Covid-19 is still a threat
IN A matter of days Queensland’s Covid-19 restrictions and rules will relax, just weeks after the vaccine mandate was lifted for a number of venues.
But cases of Covid-19 have continued to be recorded across aged care facilities in Toowoomba and across the state.
Active Covid-19 outbreaks are now impacting 152 aged care homes across the state including 561 residents who’ve tested positive to the virus and 442 staff members.
In the past month, the number of outbreaks has doubled with active cases in just 76 facilities on March 24.
Despite this, new national guidelines have detailed a more “flexible” approach to lockdowns – rather than shutting down facilities totally, they will shut down access to a particular wing, or only allow “essential visitors” in.
A Queensland Health spokeswoman said the public health unit would continue to provide advice as case numbers fluctuated at residential aged care homes.
“Out of an abundance of caution, this may include recommending they restrict visitors to avoid further spread within the facility and into the community,” the spokeswoman said.
Churches of Christ Toowoomba Aged Care Service has recorded 18 resident cases and 20 staff cases in their facility, according to Department of Health data as of April 22.
Infinite Care Mount Lofty has also recorded seven resident cases and three staff cases, with 10 “incidents” in total.
Across the region, 75 active cases of Covid-19 are under the care of Darling Downs Health as of April 27.
The total number of cases has now reached 17,019 and 28 people have died since the beginning of the pandemic.
Across the state, Queensland has recorded a spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths overnight.
A total of 6848 new cases were recorded in Queensland in the 24 hours to April 27, a jump of 1706 from Tuesday.
The results came from 5416 positive rapid antigen tests, while 1432 people tested positive on PCR tests.
Nine deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.
There are 527 people in hospital with Covid-19 and 12 of those patients are in ICU wards across the state.
Despite the increase in new cases and deaths, active cases across Queensland continue to drop with 3105 fewer active cases on Wednesday.
Queensland currently has 41,459 active cases across the state.
To see the full breakdown of Covid-19 cases in our aged care facilities, check out our table at thechronicle.com.au.