Seeking to improve access to COVID-19 therapeutics in the remote Torres and Cape communities of Far North Queensland during the first COVID-19 omicron outbreak
Introduction: The first outbreak of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in the Torres and Cape region of Far North Queensland in Australia was declared in late December 2021. A COVID-19 Care at Home program was created to support the health and non-health needs of people with COVID-19 and their families...
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James Cook University
2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH7657 https://doaj.org/article/15f6dd9b1c0e4f75a021cfe5a2ecf0c0 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:15f6dd9b1c0e4f75a021cfe5a2ecf0c0 2023-05-15T16:15:49+02:00 Seeking to improve access to COVID-19 therapeutics in the remote Torres and Cape communities of Far North Queensland during the first COVID-19 omicron outbreak Sarah Galloway Caroline Taunton Rittia Matysek Allison Hempenstall 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH7657 https://doaj.org/article/15f6dd9b1c0e4f75a021cfe5a2ecf0c0 EN eng James Cook University https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/article/7657/ https://doaj.org/toc/1445-6354 doi:10.22605/RRH7657 1445-6354 https://doaj.org/article/15f6dd9b1c0e4f75a021cfe5a2ecf0c0 Rural and Remote Health, Vol 22 (2022) Aboriginal Australia COVID-19 First Nations health equity Indigenous health Special situations and conditions RC952-1245 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH7657 2022-12-30T20:29:58Z Introduction: The first outbreak of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in the Torres and Cape region of Far North Queensland in Australia was declared in late December 2021. A COVID-19 Care at Home program was created to support the health and non-health needs of people with COVID-19 and their families throughout the mandatory isolation periods and included centralising the coordination and delivery of COVID-19 therapeutics. The therapeutics available included one intravenous monoclonal antibody (sotrovimab) and two oral antiviral therapies: nirmatrelvir and ritonavir (Paxlovid®) and molnupiravir (Lagevrio®). This article describes the uptake and delivery of this therapeutics program. Methods: COVID-19 cases were documented in a notification database, screened to determine eligibility for COVID-19 therapies and prioritised based on case age, vaccination status, immunosuppression status and existing comorbidities, in line with Queensland clinical guidelines. Eligible cases were individually contacted by phone to discuss treatment options, and administration of therapies were coordinated in partnership with local primary healthcare centres and hospitals. Results: A total of 4744 cases were notified during the outbreak period, of which 217 (4.6%) were deemed eligible for treatment after medical review. Treatment was offered to 148/217 cases (68.2%), with 90/148 cases (60.8%) declining treatment and 53/148 cases (35.8%) receiving therapeutic treatment for COVID-19. Among these 53 cases, 29 received sotrovimab (54.7%), 20 received Paxlovid (37.7%) and four received Lagevrio (7.5%). First Nations people accounted for 48/53 cases (90.6%) who received treatment, and COVID-19 therapeutics were delivered to cases in 16 remote First Nations communities during the outbreak period. Conclusion: The COVID-19 Care at Home program demonstrated a novel, public health led approach to delivering time-critical medications to individuals across a large, remote and logistically complex region. The application of similar models to ... Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Queensland Rural and Remote Health |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Aboriginal Australia COVID-19 First Nations health equity Indigenous health Special situations and conditions RC952-1245 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Aboriginal Australia COVID-19 First Nations health equity Indigenous health Special situations and conditions RC952-1245 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Sarah Galloway Caroline Taunton Rittia Matysek Allison Hempenstall Seeking to improve access to COVID-19 therapeutics in the remote Torres and Cape communities of Far North Queensland during the first COVID-19 omicron outbreak |
topic_facet |
Aboriginal Australia COVID-19 First Nations health equity Indigenous health Special situations and conditions RC952-1245 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Introduction: The first outbreak of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in the Torres and Cape region of Far North Queensland in Australia was declared in late December 2021. A COVID-19 Care at Home program was created to support the health and non-health needs of people with COVID-19 and their families throughout the mandatory isolation periods and included centralising the coordination and delivery of COVID-19 therapeutics. The therapeutics available included one intravenous monoclonal antibody (sotrovimab) and two oral antiviral therapies: nirmatrelvir and ritonavir (Paxlovid®) and molnupiravir (Lagevrio®). This article describes the uptake and delivery of this therapeutics program. Methods: COVID-19 cases were documented in a notification database, screened to determine eligibility for COVID-19 therapies and prioritised based on case age, vaccination status, immunosuppression status and existing comorbidities, in line with Queensland clinical guidelines. Eligible cases were individually contacted by phone to discuss treatment options, and administration of therapies were coordinated in partnership with local primary healthcare centres and hospitals. Results: A total of 4744 cases were notified during the outbreak period, of which 217 (4.6%) were deemed eligible for treatment after medical review. Treatment was offered to 148/217 cases (68.2%), with 90/148 cases (60.8%) declining treatment and 53/148 cases (35.8%) receiving therapeutic treatment for COVID-19. Among these 53 cases, 29 received sotrovimab (54.7%), 20 received Paxlovid (37.7%) and four received Lagevrio (7.5%). First Nations people accounted for 48/53 cases (90.6%) who received treatment, and COVID-19 therapeutics were delivered to cases in 16 remote First Nations communities during the outbreak period. Conclusion: The COVID-19 Care at Home program demonstrated a novel, public health led approach to delivering time-critical medications to individuals across a large, remote and logistically complex region. The application of similar models to ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sarah Galloway Caroline Taunton Rittia Matysek Allison Hempenstall |
author_facet |
Sarah Galloway Caroline Taunton Rittia Matysek Allison Hempenstall |
author_sort |
Sarah Galloway |
title |
Seeking to improve access to COVID-19 therapeutics in the remote Torres and Cape communities of Far North Queensland during the first COVID-19 omicron outbreak |
title_short |
Seeking to improve access to COVID-19 therapeutics in the remote Torres and Cape communities of Far North Queensland during the first COVID-19 omicron outbreak |
title_full |
Seeking to improve access to COVID-19 therapeutics in the remote Torres and Cape communities of Far North Queensland during the first COVID-19 omicron outbreak |
title_fullStr |
Seeking to improve access to COVID-19 therapeutics in the remote Torres and Cape communities of Far North Queensland during the first COVID-19 omicron outbreak |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seeking to improve access to COVID-19 therapeutics in the remote Torres and Cape communities of Far North Queensland during the first COVID-19 omicron outbreak |
title_sort |
seeking to improve access to covid-19 therapeutics in the remote torres and cape communities of far north queensland during the first covid-19 omicron outbreak |
publisher |
James Cook University |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH7657 https://doaj.org/article/15f6dd9b1c0e4f75a021cfe5a2ecf0c0 |
geographic |
Queensland |
geographic_facet |
Queensland |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
Rural and Remote Health, Vol 22 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.rrh.org.au/journal/article/7657/ https://doaj.org/toc/1445-6354 doi:10.22605/RRH7657 1445-6354 https://doaj.org/article/15f6dd9b1c0e4f75a021cfe5a2ecf0c0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH7657 |
container_title |
Rural and Remote Health |
_version_ |
1766001690426736640 |