27 December 2021

27 December 2021

Dear colleagues,

New Queensland cases recorded today: 784

A lot has happened over the Christmas weekend. In response to a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in Queensland and our community, Metro North Health has moved to High-Risk PPE and a Tier 3 (Minus) posture.

Yesterday, our three fever clinics managed more than 1,800 presentations between them.

It’s been an enormous effort by everyone involved, including our clinical and administration staff, security and protective services teams, and our operational and support staff. We are grateful to all of our Metro North Health team for the empathy and professionalism they have shown to the community we serve, and to each other.

Additional drive-thru clinics

From 9am tomorrow morning, a new community testing site will begin operation at QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus. Like the one set up last Friday on UQ’s St Lucia campus, this new clinic will be operated by COVAX Australia and will work on a drive-thru model. These additional sites will help take more pressure off our clinics, particularly the RBWH.

Staff COVID-19 swab collection service 

On Friday, we also stood up a staff-only COVID-19 swab collection service in the RBWH Education Centre. Feedback so far is that the service is working well in helping staff to access COVID-19 testing in a quicker and easier way. The service is available to all Metro North Health staff on weekdays between 9am and 4:30pm.

Location: RBWH Education Centre, Central Drive

Open: 0900 – 1630, Monday to Friday

Bring: Your staff ID and Medicare card

STARS – casual contact details

The Day Surgery Unit (Procedural Services) Level 2 at STARS has been added as a casual contact exposure venue for:

Monday 20 December, between 12:30pm and 9pm,
Tuesday 21 December, between 6:30am and 3:30pm,
Wednesday 22 December, between 7am and 5:30pm, and
Thursday 23 December, between 7am and 3:30pm.

As a casual contact exposure site, if you were present during these times, you need to get tested, and quarantine until you receive a negative result. Please also contact your line manager as soon as possible.

Initially, the contact tracing website identified the venue of this contact only as ‘STARS’. We have since ensured the website has been updated to describe the casual contact site more accurately as ‘Day Surgery Unit (Procedural Services) Level 2 at STARS’.

P2/N95 masks

Now that we’re in high-risk PPE, P2/N95 masks are to be worn in all clinical areas, together with protective eyewear. To be effective, PPE must be worn correctly. For P2/N95 masks, this means there must be an effective seal between the mask and the face. That seal may not be effective if padding is applied to skin under the mask using products like Band-Aids or Comfeel. For males, an effective seal also means being clean-shaven.

Rapid testing 

As you may have heard, Metro North Health has taken delivery of a stock of rapid tests and the equipment required to use them. Metro North Health is now evaluating how these tests can best be deployed to manage our overall COVID-19 response.

COVID-19 vaccinations for children 

This morning, the Premier announced that bookings can now be made for children aged 5-11 years of age to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccination appointments will be available from Monday, 10 January and parents and carers are encouraged to use the Queensland Government’s vaccination booking page.

A reminder too that if you are due for your COVID-19 vaccination booster, please check online for opening hours and available clinic locations over the Christmas/New Year period.

Thank you again to everyone who cared for our patients and community over the Christmas weekend and for demonstrating our Metro North Health values of Respect, Teamwork, Compassion, High Performance, and Integrity to our patients, the community, and each other.

Kind Regards,

Michele Gardner 

Metro North Health Incident Controller 

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Helpful links

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					Yesterday	TOTAL^
MN TOTAL	204	0	0	180	4	1,066	3	1,816	274,223

*As at 27/12/21 

**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.  

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