Do the responsible thing and isolate is the plea from a Victorian health service as the community shifts to greater reliance on self-diagnosing COVID-19 tools.
Ballarat Health Services' acting chief executive Ben Kelly welcomed a government change to increase at-home rapid antigen testing in a bid to ease pressure on COVID-19 testing facilities.
Mr Kelly said it would be disappointing for people to fail to isolate with symptoms due to the challenges in accessing any testing.
"The vast majority of our community, if not all, have proven they are responsible in the context of this pandemic and we encourage people, if they have symptoms, to isolate themselves and minimise the likelihood of passing on what may be coronavirus or may not be," Mr Kelly said.
Anyone who receives a positive COVID-19 result from a RAT must notify Victoria's health department, online at coronavirus.vic.gov.au or via the Coronavirus Hotline 1800 675 398, and to isolate for seven days.
Nine questions you will be asked after a positive RAT result to determine extra health department support:
- Have you been told you have recently been in contact with someone who has COVID-19?
- Have you been recently unwell with COVID-19 symptoms?
- Do you need any support to stay home?
- Have you received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine?
- How many doses of the vaccine have you received, if any?
- Have you had any symptoms in the past five days?
- If you have symptoms how sick do you feel?
- Do you have the following conditions (including currently pregnant or cancer treatment, blood disorder, psychiatric condition or lung, heart, kidney, or liver disease)?
- Are you happy to contact your general practitioner for your clinical care?
Household or close contacts of a person with COVID-19, or anyone unwell with COVID-19 symptoms is urged to get a PCR test from a health professional.
Victoria's acting chief health officer Ben Cowie said more than 95 per cent of positive results from a rapid antigen test were actual positive COVID-19 cases.
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