Experts are concerned that case numbers could rise to 200,000 a day but the Chief Medical Officer thinks the numbers are misleading.
State and territory leaders are concerned that Omicron cases could reach up to 200,000 a day next year across the country if restrictions aren’t increased.
Don’t worry, the CMO has immediately joined the conversation to say that that’s probably an exaggeration. While the CMO has given important clarity on the matter, it is conveniently timed so that the nation can stay open throughout the busiest season, bound to boost our economy.
Credit: Mick Tsikas/AAP
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Doherty Institute is predicting Omicron infections could surge and overwhelm the health system if more restrictions aren’t introduced.
The National Cabinet will hold an emergency meeting today to address these concerns and whether or not the time between the second vaccine and the booster shot can be changed.
The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly is trying to calm fears around how high the case numbers could grow. He has said that predictions of hundreds of thousands per day are represented as an implausible, worst-case scenario.
The modelling that was prepared for the emergency National Cabinet meeting will still be addressed today and taken as a serious outcome if restrictions are not put back in place.
According to the modelling from the Doherty Institute, up to 200,000 cases per day will be reported across Australia by late January and hospitalisation rates could reach up to 4,000 a day without medium-level restrictions.
Kelly, however, has stated that this is incredibly implausible.
Importantly, after almost four weeks of Omicron in Australia there are currently no confirmed Omicron cases in ICU and no deaths confirmed to date.https://t.co/ZGzsC3syXv
— Laura A'Bell (@PrBlueberry) December 22, 2021
“A preliminary scenario, of many being considered to help inform decision making, presents one of the worst case of all potential scenarios including assumptions that the Omicron variant is as severe as the Delta variant, an absence of hospital surge capacity, a highly limited booster program, no change to baseline public health and social measures and an absence of spontaneous behaviour change in the face of rising case numbers,” he said in a statement.
“None of these five assumptions represent the likely state of events, let alone all of them together, therefore presenting that scenario as the likely scenario that will occur is highly misleading.”
It looks like the main focus for today’s meeting will be the booster vaccines, not increasing restrictions.
Case numbers are rising though, as the country forgets about the virus and celebrates the silly season and it is honestly a little concerning but, god forbid the government put anything in place to protect their population. Not before the most lucrative time of the year.
Did we say lucrative? Sorry, we meant wonderful. The most wonderful time of the year.
