Details about Queensland deaths in the past month have been sparse. Few have been identified as having occurred in aged-care facilities. Three of the six reported by Queensland authorities on Thursday were — and none had received a booster vaccine.
A total of 702 people were in Queensland hospitals with the virus, 47 of whom were in intensive care. Fifteen people were on ventilators.
Dr Gerrard said two of the deceased were in their 80s and five were in their 90s. Two were unvaccinated and the remaining five had received only two doses.
After revealing figures last week that unvaccinated people were nine times more likely to end up in hospital than those with a booster, Dr Gerrard said state health statisticians had found people without a vaccine were also 24 times more likely to require ICU treatment.
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“I’m very pleased to see that almost a million Queenslanders have received that third dose of vaccine, that’s fantastic,” he said. “I am still very concerned that there are vulnerable people, elderly people, who have not received their third dose of vaccine.”
With 29 deaths in the state since road borders opened on December 13, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said only one of the people had received a booster vaccine.
While acknowledging that the federal government was “stretched for resources”, Ms D’Ath said she hoped booster doses could be delivered to all aged-care facilities as quickly as possible.
“I am concerned that not all aged-care facilities have their boosters yet. And I am concerned that people in the disability sector as well [do not have boosters]. I believe the Commonwealth is saying around two-thirds have already been completed.”
The workforce deploying boosters to aged-care centres slowed its work over the Christmas break as the Omicron wave began to hit, with the number of facilities experiencing outbreaks more than doubling to 1100 nationwide in a week.
The case figures on Monday come from results of 30,963 PCR tests and 4576 rapid antigen kit tests. The state has also updated its definition of an active case to match other jurisdictions around the country, revising its total down to 86,953.
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‘There will be more’: Qld COVID death toll warning amid aged-care outbreaks
Source: Philippines Alive
