Coronavirus Information (COVID-19)

Please remember:

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, fatigue, diarrhoea, vomiting or nausea, loss of smell and/or taste) please get tested and stay at home until your test returns a negative result, you are asymptomatic and have completed any quarantine requirements as appropriate.

To regularly wash your hands and disinfect your phone and swipe cards.

To maintain physical distancing.

First steps if you have COVID-19

You may learn you have COVID-19:

  • by taking a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and returning a positive result. If you haven’t done so, report your positive RAT result to Queensland Health.
  • taking a PCR test, and getting a text message from Queensland Health or a pathology lab telling you that you have COVID-19.

If you’ve got COVID-19, follow these five steps.

If you are well or only have mild symptoms, you will be cared for at home. Only call Triple Zero (000) or go to an emergency department if you have severe symptoms. Read more about symptoms and medical care for COVID-19 in Queensland.

1. Isolate and tell your household to get tested

If you get COVID-19, you need to immediately isolate yourself at your home, or other accommodation. Isolate means you need to stay away from other people as much as possible so you don’t give the virus to someone else.

Find out how to isolate, including what support is available to you. For help because you don’t have somewhere suitable to isolate, call 134 COVID (134 268).

Tell the people that live with you. They need to quarantine at home with you. Read more about testing and quarantine for close contacts.

People living in your house can quarantine at home in a separate area to you. It is still important that you isolate as much as possible from these people so that you don’t give them COVID-19 if they haven’t already caught it.

2. Help us assess your situation

You’ve tested positive on a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT)

If you haven’t done so, report your positive RAT result to Queensland Health.
You do not need to take a PCR test to confirm a positive RAT result.

If you are well or only have mild symptoms, you will be cared for at home. For health advice, please call your GP. If you don’t have a GP, you can call 13 HEALTH (134 325).

Only call Triple Zero (000) or go to an emergency department if you have severe symptoms. Read more about symptoms and medical care for COVID-19 in Queensland.

You’ve tested positive on a PCR test

You’ll receive a call from a health worker, on behalf of Queensland Health. They’ll ask you around 5 questions about your symptoms and your situation. Your responses will help us decide if you need home care or hospital care (PDF).

Note: you do not need to report a positive PCR result to Queensland Health.

The testing clinic where you got tested will do that for you.

3. Tell the people you have been in contact with

It’s likely you will have been in contact with other people while you were infectious. You are deemed infectious two days before your symptoms started.

If you didn’t have any noticeable symptoms, you are deemed infectious two days before you had your COVID-19 test that was positive.

If you have been in contact with anyone during that period, you need to tell them you have COVID-19 so they can monitor their symptoms and get tested if they feel unwell.

This might include your workplace or the place you study, or if you have children, the school or childcare they go to.

The following are considered to be close contacts and must quarantine and get tested: household members and household-like contacts.

  • A household member is a person who ordinarily resides at the same premises or place of accommodation as the diagnosed person, and who are residing at the premises or place of accommodation at the time the diagnosed person receives their positive COVID-19 test result. You do not have to be related to the diagnosed person to be considered a household member.
  • A household-like contact is a person who has spent more than four hours with the diagnosed person in a house or other place of accommodation, care facility or similar.

A contact tracing officer may contact you to identify public venues you have been to. They will be responsible for alerting the public to places you have been while infectious.

4. Get the things you need

You will be in isolation for a minimum of 7 days. It’s important you have everything you need for staying home.

Any deliveries must be no contact.

Ask friends or family members you don’t live with to get food and medication for you and leave it at your door.

Arrange a food delivery service. Have all food left outside your house. Do not let any delivery person into your home or accommodation.

If you need a prescription filled, arrange this with your usual pharmacist or GP. They can deliver it to your home or accommodation, or you can let your friend or family member know where to collect the medication.

Home care workers and other providers of essential services like nurses are exempt from restrictions to enter your home. However, if you receive these services it is important that you let the service providers know that you have COVID-19 and are in isolation.

If you can’t get family or friends to help you, contact the Community Recovery Hotline on 1800 173 349.

5. Look after yourself

Most people with COVID-19 will have mild symptoms. Keep a COVID-19 symptom diary (PDF, 2 MB), so you can track if your symptoms get worse and take action.

Only call Triple Zero (000) or go to an emergency department if you have severe symptoms.

While you are staying home, use our tips on looking after your mental wellbeing and keeping healthy and active at home.

If you are worried about your mental health, read about when to seek help and the mental health services available to support you.

If you need any other support while you’re in isolation, read our guide on where to get help.

Useful COVID-19 Links

First steps if you have COVID-19 | Health and wellbeing | Queensland Government (www.qld.gov.au)

Well being:

Boost your Healthy – Health and Wellbeing Queensland (hw.qld.gov.au)

Advice for vaccination of individuals with current or prior infection with COVID-19

As COVID cases continue to climb in Queensland, it is highly likely that there will be consumers with COVID-19 who attend a vaccination clinic. They may be asymptomatic, mildly symptomatic or have more significant symptoms and may (or may not) already know their infection status via a PCR or Rapid Antigen Test.

For clarity, the clinical advice on how to manage these consumers can be found in Queensland’s Vaccine Protocols as well as this ATAGI advice. In summary, people who have had COVID-19 can be vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine.

For consumers with known COVID-19 on either RAT or PCR (regardless of symptoms):

  • Defer vaccination in people with a confirmed infection until resolution of acute symptoms or four weeks after initial positive test (whichever is later). This is to avoid onward transmission and confusing the differential diagnosis.
  • Vaccination after resolution of acute symptoms but prior to four weeks can be considered on a case-by-case basis based on the consumer’s risk, other factors (like employment requirements) and clinical status. However, this is a clinical decision which should be made by an appropriately trained medical or health practitioner.
  • If a patient tests positive for COVID-19 between their first and second doses, or between their second and booster dose, the patient should delay next dose until they have recovered from the acute illness.
    For consumers with known or past COVID-19 who have received medical treatment for their illness:
  • ATAGI recommends that vaccinations should be deferred for 90 days in people who have received anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody or convalescent plasma therapy.

For symptomatic consumers with unknown COVID-19 status or other current acute illness:

  • Defer vaccination in people with an acute illness until resolution of symptoms or four weeks after initial positive COVID-19 test (whichever is later). This includes febrile illness (axillary temperature ≥38.5°C). This is a general precaution for all vaccines to avoid potentially attributing symptoms of the acute illness to the vaccine or attributing adverse effects from the vaccine to the acute illness.
  • Ideally these patients do not enter a vaccination location and can be turned away at the door prior to entry. They should be directed to obtain a COVID-19 test (PCR) if they have not already.

For consumers testing negative to COVID-19 but have mild symptoms:

  • Vaccination can proceed, there is no requirement to delay vaccination. The presence of a minor localised infection and/or low-grade fever is not a contraindication for vaccination.

Prolonged COVID-19 symptoms:

  • Having prolonged COVID-19 symptoms is not a contraindication to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine but if the individual is seriously debilitated, still under active investigation, or has evidence of recent deterioration, deferral of vaccination may be considered to avoid incorrect attribution of any change in the person’s underlying condition to the vaccine. People with prolonged symptoms from COVID-19 beyond six months should be vaccinated on a case-by-case basis.

Vaccination:

The Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) National guidelines for public health units state that ‘fully vaccinated refers to a person who is ≥14 days following receipt of the final dose of a primary course of COVID-19 vaccine approved and recognised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)’.

  1. All vaccines currently available for use in Australia require a minimum of two doses. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) recommends that individuals who are severely immunocompromised receive a third vaccine dose as part of their primary course, 2–6 months after their second dose. It is recommended that adults aged 18 years and older receive a booster dose six months after their second dose.
  2. Optimal protection is 7–14 days after the final dose in the course.
  3. For the purposes of public health orders in Australia, two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine are required. While people vaccinated against COVID-19 can still contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus, they are significantly less likely to suffer severe disease or require hospitalisation. While vaccination significantly reduces the risk of severe disease and hospitalisation, care must be provided based on clinical presentation and medical and social risk factors.