As Tasmania continues our transition to live with COVID-19, we urge Tasmanians to remain vigilant and keep up COVID-safe behaviours.
We are a highly vaccinated State and nation, but it’s important to take personal responsibility and continue to stay up to date with your vaccinations.
Continue to wash your hands and sanitise, and if you want to wear a mask in public places – it is your personal choice to do so, which we encourage.
While we are currently seeing an increased number of cases due to sub-variant strains, including BA4 and BA5, the evidence continues to show these strains are not as severe, with most people having mild symptoms.
The increase in cases is not surprising and is occurring nationally as we progress through the coldest months of winter, and the fact that people tend to be socialising more indoors than in the warmer months.
We expect this wave will peak in the coming months, and while the Public Health Emergency is over, we have always been clear that COVID remains in our community.
Our health system continues to stand up well, and I thank everyone in our health system who continue to do an outstanding job as we work through this transition.
Importantly, our COVID@Home program has been very successful and continues to allow people to manage their COVID symptoms at home and relieve pressure on our hospitals.
We have also recently expanded to COVID@Home Plus to also provide remote care and support to people with influenza and influenza-like illnesses.
We will continue to monitor the situation closely and follow public health advice, just as we’ve done from day one.