A Limestone Coast health official has warned the number of COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions will spike amid rising outbreaks and community transmission.
Limestone Coast Local Health Network executive director of medical services, Elaine Pretorius, said the region's COVID-19 designated hospital was also coming under increasing pressure.
Dr Pretorius said the Mount Gambier Hospital was already running on "bare bones" and 12 staff in just one hour yesterday called in unable to work, due to COVID-19.
The health network has also reintroduced visitor restrictions at its hospitals and aged care sites due to the growing risk.
It is understood the Fringe event in Mount Gambier, schools and events in Adelaide have all contributed to an upswing in community transmission.
Dr Pretorius also revealed people with the new Omicron variant had been admitted to hospital with serious respiratory symptoms.
Speaking on ABC radio, Dr Pretorius warned local residents that COVID-19 was "by no means over", with key metrics all heading in the wrong direction.
"We look at the number of cases in the community, the number of cases under our care in the COVID community team and COVID-19 ward, but also our staffing levels," she said.
While Dr Pretorius was cognisant of community members wanting to "just get on with it", she explained restrictions were necessary to protect both staff and patients.
"This is just to allow us a little bit of breathing space and also to protect the staff that are still standing," she said.
"Our services run on limited staffing anyway, as recruitment to the Limestone Coast has always been a challenge … we had to take some steps, just to relieve the pressure."
Case number doubt
There are also concerns the number of positive cases being reported within the Limestone Coast region is not indicative of the true situation.
While this could be partially due to some young people – who have contracted the virus — being asymptomatic, Dr Pretorius suspected people were also failing to get tested due to community complacency.
But with the state government suggesting last week that the number of daily COVID cases could soon reach 8,000, Dr Pretorius said individuals needed to think about their social responsibility.
"We've spoken about this from the very early start, that being vaccinated, wearing your mask, taking sensible precautions, is not just about the individual but a wider social responsibility," she said.
"That's what it means to be a citizen, doesn't it?
"That we also look after the people who might be more vulnerable in our society."
