WA hospitals 'full of respiratory viruses' as state braces for new arrivals from NSW
West Australian hospitals are struggling to cope with a wave of viral respiratory illnesses as frontline healthcare staff are yet to be properly fit with personal protective equipment, the state's peak doctors' body claims.
As NSW grapples with a growing coronavirus cluster in Sydney’s northern beaches, Australian Medical Association WA president Andrew Miller warned the state was not ready for an outbreak.
AMA WA President Dr Andrew Miller. Credit:Nathan Hondros
"Our hospitals are already full of other respiratory viruses, we are not coping at the moment. We’ve got ambulances ramped from here to South Australia just about," Dr Miller said.
"If we get any COVID in there we are going to have to cancel pretty much everything else because it’s going to be a devastating situation."
He said the state government had been swift to impose travel restrictions on new arrivals but with nearly 5000 people from NSW already in WA, protecting frontline staff was crucial.
Since December 11, 4901 people have arrived in WA from NSW. Among those are 87 people who have arrived in Perth from Sydney’s northern beaches – the epicentre of the latest outbreak.
Fourteen flights were scheduled to arrive from Sydney on Friday and Saturday with about 1500 passengers on board.
“The government’s one good trick is shutting the border down but that causes an awful lot of pain and it doesn’t necessarily stop the spread that is already here,” Dr Miller said.
“We know there’s huge complacency because our hospitals are full of respiratory syncytial virus and parainfluenza virus at the moment, all respiratory infections which spread exactly the same way that COVID does.
“Unfortunately, this disease doesn’t give us the time to be polite. Give us the PPE that we need.”
Department of Health and PathWest data shows the number of patients with influenza-like illnesses in emergency departments last week was higher than the average for this time of the year, with respiratory syncytial virus numbers also above the standard rate.
PathWest recorded no positive influenza samples in the same period.
Dr Miller’s sombre message comes a month after the AMA joined forces with the Australian Nursing Federation of WA to sound the alarm about the government’s reluctance to train and fit-test staff with N95 face masks and other personal protective gear.
Fit testing requires an electronic device to test the seal between a mask and the user’s face to ensure there is no leakage around a person’s mouth and nose.
“We don’t want to be constantly complaining about things but we do have to nip at the government’s heels because it’s a bureaucracy and getting them to agree to these sort of things is not like dealing with people who understand the emergency of the situation,” Dr Miller said.
“People thought this was a Hollywood movie and the bad part had happened, the good guys had come in and all of a sudden it was all over. That’s not where we are at with COVID, we’ve got another 12 months of this.”
The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.
Marta is an award-winning photographer and journalist with a focus on social justice issues and local government.