Mr Hazzard said he has spoken to NSW Health about the issue of pregnant women waiting for hours in testing queues in order to meet hospital requirements.“It appears that is primarily a requirement of private hospitals and not public hospitals,” he said.“Anything that is getting in the way of mums seeing their babies… should absolutely be minimised. And I’ve asked health to look into those issues.”He added that he has asked NSW Health to work with private hospitals and “convert them” from using PCR tests to using rapid antigen tests. “We are now in the era of this pandemic where rapid antigen tests make more sense than PCR tests (in a range of settings),” he said.Mr Hazzard has also pushed the Federal Government to scrap PCR testing requirements for international travellers and use rapid tests instead. “That is under consideration by the Federal Government,” he said.He reiterated concerns with Queensland’s PCR testing requirements saying that Queensland residents are also struggling under their own premier’s PCR testing requirements with reports of cars with Queensland number plates stuck in queues in Byron Bay.He added that NSW travellers were also struggling to get their day five PCR test in Queensland.“It’s time that the PCR test for tourism testing was dropped, preferably today … rapid antigen tests make more sense for people who are crossing the border,” he said.Mr Hazzard also spoke on a major bungle from St Vincent’s Hospital that saw 950 people prematurely told that they did not have Covid-19 – despite half of those people testing positive.“As Health Minister I’m very concerned about that outcome…There was a human error and unfortunately when people are under pressure, human errors become more likely,” he said.PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE PALASZCZUK: HAZZARD RIPS QLD PREMIERHealth Minister Brad Hazzard has slammed Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s decision to hold off on removing “tourism testing” requirements until the new year as “passive aggressive stupidity”. NSW has grappled with stubborn testing queues that are refusing to ease with people being turned away at Leumeah and Rozelle testing sites on Monday afternoon. The scramble for testing prompted NSW Police to increase its presence at clinics following reports of an “increase in anti-social and aggressive behaviour as lengthy queues continue”.Police sent officers to patrol the testing sites and protect frontline workers from “abuse” while traffic management measures were also put into place to manage thousands of stationary cars with people waiting to get tested.Mr Hazzard said Ms Palaszczuk’s “outright refusal so far to let commonsense rule” and remove PCR testing was putting both NSW and Queensland residents at risk of being exposed to the virus. “This is passive aggressive stupidity from the Queensland Premier at her worst. Getting rid of PCRs for tourism testing is absolutely critical so there can be a focus on the clinical needs of patients at risk,” he told The Daily Telegraph.“South Australia has seen the light and someone needs to switch on the lights in the Queensland Premier‘s office.”His comments are an escalation from Premier Dominic Perrottet who repeatedly thanked his Queensland counterpart last week for considering the removal of PCR tests.Mr Hazzard revealed that he had received reports suggesting that Queensland authorities were failing to adequately check if entering travellers had even met the state’s high demands.“Between now and January 1, there can easily be another 100,000 to 150,000 tests purely and simply for people who want to holiday in Queensland. That additional number of tests puts at risk getting the necessary faster turnaround for people who really need to know (their results) for health not holiday reasons.“From what I’ve heard, these farcical and frustrating aspects are underlined by a failure on the Queensland end to even be checking on permits or testing status. The airports have a couple of police who are checking a few people here and there, but the bulk of people are marching right through.”Mr Hazzard’s scathing critique of Ms Palaszczuk followed her announcement that Queensland was “definitely looking at January 1” as the date to transition from PCR tests to rapid antigen tests for arriving travellers.As NSW’s testing capacity is pushed to the brink, Mr Hazzard said Queensland’s testing rules should be “the first to go”.Daily Telegraph – News Feed latest episode“They could have had a negative test four days ago but have since turned positive. How does that help Queensland? It doesn’t,” he said.“I‘ve never in my entire time as Health Minister, never criticised the Queensland Premier, ever, but this one is now beyond being allowed to pass without comments.“The Queensland Premier wants our tourism dollars on the basis that Queensland is beautiful one day, and perfect the next. Sadly, it looks like it’s moved to perfect one day, passive aggressive the next.“The face-off comes as NSW recorded another 6324 Covid-19 infections while intensive care numbers remained steady at 55 people but hospitalisations rose to 520 people. It comes alongside reports that testing sites, including Liverpool Hospital, were turning people away as massive queues plagued PCR clinics.Mr Hazzard backed in comments from experts that a shift to rapid tests for widespread Covid-19 surveillance could support the “exhausted” system.“The concept is clear. People who don‘t have symptoms or are not in close contact or don’t need a PCR test for travel, shouldn’t be getting a PCR test, it’s just counter-productive,” he said.“People should be doing a rapid antigen test first and foremost. Please think twice because it‘s exhausting the NSW health pathology system,” he said.Infectious diseases physician Professor Paul Griffin said if the other state’s do not remove PCR testing requirements – an alternative could be to reserve PCR tests for symptomatic people or those with comorbidities. “It would still be great to find those that are infected and remove them from the community for a period of time. Particularly as we go into the era of intervention changing the illness,” he said.“If we can‘t expand our capacity, then absolutely prioritise those who are symptomatic and high-risk. High risk groups would be people eligible for Covid therapy so the unvaccinated, people with comorbidities, including being of an older age group.” Prof Griffin said rapid tests could be used for people who do not have symptoms and are likely to be asked to self-manage illness.NED-5192-DT-App-Banner
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