Covid home help celebrates success
WHEN Max Harris woke up with a fever and a racing pulse, he was terrified about what it could mean.
As an immunocompromised man in his 70s, a Covid infection wasn’t just a bad case of the flu – it was potentially deadly.
While Mr Harris became “really ill” last November, and still suffers long-Covid symptoms, he’s been guided through the process with help at every step.
The Richmond resident is one of 33,000 Tasmanians to access Tasmania’s Covid@ Home program since it was established a year ago – evolving into COVID@ homeplus as of mid-2022.
The government is now celebrating the program’s success, encouraging people to use it as a first port of call rather than clog Tasmania’s hospital system.
Within minutes of accessing the program, Mr Harris said his mind was put at ease with advice from a nurse and, within hours, he was directed to an expert in a respiratory clinic.
“I woke up with heavy cold and flu symptoms, pain, shortness of breath, increased heart and temperature. Tested positive first thing in the morning,” he said.
“We were very concerned, with my health history.”
But Mr Harris got through to the service straight away, a kit was sent out with monitoring devices, and a doctor called him, writing a script for antivirals that was available at the pharmacy within minutes.
“All of that happened within four hours,” he said.
In late December, the Royal Hobart Hospital was working at level 3 of its fourstage Covid escalation plan, with 240 frontline health care workers across Tasmania off work with Covid.
The situation reached crisis point before New Year’s Eve, when the Royal Hobart Hospital called a “code yellow” – an internal emergency due to staffing shortages.
Demand at the hospital reached a tipping point when extreme pollen counts in southern Tasmania led to a massive spike in people suffering serious respiratory events.
Department of Health secretary Kathrine MorganWicks said while the hospital system was now in de-escalation, it remained “in a state of constant readiness”.
She said Covid cases across Tasmanian hospitals had dropped dramatically since late December – with between 30 to 50 staff members off sick with Covid.
“It does mean our staff can take a bit more of a breather, but it still is incredibly busy at our hospitals, so the surge continues,” she said.
The hospital has now returned to level 2 of its Covid escalation plan.
Tim Jackson, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Tasmania chair, said services like COVID@homeplus were vital within an overburdened system.
“I’ve been a GP for 30 years and it’s never been this busy,” he said.
In the past week, there have been 1230 new Covid infections in Tasmania, with 18 people in hospital being treated specifically for Covid, and three of those in ICU.