| Media item | |
| | Flu and Covid cases on the rise | Sunday Mail Brisbane,
Brisbane
by Andreas Nicola
| 11 Feb 2024 | | General News - Page 17 - 299 words - ID 2032886810 - Photo: No - Type: News Item - Size: 124.00cm2 | |
Queensland remains in the grip of a long-running Covid wave, as flu cases also skyrocket across the state.
Health experts have warned "different viruses" being spread across the state have been exacerbated by the return to both school and work after the summer holidays.
The latest Covid wave began in October, initially driven by the XBB. 1.5 strain, but since early December the JN. 1 subvariant has emerged and is now the dominant illness.
Influenza cases have also jumped, with Queensland Health recording 2346 cases between January 1 and February 4 - more than double the monthly mean of 2019 and 2020.
QH verified it had recorded 681 cases of Covid last week, with 312 people in hospital.
Infectious diseases expert Paul Griffin said the current wave was going nowhere fast.
"I think it's certainly fair to say that we're not through this most recent wave," he said.
"We need to be cautious about putting out reassuring messages when there's still a high number of cases every day, and we have safe and effective vaccines and other measures to address Covid that are currently being underused.
"We do need to appreciate the risk of Covid remains relatively high ... and we need to do more to address that." A QH spokeswoman said Covid-19 "is not going away.
Covid-19 and other respiratory infections can circulate in the community at any time." Prof Griffin said it was difficult to know what drives a pattern but students returning to school was part of the puzzle.
"If you have any symptoms consistent with a respiratory infection it is really important that you stay home and try to isolate as much as practicable to have those symptoms settle down, because that's the best way of reducing how much of these things are around".
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