It has been over three years since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in New South Wales (NSW), and now health experts have declared that we are entering the fifth wave of the virus.
There is a definite change in the level of precautions most of us take to reduce our risk. So how concerned should we be?
Click the link and listen to the full episode below:
On today’s episode of This Arvo In Sydney, host Sacha Barbour Gatt and LiSTNR journalist Loren Howarth talked to health experts to find out what we can expect from the fifth COVID-19 wave.
Dr Michael Bonning, chair of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) NSW council, has witnessed an increase in COVID-19 cases over the last few months.
Now, in the 2,000 to 3,000 new notifications per day in NSW, what we have seen most dramatically in the last two weeks has been a massive increase in the number of influenza cases,”
Dr Bonning said.
He says that health officials are worried about both COVID and flu cases as the flu season approaches.
According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, NSW recorded the highest average daily number of COVID-19 cases, with a total of 1,914 individuals affected.
The significant increase in case numbers will hit the health system hard, resulting in outbreaks in residential aged-care facilities, disability-care facilities, and school environments.
Barbour Gatt says that as most Sydneysiders are less concerned about COVID, there is a lower number of individuals who have received booster vaccinations.
Dr Bonning says most of the population now has some form of hybrid immunity, which means a combination of vaccine-derived immunity and infection-derived immunity.
It’s harder and harder to tell whether people are skipping booster doses or whether, in fact, they are having to postpone booster doses because they’ve had COVID in the last six months.”
Hosted by Sacha Barbour, This Arvo in Sydney is a 10 to 12 minute daily news podcast made just for Sydney! Listen now on the Listnr app.