Dear colleagues,

If you were lucky enough to have a long weekend, I hope you found a way to enjoy it with the slightly eased restrictions! I was totally indulgent and managed to clean off the decks, do a dump run, have a virtual bake off, visit my parents (a care and support visit), get my hair done and make a long list of things I would love for Mother’s Day next week.

Another five new cases were recorded in Queensland in the last day, three of these are old cases from interstate. A slow decline of positive COVID-19 cases is what we’re after, and it seems that this is also being reflected in a decline in the number of people coming forward for testing state-wide.  That being said within Metro North, we continue to facilitate between 200-250 tests per day.

If you do have symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 (e.g. fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat) and no alternate explanation of your illness, please promptly present to a fever clinic and get tested. Higher testing rates means we have a better chance of identifying, isolating and managing cases, contacts and clusters or outbreaks.

Just a short update for today:

• How does the COVIDSafe app work?
• Clarification on changed restrictions

How does the COVIDSafe app work?

The COVIDSafe app has been developed to keep you and our communities safe, by supporting contact tracing when a case is identified. Here’s how:

• Using Bluetooth, the app will seek out other phones which also have the app installed.
• Each time your phone “sees” another phone running the app, and if you stay in contact with that other phone for 15 minutes within 1.5 metres – your phone keeps a record of that contact. The record is kept for 21 days.

Protecting your privacy:

• The records being kept are stored on your own phone in encrypted storage. You can’t see the list, nor can anyone else access it.
• If, and only if, you test positive to COVID-19, Queensland Health will ask if you have the app, and if you are willing to provide the contact tracing data.
• Through a secure process, that health official will unlock the data storage which will upload the data from your phone, into a secure data store.
• Only health officials will access this data, and they’ll use it to contact trace who you’ve been in close contact with, assess the need for quarantine and/or encourage them to be tested for COVID-19.
• At any time, you can choose to delete the app, which in turn deletes the data on your phone.

More than 4.5 million people have downloaded the COVIDSafe tracing app, I encourage you to consider being one of them!

Clarification on changed restrictions

It can be hard to keep up with all the changes.

What you can do:

Travel up to 50km from your home

Picnic with your immediate family, or if single, one other

Visit a national park with your immediate family, or if single, one other

Ride a motorbike, jetski or go boating

Shop for non-essential items

What’s still restricted:

Only two family members or close friends are permitted to visit your home

Mass gatherings are still prohibited

Takeaway only at pubs, cafes and restaurants

1.5m social distancing still applies

Please remember to be sensible. If you’re unsure about a rule it’s better to err on the side of caution and stay home. Thank you for doing the right thing! Our COVID-19 response depends on it.

Kind regards,
Dr Liz Rushbrook
Metro North Health Incident Controller

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	5	3	2	13	3	304	3	345	15,202

*With effect 1000 5 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