The curve is flattening, but we need to stick to the plans in place.
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This is the message of the Southern Highlands Division of General Practice.
Division spokesman Dr Vince Roche said social distancing and hand washing up would be important in the fight against COVID-19 "for some months yet, until we have flushed out the asymptomatic cases with increased testing."
"We want to avoid the logarithmic increase being seen in the UK/Spain/France/Italy and especially the USA," he said.
"So stay at home if you are a non-essential worker and wash your hands with soap and water.
"Social distancing is working. Remember that the virus does not spread like a dust cloud or smoke haze, it can only be caught by us from someone who has it.
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"If you can't tell who has it, stay away from as many people as you can."
The latest COVID-19 update from the Southern Highlands Division of General Practice as of April 6 is:
- Number of positive cases: 20 - up by 1 from yesterday - not increasing logorithmically
- Proportion or number of positives due to overseas travel/cruise ships/known contacts: 19
- Number of local cases who have required admission to hospital: - 1 (but not admitted to Bowral Hospital)
- Number of resolved cases: - not known (still too early to know)
- Number of community acquired cases in the Highlands: - 1
- Number of health care workers in Southern Highlands with CV19: - 0
- Number of at risk communities in Southern Highlands (eg nursing homes, boarding schools) of concern as CV19 Hotspot: - 0 (There is an aged care facility in South West Sydney (Opal Aged Care, Bankstown) with 4 cases, Dorothy Henderson Lodge at Ryde with 22 cases, and four other aged care facilities within the state with a single case - but none in Wingecarribee)
- Number of local cases by postcode: 2575 six; 2576 eight; 2577 five; 2578 one; 2579 none.
Registered Age Care Facilities
Dr Roche said all of the Registered Aged Care Facilities in the Highlands confirmed that they remain closed to all visitors.
"This includes families, with the exception of emergencies and palliative care patients," he said.
"All these nursing homes are putting measures in place to facilitate their residents talking with their families by phone, Skype, FaceTime etc to minimise the distress that isolation causes both residents and families.
"The old folk are starting to really miss the interaction with their families and visitors.
"In some facilities, the patients are being isolated in their own rooms for 14 days after being seen by a visiting doctor,- so GPs are doing as much of their care by phone, fax, Skype, Facetime, Zoom, etc as possible."
Flu Assessment Clinic
The Flu Assessment Clinic continues to run smoothly.
Dr Roche said that locals were reminded that only people who met the NSW Health Guidelines would be screened. Don't just rock up because you are anxious," he said.
"We recommend all people who feel that they need to be screened should talk to their GP by telephone first.
"People do not require a referral from their GP to attend the BDH Flu Assessment Clinic, but they prefer GP Clinics do the first line of triage.
"If someone feels that they need testing and do not meet the guidelines for testing, they or their doctor will need to talk to the local Public Health Unit in Liverpool.
"Screening criteria are changing - often day-by-day - and General Practices are trying to stay up to date with these changes that are inevitable as the epidemic progresses.
"As the epidemic progresses into the next phase - community transmission - GPs will need to do more testing for Covid19 to test the less-sick but symptomatic members of the public with respiratory symptoms."
The direct phone number for the flu clinic is 4861 0145 and enquiries will be answered during hours of operation only.
Flu Assessment Clinic Hours of Business: Weekdays: 10am to 5.30pm. On Public Holidays and Weekends, it will be open from 10:30am to 3pm.
Advanced planning
Dr Roche said that advanced planning continued to take place with Bowral Hospital, Southern Highlands Private Hospital, South West Sydney Public Health Unit and South West Sydney Local Health District, as well as with local doctors, aged care facilities, pharmacies and other health professional.
He said extensive plans were being put into place to try to keep non-infected people out of the hospital Emergency Department.
"This is so we are formulating new models of care for people with medical, surgical, orthopaedic and minor trauma /injuries, and new models of care for people in Aged Care Homes who fall sick or are injured in falls," he said.
"Bowral Hospital is now allowing just one visitor per patient.
"All staff and visitors to the hospital are being screened for infection risk with a questionnaire and a temperature test as they enter the hospital."
NEW: Limit is one visitor per patients and the new restricted visiting hours are 10am-11am, and 4:30pm to 5:30pm.
Elective surgery has been cancelled at both the Bowral Hospital and the Private Hospital.
Stay at home
Dr Roche said the doctors strongly maintained that social isolation and frequent hand washing were the main weapons - and there was an early indication that this was starting to make a difference.
"Stay at home unless you are an essential worker," he said.
"This is going to be critical in the next couple of weeks. This is where the battle will be won or lost.
"Talk to your family, friends and neighbours - by phone, by Skype, by Facebook and social media, by Skype - often our most vulnerable are the loneliest and most easily forgotten.
"Think of safe ways to help your stressed neighbour - a chat, doing their shopping, pick up their medications for them, walk their dog, or ask them to accompany you - one-with-one at a couple of meters distance - go for a walk.
"Exercise stimulates your immune system and is a great mood stabiliser. It really helps us deal with our ever present anxiety."
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