Media thread, page-23

Wow, really in WA & not so many cases, I hope it stays that way over there, but once Omicron is out in the community, very hard to control then, as vaccine evasive for Omicron for infection & infectious a few days prior to symptoms. NSW it exploded quickly through schools & kids from only a few cases. It will again when they go back to school in a week’s time. The vaccination contained Delta & prior strains better than expected.

So far I have dodged the bullet, but it will come, but not from work. Maximum plastic & N95 protection…I lost count of patients I saw today was so busy. So many staff & patients infected already, all are OK. Triple Vaxxed.

Your cardiologist is doing a wise thing setting up now for what may come. It’s (COVID) shut down a Specialist Clinic & Cardiac Cath Labs in major Sydney hospitals & you don’t want to be admitted with chest pain to ED & not have that available if something can be fixed quickly with stents etc & Cardiac Surgeons & Specialist Nursing Staff out of action with COVID. I would imagine not so many options for WA patients.

Seeing patients in a consulting room is just another risk of infection for Clinical staff & patients (which are often small with no adequate ventilation) & if all available diagnostic results are looking ok & the patient is well & asymptomatic, and their vital signs are tracking well… (well how can we add that onto real time available data? Massive fluctuations during a 24hr period, not just before you take your meds in the am. Its not so simple especially in older patients with comorbidity).

Why put someone at risk, by bringing them in? Some need to of course in any clinical situation, but it’s all about mitigating risk for everyone & the best clinical decisions & outcomes for patients. The beauty for WA is - they have been able to look at was has occurred in other states, & learn from it.

Just remember it’s maybe an hour Care Flight more or less from Regional Centres, if needed, or even interstate in the East, it could be a hellova a lot more for WA! No shared resources & long haul. We need to think about that. Happy Australia Day.