Dear colleagues,

In the last 24 hours Queensland has recorded one new case of COVID-19, a teenager who returned from overseas and who is already in hotel quarantine. This brings the State’s total of active cases to 17. Queensland’s strong stance on the hotel quarantine program is serving the community well – it’s important to detect cases before they have a chance to spread into the community.

Update to hotspots

From 1 am Friday 25 September, the Australian Capital Territory will be removed from Queensland’s list of declared hotspots as long as there are no confirmed cases between now and then. Until this time, the ACT is still a COVID-19 hotspot and travellers coming from the state will not be able to enter Queensland.

Victoria and New South Wales remain on the hotspot list at this time. You can find out more about declared hotspots on the Queensland Government website.

Update on Metro North EOC communications

As of this week, we will be scaling messages to match your needs and COVID-19 activity. The IC message will now be shared on Mondays with other communications as required. We will always keep you updated if the situation changes.

From next week, vidcasts will be held every Wednesday. The vidcast will include our Chief Executive (Thank you Shaun) and other executives.

Today’s vidcast did not go ahead but please tune in on Wednesday to have your COVID-19 questions answered! We will be joined by Dr Cheryl Bletchley and Emma Jones-Perrin from Pathology Qld to provide an update on their COVID-19 response. Be sure to tune in from 11 am to ask your questions.

Self-care September: a reminder to tune in!

As we enter another week of Self-care September, I invite you to join the Afternoon ‘Tea’notes being hosted virtually this week! Make a cup of tea and join the two great speakers we have lined up for you:

• Chelsea Pottenger on Tuesday 22 September, 3-4pm. An internationally accredited mindfulness and mediation practitioner, Chelsea is an ambassador for RUOK? and founder of EQ Minds. She will talk about how to cultivate compassion for yourself and colleagues, including the neuroscience behind compassion and empathy.
• Gus Worland on Thursday 24 September, 3-4pm. Australian media personality Gus is the founder of men’s mental health organisation Gotcha4Life. He will share his personal story and positive strategies for seeking support and expressing yourself in meaningful ways.

You can find more information on QHEPS or by emailing: MetroNorth-Events@health.qld.gov.au.

I’d like to thank everyone who worked over the weekend, healthcare is a 24/7, 365 day job and we are lucky to have you! I hope you all have a great week.

Kind regards,

Mark Butterworth
Metro North Incident Commander

Metro North HHS – Overview of Cases*

*With effect 21 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.