Chief Health Officer Directive 22 August 2020 – Effective from 8am Saturday 22 August 2020
The Chief Health Officer has issued a new directive for areas of South East Queensland. This new directive is in response to the new cases of COVID-19 that have been confirmed today. Unfortunately, one of the cases that has been confirmed has link to disability service.
It is important for QDN members and our supporters to be aware of for the general public and there is also specific directions for people living in shared disability accommodation services.
It is important that these directions do not stop people from getting their essential disability services and these directions do not stop people from going out if they need to.
It is important that people with disability, families and services work together to make sure residents, families and staff understand what these changes mean and that there is good communication in place.
It is very important to remember to
• Make sure you are physically distancing 1.5M
• Make sure you are washing your hands regularly
IF YOU HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS, STAY HOME, ISOLATE AND PLEASE GET TESTED. THERE ARE NEW STAND UP TESTING PLACES. See the Queensland Health website for information.
If you haven’t made your Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness COVID-19 plan yet, please go to QDN’s website and make a plan for you own individual needs for COVID-19.
https://qdn.org.au/home/covid-19/make-a-plan/
From 8:00am on 22 August 2020 , the areas that the directive covers are
• City of Brisbane
• City of Ipswich
• Logan City
• Redland City
• Scenic Rim Region
• Somerset Region
• Lockyer Valley Region
• Moreton Bay Region.
For everyone the directions are for people living in the areas listed above:
• No more than 10 people can gather in people’s own homes
• No more than 10 people are allowed to gather in public places like parks
• No visitors to hospitals in the restricted areas unless approved
• No visitors to aged care facilities unless the resident is at end of life
There are specific directives for people with disability living in disability accommodation services where more than 4 people live in shared accommodation. These directions are
• Services can’t stop people with disability who live at the residence from entering or remaining upon the premises and people can continue to access any areas of the disability accommodation service that they normally do unless there is a direction to self-quarantine or self-isolate in accordance with a public health direction.
• No visitors to the disability accommodation service in the list areas above
• Support workers and volunteers are allowed to enter the service to provide essential disability support and must wear personal protective equipment ie a mask
• The service can grant permission for a person that may include family or worker to provide behavioural, emotional or social support to enter a residence where necessary
• Services need to collect and keep contact information about all visitors including volunteers and contractors for 56 days
• Make sure there are signs up about maintaining physical distancing and hand washing and hygiene and shared areas like the dining room are set up to maintain physical distance
• Make sure that cleaning of surfaces is done regularly
• Make sure there are extra hand sanitiser stations for all residents, workers, volunteers and people entering the house or facility
• Make sure workers and volunteers are trained and that there are procedures in place to keep family and support people informed where a resident becomes unwell or there is a case identified in the accommodation service;
• Monitor the health of all the workers and volunteers with daily check ins
• Encourage anyone entering the residence to have a flu vaccination if available
PPE
• The Health.gov advice on PPE can be found on this link to disability providers on PPE access current health advice
• Access to PPE for NDIS providers and self-managing participants who can no longer access PPE supplies through usual means (the private market) can contact the National Medical Stockpile by emailing NDISCOVIDPPE@health.gov.au
• More information on access to PPE for NDIS providers can be found at www.ndiscommission.gov.au/document/2006
Further information
Further information about the Queensland Public Health Directions, including questions and answers, can be found on the Queensland Health website. If you are seeking clarification on a Public Health Direction or have any questions, please call 134 268