Dear Colleagues,

Happy long weekend, it’s great to be back in the Incident Controller seat after three days back in my EDNMS role. Not sure about this cold weather, I am a warm weather girl and I don’t cope well when I am cold.  However, I always love watching human behaviour when the temperature drops below 20 degrees Celsius in QLD, people were wearing beanies on my way to work this morning! As my colleague Liz said yesterday, this weather is a very timely reminder of our impending flu season, get your flu vaccinations as soon as you possibly can!!

Today’s updates include:

• COVIDSafe app
• Pine Rivers Respiratory Assessment Clinic – Closed for Public Holiday
• Further decrease in numbers
• Ease of Restrictions

COVIDSafe App

I heard on the radio this morning that over 3.5 million Australian’s have downloaded the COVIDSafe app. The Morrison Government has said the uptake of this app is crucial in being able to further ease restrictions on Australian’s – there still needs to be millions more downloads. Encourage your family, friends and social media connections. All staff across Metro North are encouraged to download the COVIDSafe app on their personal and Queensland Health devices, should you have one, and keep it on at all times. Even I managed to do it without fuss. I am not the most IT savvy person in the world and it took seconds to do.

Pine Rivers Respiratory Assessment Clinic

Our assessment clinic at Pine Rivers will be closed on Monday 4 May for the Labour Day Public Holiday. The nearest fever clinic that will be open is Redcliffe Hospital. Pine Rivers RAC will reopen on Tuesday 5 May at 8am.

Further Decrease in Numbers

The numbers in our virtual ward halved yesterday with 11 people being discharged and we also managed to have one inpatient discharged as well! This is wonderful news for all those clinicians who are working so hard on this new innovative model of care. There was one new case overnight…. further proving the whole pandemic response is working. We in Metro North are contributing significantly to the state-wide response and the low numbers in Queensland are testament to the amazing work of us all.

Ease of Restrictions

As of midnight, Queensland’s restrictions have been eased. With further freedom comes greater responsibility – we must make smart choices and use our common sense. Please don’t go into areas that are already densely populated with people enjoying recreational activities or shopping centres full of people shopping for Mother’s Day gifts. Further ease of restrictions is dependent on Queenslander’s ability to make smart choices and continue to flatten the curve in this first round.

I mentioned the other day in my message how much I missed the family dinners that have become a tradition in our household.  So, in trying to keep the momentum going I made a curry, rice, pappadams and a cheesecake and packaged them all up and duly delivered food all around Brisbane.  Our children and their partners were told that dinner would be delivered between 5.30pm and 6pm and that dinner was to be eaten at 7pm….and we had a virtual dinner.  It was not quite what we had several weeks ago, and my sons were bemoaning the fact that there were only leftovers at my house…not at theirs, but it was fun, and we managed to have the same silly family conversations that we always have. In this COVID-19 new world we can modify traditions and maintain some sense of normal.

Until tomorrow….

Kind regards,
Alanna Geary
Metro North Health Incident Controller

Metro North HHS – Overview of Cases*

*With effect 1000 2 May 2020

**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