30 July 2021
West Moreton Health has tested almost 50 per cent of its population and quarantined enough people to fill the Ipswich Civic Centre seven times over since the pandemic started.
Raw numbers reveal the scale of West Moreton Health’s COVID-19 response.
Since Australia’s first case was confirmed on 25 January 2020, Queensland has recorded 1,793 cases. Of these, 81 have been recorded in the West Moreton region and all have recovered.
“Around 80 per cent of Queensland’s cases have been acquired overseas, with a large portion detected in quarantine, and this is reflective in the West Moreton HHS region,” Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said.
“And the majority of our locally-acquired cases were safely isolating while they were infectious, instead of risking the health of others in the community, which is a fantastic result.”
Sadly, the virus has claimed the lives of seven people in Queensland, with Dr Young saying the responsible actions of Queenslanders undoubtedly prevented more tragedies.
West Moreton Health Chief Executive Dr Kerrie Freeman said the community was to be commended for getting tested at the first sign of COVID-19 symptoms.
“We recognise that people aren’t feeling their best when they come to our clinic for testing, and we appreciate that they are putting their community ahead of their comfort by coming forward,” Dr Freeman said.
“We opened a new permanent fever clinic behind Ipswich Hospital earlier this month, which has several features that make testing more comfortable, including a convenient drop-off zone and an undercover waiting area.”
Dr Freeman said almost 200,000 tests had been conducted region-wide, which was a credit to the community’s GPs and private pathology labs as well as the Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN.
Dr Young said Queensland’s vaccine roll-out had progressed well given the nation’s issues sourcing supplies.
As of 29 July 2021, West Moreton Health has administered 24,978 COVID-19 vaccinations, including 19,751 Pfizer doses and 5,227 AstraZeneca doses.
Dr Freeman thanked the West Moreton community for coming forward to be vaccinated.
“The vaccination program in West Moreton has been a combined effort with our local government and primary healthcare partners. We are all working together on getting everyone vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible.”
Dr Freeman said West Moreton Health’s new community-based vaccination centre in the Ipswich CBD was working well with minimal wait times.
“Staff have remarked how courteous and respectful people are towards them, and that they are having lots of laughs along the way, which is great to hear.”
As of 29 July 2021, West Moreton Health has:
- Completed 200,697 tests on 118,177 people (including public and private facilities)
- Had 5,332 people have received a quarantine notice
- 42 females and 39 males tested positive to COVID-19
- Age breakdown of COVID-19 cases:
- 5 aged 0-9
- 7 aged 10-19
- 17 aged 20-29
- 19 aged 30-39
- 11 aged 40-49
- 14 aged 50-59
- 6 aged 60-69
- 2 aged 70-79
- 0 aged 80-89