Byron Bay Covid patients left behind curtains as hospital ?crippled? by depleted resources

Staff at the hospital serving tourist mecca Byron Bay in northern New South Wales say the facility is under "extreme strain", with Covid-positive patients left in bays behind curtains and one patient waiting 45 hours to be transported to the region's designated Covid hospital.

As many as 100 people a day are arriving at the Byron Central hospital, stretching staff already depleted by Covid-forced absences. The Byron area had a double-vaccination rate of about 85% as of 20 December, one of the lowest in NSW.

The hospital's single isolation room was taken up by one Covid patient for almost two days earlier this week before being transported. "We are constantly being crippled by a lack of transfer options" with ambulances often unavailable because of their own shortages, a senior staffer who requested anonymity said.

"We have a positive pressure room also that is being used as an isolation room and another room which we can close an actual door on," the hospital worker said. "These are often all taken up, so we have Covid-positive patients in bays behind curtains because we can't get people to where they need to be in a timely manner."

As reported this week by Guardian Australia, northern NSW hospitals are under increasing strain at the designated Covid hospital at Lismore and at the bigger Tweed hospital near the border with Queensland.

Byron's challenges are made worse by the loss of medical staff who have refused the government's Covid vaccination mandate, and its proximity to communities with relatively large anti-vaccination support.

The region also has a relatively high number of cases per 1,000 people, with another 1,154 Covid cases in northern NSW in the latest 24-hour reporting period.