With authorities in Queensland scaling again COVID protocols, right here’s a glance again at the place we had been 12, 24 and 36 months in the past
Queensland’s fourth 12 months of residing with COVID-19 begins at present – marking the anniversary of the primary time the state’s then Chief Well being Officer Jeannette Younger warned the general public of a novel coronavirus rising out of China.
On January 21, 2020, Dr Younger informed Queenslanders a couple of thriller new virus with experiences of 200 sufferers being admitted to hospital in China, about 9 of them recognized as severe, and affirmation of human-to-human unfold.
“We should be alert,” Dr Younger stated on the time.
“It is a coronavirus, so it is transmitted the identical approach as with all the opposite coronaviruses, which is thru the air.”
Quick ahead to at present, greater than 672 million circumstances of COVID-19 have been recorded worldwide, together with 6.7 million deaths, about 18,000 of them Australians.
Queensland has had 2,574 deaths, most of them occurring since December 13, 2021, when the state’s borders reopened to COVID hotspots after nearly two years of closures.
The preliminary modelling by QIMR Berghofer Medical Analysis Institute in October, 2021, predicted the deaths of 200 Queenslanders within the first three months after borders reopened.
Dr Younger’s successor John Gerrard, an infectious illness doctor, started his time within the function earlier than Christmas, 2021 telling Queenslanders the unfold of coronavirus “is inevitable, it’s essential.”
“To ensure that us to go from the pandemic part to an endemic part, the virus must be widespread,” Dr Gerrard stated on December 23, 2021.
“All of us should have immunity. You’ll all should develop immunity. There’s two methods you are able to do that – by being vaccinated or getting contaminated. There are solely two decisions, there are solely two methods to do this.”
Greater than a 12 months later, Dr Gerrard is much less sure concerning the future.
At a information convention this week, he stated “2023 may be very a lot a crucial part as we actually be taught what occurs with a pandemic.”
“What precisely occurs with the pandemic now, no person is aware of for sure,” he stated.
“We have by no means adopted a pandemic like this in actual time earlier than.”
The hope, he stated, was that the common waves of COVID-19 would turn into much less frequent and finally, the virus would morph right into a once-a-year seasonal sickness, very similar to the flu.
“However that is, at this stage, nonetheless a concept,” he stated.
“We do not have a transparent sense of the time course, whether or not this can resolve into that sample this 12 months, or whether or not it would take a number of years.”
COVID-19 vaccination transferring ahead can be unsure.
“The technique for vaccination, each in Australia and worldwide, is but to be decided,” Dr Gerrard stated.
“We all know that immunity wears off considerably after six months. This can be a specific downside in older individuals.”
About 47 per cent of Queensland’s eligible inhabitants – these aged larger than 30 years – have acquired a fourth COVID-19 dose.
This is a glance again on how the virus was affecting our lives 12, 24 and 36 months in the past.
January, 2022: Testing points and Omicron events because the state opens up
After Queensland introduced ahead the reopening of its border on December 13, many Australians had been delighted to have the ability to spend Christmas with family they hadn’t seen in individual in years.
However there was additionally a concern of the most recent wave of the virus, Omicron, which was seeing it spread like never before.
Authorities had been warning “COVID chasers” to not try to catch Omicron amid information that folks had been holding parties so as to get contaminated so as to turn into quickly immune.
“All this nonsense about COVID events, it’s ridiculous. Reinfection can happen with Omicron,” then prime minister Scott Morrison stated.
On January 4, Queensland Well being Minister Yvette D’Ath and new Chief Well being Officer John Gerrard acknowledged the testing system within the state was below pressure as prolonged delays had been skilled in queues throughout the state.
Queensland’s testing clinics were so overwhelmed, many individuals had been being turned away with out getting swabbed, whereas others had been going to excessive lengths to get examined to guard relations, fulfill work and childcare necessities, or to have elective surgical procedure.
Queensland was so involved concerning the Omicron wave, with 18,000 new circumstances reported on January 9, that the return to school was delayed by two weeks.
“Queensland is anticipated to achieve [our] peak over the past week of January and the primary week of February,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stated.
Ms Palaszczuk stated it was not fascinating to have youngsters again on the peak of the Omicron wave and so the federal government moved the college 12 months begin from January 24 to Monday, February 7.
On January 21, 2022 there have been 329,362 whole COVID circumstances in Queensland, 155 deaths and 884 individuals in hospital with the virus.
January, 2021: Lockdown and panic shopping for
On January 7, 2021, a cleaner at a quarantine resort in Brisbane examined optimistic for COVID, sparking a well being alert in three suburbs amid fears of the brand new mutant pressure of the virus, N501Y, which had arrived from the UK.
The cleaner, who was in her 20s, had taken trains to and from work within the metropolis.
The following day greater than 2 million individuals residing within the Larger Brisbane area had been plunged into a three-day lockdown.
Ms Palaszczuk stated it was a harsh however essential determination.
“Consider it as an extended weekend at dwelling, we have to do that,” she stated.
Lengthy queues fashioned at supermarkets inside an hour of the announcement, prompting Queensland Well being to induce individuals to not panic purchase.
The chief well being officer on the time, Jeannette Younger, defended the lockdown on January 12, with the state recording three new circumstances that day.
“We needed to go and do one thing instantly, do it shortly and simply get it managed,” Dr Younger stated.
“I feel that three-day circuit-breaker — is what I’m calling it — simply units the framework, and the response right here in Larger Brisbane was completely good.”
Whereas the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine would probably be the primary to get approval in Australia, most of us would find yourself receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said on January 10.
Australia had secured 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 53.8 million of the AstraZeneca vaccine at that time.
On January 21, 2021 there have been 1,317 whole COVID circumstances in Queensland and 6 deaths.
January, 2020: SARS-like coronavirus emerges from China
The ABC first reported on the novel coronavirus on January 15, 2020: WHO says new mysterious China coronavirus linked to SARS could spread, warns hospitals worldwide.
On January 20, science reporter Tegan Taylor requested: What is a coronavirus and why is a new virus strain making people in China so sick?
The Australian Division of Well being stated in an announcement it was conscious of the outbreak and was watching developments carefully, however there was no want for alarm in Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated Australians ought to be assured that every one essential procedures had been “swinging into place”.
A Brisbane man was tested for coronavirus on January 21 after coming back from Wuhan, however Queensland Well being introduced he was cleared the next day.
By late January, curiosity within the new virus was immense.
Queensland’s first case was confirmed on January 29, with the chief well being officer on the time, Jeannette Younger, saying: “A 44-year-old Chinese language nationwide, who’s at the moment remoted within the Gold Coast College Hospital, has been confirmed to have novel coronavirus.”
The largest tales of the month had been when three cases were confirmed in NSW and one in Victoria on January 25 because the loss of life toll rose in China, and the information {that a} Melbourne lab was the first to copy the coronavirus, fuelling hopes of a vaccine.
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