9.30am and 10am
• West Ipswich – Spotlight – 29 August – between 10am and 10.20am
• West Ipswich – Fantastic Furniture – 29 August – between 11am and 11.10am

As always, a combination of hard work and good luck has meant we at Metro North continue to manage the COVID-19 situation well! Thanks to the amazing team in the MN EOC we are prepared, well-stocked and ready for what the rest of 2020 will bring.

We also have much to be grateful for with each of your facility EOCs doing such an outstanding job and those of you who work on the front line or support the front line….you are amazing!!!  I am so proud of the HHS I work for and so proud of the great work we are doing to keep our communities safe.  We have got this…as I have said before we are 22,000 people and together we are doing such an outstanding job.

Border Restrictions Direction (No. 13)

A new direction has been issued overnight about changing to Queensland’s border zone which now:

• includes postcode 2400 to the New South Wales Border zone
• amends to postcode 4352 to only include the parts within Goondiwindi and Southern Downs Local Government Areas
• amends to postcode 4222 to only include the parts within Gold Coast City Local Government Area.

There have also been changes to the areas included in the border zone – view the updated border zone map which you can view online if that applies to you.

Hospital Visitors Direction (No. 6)

It’s been raised that a Queensland Health factsheet published online outlines that:

You are allowed one or more support people to accompany you to your appointment. The immediate family of the children receiving essential healthcare are allowed to enter Queensland.

Please note that because Metro North as a Hospital and Health Service is on a Tier 2 (minus) response, our guidelines state that where a person requires support, such as in the case of impairment, disability or the requirement for an interpreter, they may bring one support person over the age of 16. As mentioned in today’s vidcast Shaun and I pointed out that we are assessing the situation every week to determine if we should step down to a Tier 1 response. But until then, these restrictions (and yes, wearing masks) is our new normal!

Just to clarify, support people are not classified as visitors, these are two different circumstances. While we are currently not allowing visitors, the directorate Executive Director is able to provide permission to visitors if they request to do so. The Hospital Visitors Direction (No. 6) outlines this information in great detail. If you are unsure if a visitor is allowed, please escalate the question to your Directorate EOC who will be happy to help.

Please remember that all visitors, patients and people attending appointments will have to register upon arrival, and, of course, wear a flat surgical mask whilst they are in the hospital.

A quick thank you to everyone who jumped on to today’s vidcast. It’s important for us that all staff have a chance to ask questions and raise any concerns they have regarding the COVID-19 situation at Metro North and it was a pleasure to communicate with some of you this morning.  I am looking forward to seeing the results of Shaun’s cooking, and while he said he wouldn’t have us all over for dinner, he did promise a photo of his Scallop Pie “masterpiece”.  Shaun, a photo is one thing…but the recipe would be awesome. If of course it is a recipe worth sharing!!!

It’s a lovely day today and I hope that whatever you’re doing this weekend, you get a moment to soak up the sunshine (especially all the dads out there!)  Tomorrow will mark my husband’s first Father’s Day with our new Furrchild. Dave has been with us for 8 weeks now and despite his ferocious puppy teeth (which are like miniature razor blades) he is quite delightful. He has doubled in weight (now 16 kgs) and is quite the comic. We are very much enjoying all the cuddles and antics that a new puppy brings. We are smitten with our Groodle Dave.

Please do not tell Dave he is wearing a Broncos collar. My husband is a diehard Broncos fan and even though they have had a terrible season, poor Dave was given no option on the type of collar he wears…it was purchased long before he was even born!!

Kind regards,
Alanna Geary
Metro North Incident Commander

Metro North HHS – Overview of Cases*

*With effect 5 September 2020, 1000

**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.