The director of health protection at Hunter New England Health has urged people to stay away from Christmas gatherings if they have even mild respiratory symptoms as a new COVID wave leaves 12 nursing homes in the region battling viral outbreaks.
Australia is at the start of another COVID surge as new subvariants start circulating in the community.
The number of patients diagnosed with COVID in HNEH hospitals has jumped from the teens to 44 last weekend, aged care outbreaks have tripled and sewage sampling shows an increase in viral fragments.
HNEH's Dr David Durrheim said the coming "steep uphill" wave could peak before Christmas, filling hospital beds with virus patients.
"I think the sheer numbers will mean we see large numbers of people at the peak of this wave in our hospitals," he said.
"We're having a new wave every three-and-a-half to four months. It's like clockwork at the moment."
Dr Durrheim urged people to be cautious in the lead-up to Christmas.
"It's sad. Christmas seems to coincide with COVID surges in NSW.
"The last thing any of us wants to do is be responsible for an elderly loved one spending Christmas in hospital or ICU or even worse.
"It's sensible if everybody makes sure that they don't attend a gathering if they've got even the mildest of respiratory symptoms.
"Even though there's no legal requirement to isolate, sensible people and those who care about others will still not take viruses around and spread them."
Anyone with signs of respiratory illness should take a PCR test as rapid antigen tests performed poorly in detecting Omicron subvariants.
He urged people to hold gatherings outdoors if possible and seek booster shots.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant has advised people to work from home and wear masks indoors.
Dr Durrheim said the community needed to adapt to COVID waves.
"We can't put our head in the sand and pretend COVID has gone away because it clearly hasn't," he said.
"Until we get to a more endemic phase where it becomes a winter illness and an illness of young folks who haven't been exposed before, we need to change the way we view COVID.
"During the lull times, let's ignore it, and when the waves start let's do those sensible things that will keep us and especially vulnerable people safe."
Experts estimate one to two per cent of cases lead to long COVID, where symptoms linger for more than three months.
"Every chance we can take to reduce the chance of infection will reduce the chance of long COVID," Dr Durrheim said.
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