Page 43 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 8 February 2022
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furloughed due to isolation or quarantine requirements. The furlough of workers in transport, freight and logistics, and food and grocery supply chains has caused the most noticeable impact. As a result, national cabinet agreed to all jurisdictions implementing a standing exemption to allow asymptomatic “close contact” essential workers in priority industries to return to work.
Following consultation with unions and industry stakeholders, the Chief Health Officer implemented the standing exemption for essential workers to apply to household contacts under the Public Health (Diagnosed Persons and Household Contacts) Emergency Direction 2022, with effect from 11.59 pm on 27 January.
Under the standing exemption, an essential worker will only be eligible to return to work if they meet a range of requirements and conditions aimed at protecting them and their colleagues. In addition to these conditions, employers are required to adhere to their work health and safety obligations and undertake a range of actions if they seek to use the standing exemption to return workers to the workplace. The Chief Health Officer will give consideration to extending the standing exemption to workers in other priority industries, as agreed by national cabinet, should workforce shortages be experienced in these industries in the ACT.
The ACT government is focused on ensuring that our health system is ready and able to respond to the needs of Canberrans as we move forward in our COVID-19 response. Our health services have responded incredibly well to the increase in people with COVID-19. Our response and outcomes have been amongst the best in the country. In response to Omicron, the Clinical Health Emergency Coordination Centre has implemented plans and processes across the ACT’s health facilities to manage COVID-19 and protect those most at risk of severe disease.
COVID-normal operations are underpinned by implementing infection prevention and control as if all patients and staff have COVID-19, while recognising that a person’s COVID-19 status should not determine access to timely and appropriate care. Currently, only COVID-19 patients with respiratory symptoms are cared for in a designated COVID-19 ward or area, and patients at risk of severe disease due to COVID-19 are identified and supported, in line with revised operational procedures.
We have experienced an increase in hospitalisations since December. However, these numbers have stabilised, and our health system is well equipped to support patients who require care in hospital, including in intensive care, or at home if they experience milder symptoms. It is worth reminding the Assembly that the hospitalisation numbers include those who have subsequently been cleared of COVID. With Omicron, we have seen a high percentage of patients admitted with COVID rather than for COVID. Some of these will have a long length of stay to treat their reason for admission; hence hospitalisation numbers will have a long tail. However, the advice from Canberra Health Services is that the length of stay for most patients who are admitted for COVID treatment has reduced over time, with increases in vaccination and improvements in treatment.
Canberra Health Services established the COVID Care@Home service to provide support to community members who tested positive to COVID-19. As cases increased,
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