The new phase of the pandemic has been the hot topic of government media conferences over the past week as Queensland shifts from double-donut days to living with widespread COVID transmission.
On Thursday night, Dr Gerrard issued a new health direction allowing public hospitals to use rapid antigen tests in certain circumstances for the first time.
Health Minister Yvette D'Ath has also just announced the Queensland government's COVID Care Pathways Plan, which outlines how people can best prepare for the months ahead.
The plan includes a range of materials, including what to do if you test positive.
Ms D'Ath said whether people infected with the virus will would need home or hospital care will depend on "their condition and symptoms", but it is expected that most cases in vaccinated people will be mild.
"This will allow hospitals to concentrate on caring for serious cases," Ms D'Ath said.
Part of the plan is for Queenslanders to prepare a COVID-Ready Kit, including:
Ms D'Ath also encouraged Queenslanders to "think ahead about your childcare plans, or who might feed your pets if you had to isolate or go to hospital".
"This is something we've particularly learned from interstate, where there are situations where both parents ended up hospitalised," she said.
The newly unveiled plan also contains information specific to different cultural sections of Queensland, including First Nations Queenslanders, people living regionally, families, people with a disability and older Queenslanders.
There is also a list of 10 things to get ready for the onset of COVID-19.
PDF versions of empty COVID Care Plans and other materials for you to fill in are available on the Queensland Health website.
Earlier this week, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the government was hoping to get advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee about the use of rapid antigen tests (RAT).
"We will look at if this is approved that we may be able to utilise them in the New Year from the 1st of January," Ms Palaszczuk said.
Currently people entering the state form interstate hotspots provide a PCR test from the previous 72 hours prior to their arrival and must take a second test on their third day in Queensland.
Close contacts within the state must quarantine for seven days, providing negative PCR tests on days one and five.
Meanwhile, Dr Gerrard is allowing rapid antigen tests to be used in hospitals at the discretion of "an operator of a hospital" for reasons such as managing patient flow in emergency departments.
A hospital can also permit rapid antigen testing to be used for diagnostic testing where "there are significant delays in RT-PCR testing turnaround times or there are other barriers to obtaining diagnostic test results such as the remoteness of the location".
"Confirmatory RT-PCR testing should be conducted if a person returns a positive result," the CHO's public health direction said.
联系客服
