11 November 2021

Dear colleagues, 

As you will have heard, 80% of Queensland’s eligible population has now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. This means the community face mask requirements have now been lifted.

However, all Metro North staff and visitors are still required to wear masks, except when seated with appropriate distancing in non-clinical areas. Currently there is some community COVID transmission and still around 300,000 people in our catchment who have not received one dose of COVID vaccine. This will be reviewed weekly.

Today there were two new community COVID cases announced, including one not linked to the current known cluster. That means there are now two unlinked community cases. Any Metro North employee who lives at the Gold Coast will need to follow any restrictions for the Gold Coast.

Anyone who has symptoms, vaccinated or not, should get tested and isolate until you get a negative result.

Queensland Health has now released a directive that as at 15 December all workers in healthcare locations must be fully vaccinated. This directive covers people working on our campuses who are not employed by Queensland Health, such as our retail partners, volunteers, and contractors.

Staff who had a second dose of COVID vaccine at least six months ago can now get a booster at any Metro North vaccination clinic. Please bring your ID and Medicare card. 

Regards,

Mark Butterworth
Metro North Health Incident Controller 

Helpful links

• 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*

*As at 11/11/2021 at 0930
**Metro North Health has four 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.