Labor still politicising pandemic

Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Health

It is extremely disappointing that instead of supporting our plan to reopen and encouraging the community to get vaccinated, Labor continue to play pandemic-politics to try and scare people.

As Labor should know, in a highly vaccinated state the majority of Tasmanians who test as Covid positive will be able to be treated at home and not require an ambulance.

However, Ambulance Tasmania is prepared for the reopening date, with recruitment of staff being fast tracked, additional ambulance capacity, and a total of nine Extended Care or Community Paramedics being employed, three for each region.

The Tasmanian Liberal Government has also employed an additional 231 FTE at Ambulance Tasmania since we came to Government in March 2014, with another 48 we committed to an election- a significant increase of 69 per cent.

Importantly, we are prepared to reopen.

We have held firm, to ensure all Tasmanians over 12 years have had the opportunity to get vaccinated before easing border restrictions, and set the higher bar of 90 per cent vaccination.

A significant amount of work has also been undertaken to ensure we are ready for the small percentage of COVID-19 positive people who will require hospitalisation. This includes 152 new beds and an additional 840 FTE employed since July last year, with further recruitment for new beds underway.

Our escalation plans provide a surge capacity of up to 211 COVID ward beds across the State and up to 114 ICU surge beds.

Rather than deliberately spreading fear, Labor needs to state very clearly – do they support our reopening plan, or not?

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