Health and aged care workers will be one of three groups prioritised for the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, according to the government’s COVID-19 vaccine policy.
Welcome to The Medical Republic’s COVID Catch-Up.
It’s the day’s COVID-19 news in one convenient post. Email bianca@biancanogrady.com with any tips, comments or feedback.
13 November
- Healthcare workers to be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccine, government says.
- US wedding results in 177 COVID-19 infections and seven deaths.
- Half of people with COVID-19 report persistent fatigue months later.
- Cruise ship sets sail straight into an onboard COVID-19 outbreak.
- The latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia.
- Health and aged care workers will be one of three groups prioritised for the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, according to the Australian government’s COVID-19 vaccine policy, which was endorsed today by the National Cabinet.
The strategy identifies three ‘priority population groups’: those at high risk of exposure, such as healthcare workers; those at increased risk of severe outcomes, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the elderly and those with certain medical conditions; and people working in what are considered essential services.
The vaccine will be made freely available to all Australian citizens, permanent residents and ‘most visa holders’. - One wedding and seven funerals? It’s not a Hugh Grant-led movie sequel (although I’m totally here for that) but the sad tale of a wedding in the US state of Maine which involved 55 people but led to 177 COVID-19 infections and seven deaths.
According to a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the August wedding first popped up on the radar when five attendees were diagnosed with COVID-19 within a few days of the event, one of whom was later identified as the index case. Within a week, 24 wedding guests had been diagnosed, but the virus didn’t stop there. A further 17 secondary cases and 10 tertiary cases were diagnosed. One person died.
Then one wedding attendee went to a school meeting and infected two school staff members. Another had contact with a relative who worked in an aged care facility, who contracted the infection and worked while symptomatic. They infected a further 42 residents of the facility – six of whom died – and one staff member.
Another wedding guest worked at a correctional facility while symptomatic, which led to another 82 cases being diagnosed.
The wedding exceeded the COVID-19 rules of no more than 50 people in an indoor space, and despite signs asking for guests to be masked and maintain a distance of 6 feet from each other, none complied with this.
Until that day, the local town hadn’t had a single case of COVID-19. - Around half of people with COVID-19 report persistent fatigue more than two months after being diagnosed, a study has found.
A study published in PLOS ONE reports the outcomes of a cohort study involving 128 people attending a post-COVID-19 outpatient clinic in Dublin, 55% of whom had previously been admitted to hospital with the infection.
Overall, half the cohort were experiencing severe fatigue at least six weeks after their diagnosis or discharge from hospital, and almost one-third still hadn’t returned to work.
“The high proportion of healthcare workers infected by COVID-19, not just in our cohort but internationally, means that this will have a significant impact on healthcare systems,” the authors wrote. - One of the first cruise ships to launch after the COVID-19 pandemic grounded the industry has announced suspected COVID-19 cases on board.
According to the Guardian, the SeaDream was supposed to wend its way through the sunny waters of the Caribbean. After one of its passengers fell ill, it has been forced to return to its original departure point in Barbados.
Passengers and crew are all required to get tested before they board, and are tested in the dock before departure, but somehow SARS-CoV-2 managed to stow away.
Where’s my surprised face? - Here are the latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia to 9pm Thursday:
National – 27,698, with 907 deaths
ACT – 114 (0)
NSW – 4483 (5)
NT – 41 (0)
QLD – 1182 (3)
SA – 520 (1)
TAS – 230 (0)
VIC – 20,345 (0)
WA – 783 (3)
