<
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-06/hundreds-died-catching-covid-victoria-hospitals-testing-masking/103784896>
'When Dean's* father was rushed to hospital with a bad case of gastro in
February, he assumed he'd be back on his feet in a few days.
Instead, he caught COVID, probably in the emergency department at the Monash
Medical Centre, a major hospital in Melbourne's south-east. His 79-year-old dad
became so unwell, so quickly, that Dean — who visited him in the infectious
diseases ward wearing an N95 mask — was terrified he wouldn't survive.
"He was as sick as I'd ever seen him," said Dean, who was shocked that his
father's COVID infection seemed to trigger symptoms of Huntington's Disease, a
neurodegenerative condition he'd been diagnosed with many years earlier. "I'd
say it was very touch-and-go. I've seen people with cancer a few days before
they've died, and there was a look in his eye and he was completely emaciated.
He couldn't speak, couldn't communicate — he was just croaking."
Dean was also shocked that most of the hospital staff were wearing surgical
masks, some on their chin. It bothered him, he said, because surgical masks are
much less effective at preventing COVID transmission than N95 respirators. "No
one seemed to give a hoot about protecting themselves or the patients," he
said. "From what I know about COVID, I believe all the staff in an infectious
diseases ward should be wearing respirators … the fact that it is not standard
is just bamboozling."
But perhaps he shouldn't have been so surprised. For months doctors and public
health experts have been warning that too many patients are catching COVID in
Australian hospitals with sometimes devastating consequences — though timely
statistics are difficult to access because health departments do not publish
them.
Now, new data shows thousands of patients caught COVID in Victorian public
hospitals in the past two years — and hundreds died — fuelling concerns that
hospitals are not taking strong enough precautions against airborne viruses,
and calls for stronger leadership from the Department of Health.'
Via Violet Blue’s
Cybersecurity Roundup: May 7, 2024
https://www.patreon.com/posts/cybersecurity-7-103785432
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
