VAHPA Executive Officer Andrew Hewat has written an article for Croakey Media, urging a new approach to tackle the ongoing COVID-19 aftershocks that is negatively impacting a health system in denial.
Andrew has penned a practical and considered analysis of the Victorian health system and the current, still devastating impact of COVID-19’s ongoing death toll and severe reluctance for decision makers to mitigate.
“Despite many people believing COVID is over and wanting to move on with their lives, the harsh reality is that COVID continues to have a toll. In 2023, COVID is continuing to kill around 200 Australians of all ages every week.”
“It was the third leading cause of death in Australia in 2022. We are just coming out of our eighth wave in three-and-a-half years and the number of COVID hospitalisations has not fallen below the baseline of 1,300 inpatients since Omicron started back in December 2021.”
“On top of the thousands of deaths and hospitalisations, there are tens of thousands more who are suffering the long-term debilitating effects of long COVID. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates the prevalence of long COVID in Australia to be about 5-10 percent of COVID-19 cases – there have been 11.5 million reported COVID-19 cases in Australia.”
“COVID is not over.”