Dear Colleagues,

As you may have heard, two cases of COVID-19 were recorded overnight in Queensland.

One of those cases is a returned traveller in hotel quarantine. The other person is a trainer from the Queensland Corrective Services Academy. As a result, every correctional facility from Rockhampton south will remain on Stage 4 restrictions. Close contacts have already been identified and tested as a matter of priority.

In positive news from the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, all young people in the centre have returned negative results.

Metro North remains at a Tier 2 response, which reflects moderate community transmission.

Updated list of venues

Thanks to the hardworking team of contact tracers, Queensland Health has expanded its list of venues where cases of the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre visited. This team is working exceptionally hard to ensure that all contacts are notified,  testing is conducted and appropriate processes are put in place to manage the individuals affected.  Well done to all who are working in this highly dynamic space.

The updated list is available at: https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/contact-tracing.

Anyone who has been to these locations at the times specified should monitor their health and if they develop any COVID-19 symptoms, even mild, get tested.

Visitor restrictions

Under the Hospital Visitors Direction (No.6), people can only visit our facilities if they are the parent, guardian or carer of a patient under 18, the support person or partner of a patient admitted for maternity care or if they are providing end-of-life support.

As our facilities are declared ‘restricted’, where a patient can receive visits, only one person can visit the patient for the duration of their care. For the nominated visitor, there are no limits to the number or duration of their visits within visiting hours.

There is no doubt this is a challenging time for our patients and their loved ones. By restricting the numbers of people in our facilities, and asking those who enter to wear masks, we know we are doing everything we can to protect our staff, patients and the community.  We ask everyone to be patient and understanding during this time.

Staff, visitor and patient registration

Feedback from facilities suggests that our visitor registration and staff sign in process is working well. Thank you to those staff across Metro North who are lending a hand to support the concierge service and explaining new requirements to visitors and patients as they arrive to our facilities.

In many places, staff are registering their attendance using ID and swipe cards.  Where staff do not have a swipe pass, they can now register using a QR code that works in the same way as the patients and visitor registration. All EOCs across Metro North have received resources to support this process.

Vidcasts

We are hearing great feedback about our vidcasts, with many of you finding them a useful tool to keep up to date. We acknowledge that not everyone has a spare hour in their day to catch the latest updates so please I strongly encourage you to keep reading the daily updates, where the key themes from the vidcasts are covered. You can always speak to your line manager if you wish to seek clarification.

If you do get a chance to tune into the vidcast, share your notes with your colleagues or link them to the recording to watch later. There was no vidcast this morning, and we sincerely apologise that we had to cancel.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow! At this stage, it will be hosted by Shaun Drummond – Chief Executive, Jackie Hanson – Chief Operating Officer and myself, Alanna Geary – EDNMS & Incident Commander.

With all of the wonderful work happening around the HHS and the commitment, hard work and enthusiasm of our staff, I am optimistic and confident we are more than ready to respond if we see a spike in cases here in Metro North. Please stay alert and ready for change.  As we found out last weekend, it can change overnight. We need to be responsive to the directives of the Chief Health Officer. Thank you so very much for doing just that!

The introduction of masks for all of us has posed some challenges but it is so important that we follow the directions provided to us.  While it does take some getting used to and is certainly not conducive to eating (which is great for me as my chocolate consumption has greatly reduced), I am getting used to the fact that I have to look into people’s eyes to see if they are smiling or not. You are all looking awesome and committed to the cause!

In the spirit of taking care of yourself, I’ll leave you with this: “Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help and brave enough to ask for it.”

Kind regards,
Alanna Geary
Metro North Incident Commander

Metro North HHS – Overview of Cases*

HHS	Patients being managed by HHS						FEVER Clinics
	Total In-patients			Virtual Ward / HITH / or similar	Deaths **	Total cases managed by HHS (including recovered) ***	# of clinics	Presentations
		ICU Pts
		ICU-NOT Ventilated	ICU-Ventilated					Last 24 hrs	TOTAL^
MN TOTAL	0	0	0	0	3	342	5	1213	73,840

*With effect 27 August 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