Last Friday our Chief Health Officer shared the following information:
The seven-day rolling average of people with COVID-19 in Victorian hospitals increased 27.9% on the previous week to 550 patients. There were over 26,000 cases reported in Victoria, with the daily average number of cases 3,853, up from 3,183 the previous week.
Of hospitalisations in the last three months, 3468 (40.8%) had not received their 3rd vaccine dose. 1,018 patients (29.4%) were unvaccinated.
This cohort of unvaccinated Victorians represented 39.3% of total reported COVID deaths in the last 3 months.
Sadly, in the last three months there have been 596 COVID-related deaths in Victoria. 234 of these people were unvaccinated.
The increase in cases is being driven by a mixture of new Omicron subvariants, which are more immune evasive and are responding to waning immunity from past infection and past vaccination.
In the midst of this rise in case numbers and deaths, our best protection is to stay up to date with vaccinations.
Protecting yourself is also the best way to protect your community - if you don’t get COVID, you can’t spread COVID.
These six steps can help you stay ahead of the virus:
- Wear a mask: a high-quality and well-fitted mask can protect you from the virus
- Get your booster dose: new bivalent vaccines targeting Omicron variants are available at your GP or local pharmacy
- Let fresh air in: open windows and doors when you can, it reduces the spread of the virus
- Get tested: if you have symptoms, take a rapid antigen test
- Stay at home: if you have COVID, you should stay at home for at least 5 days and until you have no symptoms
- Talk to your doctor: if you are at risk of falling very sick, you may be eligible for COVID medicines