Western Australia is reintroducing mask mandates after a surge in Covid-19 cases, State Premier Roger Cook said on Nov 17.
In a Facebook post, he said: “There has been a rise in Covid hospitalisations and health staff off sick. We need to do what we can to make sure we’re keeping each other safe – especially our most vulnerable.”
From Nov 20, all staff and patients in high-risk hospital clinical areas will be required to mask up, Mr Cook said. Masks will be required around vulnerable patients in wards such as those for haematology and renal dialysis.
Masks are also recommended “for all healthcare facility staff and visitors in all clinical areas in public hospitals”.
With British rock band Coldplay set to perform in Western Australia’s capital Perth on Nov 18 and 19, spectators with medical issues have been urged by infectious diseases expert Paul Griffin from the University of Queensland to consider wearing masks, reported ABC News.
More than 130,000 fans, including 40,000 from outside Western Australia, are expected to attend.
The state’s chief health officer Andy Robertson said Covid-19 cases have been increasing since early September. These have been driven mostly by the Eris variant.
This was an expected part of Covid-19’s evolution in the community as immunity waned over time, Dr Robertson said. As at Nov 14, there were 201 Covid-19 patients in hospitals in Western Australia.
Dr Robertson said the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients was still lower than the previous two peaks in December 2022 and May 2023, which stood at 268 and 258, respectively.
But he warned that the current wave could get larger, and urged people to be responsible if they were unwell.
Hospital intensive care cases have risen from zero to three, and two deaths were recorded in the most recent reporting week, according to Western Australian media outlet WAtoday.
Western Australia’s Covid-19 state of emergency ended on Oct 31, 2022, after being in place for more than 2½ years.
It allowed the government to implement various measures to curb the spread of the disease, including enforcing lockdowns and introducing far-reaching Covid-19 restrictions.
