Orbost Regional Health (ORH) chief executive officer, Vicki Farthing, says COVID-19 testing numbers have remained consistent in the Orbost community.
“We are seeing on average around 4-5 people a day through the medical clinic,” she said.
“It’s been consistent and reflective of the change of seasons. We’re testing symptomatic people and people have presented who may have had the typical winter cold.
“The advice from the government is to continue testing and it’s positive to see people with symptoms coming forward.”
Ms Farthing said government recommendations ask people with even the slightest symptoms to get tested.
“The government, and rightly so, is worried about another spike,” she said.
“Thankfully we haven’t had one yet and hopefully we don’t.
“There are no active cases in Gippsland, which is fantastic, but there is an enormous fear we could have another spike.
“The area was very busy over the long weekend but thankfully we haven’t seen any outbreaks. We haven’t had any positive tests here at all, which is fantastic.”
Ms Farthing said ORH also had no flu cases recently.
“We had a couple of people early on with influenza A symptoms, but nothing at all of late,” she said.
“A lot of people have had their flu vaccine and I think people have stayed inside and followed the rules.
“We had a lot of vaccine here in the lead up to winter and I think with people visiting aged care homes having to have the vaccine, a lot of people jumped in and got it early.”
