COVID-19 (novel coronavirus)

1300 Smiles Stadium COVID-19 drive-through community assessment clinic

The 1300 Smiles COVID-19 community assessment clinic is located in the Eastern carpark of the 1300 Smiles Stadium in Kirwan. We encourage the community to use this clinic as their first preference.

This clinic is open from 8AM - 7PM, seven days a week.

No referral or appointment is necessary.

Click here to download a full-resolution map, or see below. Follow the yellow arrows. Numbers indicate signage.

Reid Park drive-through COVID-19 community assessment clinic

The Reid Park COVID-19 community assessment clinic is located at Reid Park, next to the Townsville Civic Theatre on Boundary Street. Please follow the signs.

This drive-through community assessment clinic is open from 8.00AM – 4.00PM, Monday to Friday.

Please stay in your vehicle. No referral or appointment is necessary.

Click here to download a full-resolution map, or see below. Large overview is on top and a closer, detailed map is below. Follow the red arrows. Numbers indicate signage.

TAIHS pop-up clinic

Magnetic Island Health Service

Get tested for COVID-19 at the Magnetic Island Health Service. Please call ahead if you wish to be tested on (07) 4778 5107.

The clinic will be open Monday to Friday, 11AM - 5PM. 

Who can be tested?

Anyone who presents to our testing clinics may request to be tested for COVID-19.

For further advice, contact your doctor or call 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84).

If you live in the Burdekin, Ingham, Charters Towers, Richmond or Hughenden and have symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose or tiredness, you can be tested for COVID-19 at your local GP during their business hours or at your local hospital seven days a week.

Charters Towers residents can also book an appointment for a COVID-19 test at the Charters Towers Respiratory Clinic at Gold City Medical Centre by calling 4787 7203.

For further advice, contact your doctor, call 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84) or the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080.

For more information on COVID-19, visit: https://bit.ly/358ILnf

Townsville HHS Hospitals

The restrictions on hospital visitors have been eased, with the risk of COVID-19 being balanced against the needs of patients. The state government on hospital visitors can be found here: Hospital Visitors Direction No. 6.

For our health service facilities, except in instances of end-of-life care, the current directions from the chief health officer require that no more than two people can visit a patient at any one time. However, if those two people leave the patient, then two new people are then able to go to the patient’s bedside. The limit of two people visiting at a time is to stop large groups gathering, and to ensure they are able to physically distance during the visit. There is no longer a time limit on how long a visitor can stay and our visiting hours remain from 8am to 8pm.

More than two visitors continue to be allowed to provide end-of-life support to a patient.

You can visit a patient with one other person, for example, if:

More information can be found here.

Residential aged care facilities

Please note that for residential aged care facilities the following restrictions apply according to the latest Aged Care Direction (no. 8), effective from 30 July 2020.

• Care and support visits,other than an end of life visit, are limited to a maximum of two visitors at a time per resident. For end of life visits, more than two visitors may visit a resident at one time.

• If a person is attending a residential aged care facility to visit a resident, they must, to the extent reasonably practicable:
  1. practise physical distancing; and
  2. limit their contact with other persons at the facility.

A person must not enter, or remain on, the premises of a residential aged care facility if:

• during the 14 days immediately preceding the entry, the person arrived in Australia from a place outside Australia; or
• during the 14 days immediately preceding the entry, the person has been in a COVID-19 hotspot; or
• during the 14 days immediately preceding the entry, the person had known contact with a person who has a confirmed case of COVID-19; or
• the person has a temperature equal to or higher than 37.5 degrees or symptoms of acute respiratory infection; or
• the person does not have an up to date vaccination against influenza, if the vaccination is available to the person.

  Example – the vaccination is not available to a person with a medical contraindication to the influenza vaccine

Outpatient appointments - Frequently Asked Questions

Townsville Hospital and Health Service has resumed outpatient services which had been previously postponed to allow our hospitals to respond to COVID-19.

Category three outpatient appointments have now recommenced across all of our outpatient clinics. General Practitioner referrals for category three patients are now being processed and added to our clinic waiting lists.

Patients who have planned care appointments will be contacted directly.

You can bring two support people to outpatient appointments across all Townsville Hospital and Health Service facilities.

If you are unwell, are unable to attend or are in self-isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19 it is important that you let us know and we will rebook you.

If your condition worsens during this period, seek advice from your GP.

Townsville Hospital and Health Service began a staged reintroduction of elective surgery on Monday, 27 April to include all category two patients and some priority category 3 surgery.

The Townsville University Hospital has now returned to pre-COVID elective surgery service including current category 3 patients.

As always, we aim to treat those with the most urgent need as a priority and appreciate your co-operation as we look to provide care for those who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Patients whose planned care surgeries are recommencing will be contacted directly.

If you are unwell, are unable to attend or are in self-isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19 it is important that you let us know and we will rebook you.

If we must reschedule your procedure you will not lose your place.

If your condition worsens during this period seek advice from your GP.

Our facilities remain safe and we are prepared to offer the best care before, during and after your birth. Townsville University Hospital’s birthing and maternity services continue to offer comprehensive and safe access to care; we are just doing things a little differently.

We support all women to have a support person with them at all times when they are birthing. Our visiting hours to the Maternity unit reflect the current guidance from Queensland Health, and may change depending on the latest advice. 

We’ve moved many antenatal appointments to phone and telehealth. For those women who attend the hospital for appointments, we’ve reduced the number of people who can be there as a support person.

New mums are discharged when it is clinically appropriate, that hasn’t changed. There has always been an option for a six-hour discharge, and we have seen a small uptake in women choosing this option recently. This small increase has been predicated on mothers wanting to introduce their bubs to the family, not due to any increase in risk to exposure to COVID-19.

It is also important to note, just like our normal services, there are significant midwifery support mechanisms in place for new mothers’ post-discharge. This includes regular access to midwives and lactation consultant services in the first seven to 10 days through the Midwifery Care Program and up to six weeks for women who have a caseload midwife.

There is also support available through home visits by a child health nurse who monitors the growth of the baby and provides advice and support to new families.

Overwhelmingly, our mums have been grateful to us for taking these practical steps in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We want our mums to know that we are there for them during these trying times; now and into the future.

Online Childbirth and Parenting Education Sessions are now available.  

In the place of group face-to-face sessions the Childbirth Education Team are now running online sessions.

Online sessions available: Childbirth and Parenting; Breastfeeding; Relaxation and Massage; Physiotherapy Session; Refresher Course; Young Parents Program and Birth after Caesarean Information. For more specific details and dates click here.

Women should continue to use the recommended referral process. If you have not completed a referral form, you can email {"ct":"eClNQxEWX2jKorqMK4WAB+rLcblGEeLZSja2vvEi1bmYt0EP5y4xc15rOBhSX4UO","iv":"97777ffaf3924c68c9196f9fefb47e75","s":"a0cdc284a876fc11"}. Include your name, date of birth, date baby is due, sessions of interest and a contact phone number. A member of the team will be in touch regarding your booking details.

If you have any questions about these services please call 4433 1450 Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm.

The Department of Health has taken the decision that BreastScreen Queensland services can recommence with BSQ Townsville resuming screening from Friday, 1 May.

Bookings for screening appointments recommenced on 27 April and appointments can be made by calling 13 20 50 or booking online at www.breastscreen.qld.gov.au.

There will be increased precautions and social distancing for all BreastScreen activities which will have a minimal impact on clients.

If you are unwell, awaiting a COVID-19 test result, are unable to attend for any other reason or are in self-isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19 it is important that you let us know and we will reschedule your appointment.

We understand that some women may have concerns about attending screening at this time. If this is you, please talk to your doctor about whether breast screening at this time is right for you based on your individual circumstances.

Townsville Hospital and Health Service has recommenced all endoscopic procedures. This includes category one, two and three colonoscopies and gastroscopies. 

Outreach services to Ingham and Ayr have recommenced and services to Charters Towers will recommence from Tuesday 16 July 2020.

Patients whose planned care appointments are resuming will be contacted directly, please do not contact the unit.

If you are unwell, unable to attend or in self-isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19 it is important that you let us know and we will rebook you.

If we must reschedule your appointment you will not lose your place.

COVID-19 is a new, or novel, strain of virus in the coronavirus family that has not been previously identified. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

COVID-19 was discovered in 2019 when a higher than normal number of people in Wuhan, China, started to get pneumonia after having an illness similar to the flu. When doctors tested them, they found these people had a type of coronavirus they hadn’t seen before. There were already lots of types of coronavirus in the world, but this one was new.

For more information, call 13HEALTH (13 43 25 84) and get tested. Call emergency services on 000 if you are very sick.

Queensland Health have an online COVID-19 symptoms quiz that may also help.

COVID-19 spreads between people, usually when a sick person coughs or sneezes.

These droplets can enter your body through the mucous membranes (wet parts) of your face – your eyes, nose and mouth – which provide a direct pathway to your throat and lungs. The good news is that it can’t get in through other parts of your body like your skin or your hair, but you might be surprised just how easily it can get to the mucous membranes of your face.

First of all, the droplets from someone’s cough or sneeze might fall directly into your eyes, nose or mouth if you’re close enough to the infected person, letting the virus enter your system straight away.

Or, the droplets might fall onto a surface where you then put your hands. If you don’t wash your hands, you could move the virus into your eyes, nose or mouth and become infected. The infected person might also get the droplets on their hands if they cough or sneeze into them, and then place them on a surface, where you pick them up.

Direct membrane-to-membrane contact can also spread the virus. This could happen by kissing. The virus can also be spread by sharing items that go in your mouth, eyes or nose, like cutlery, cups, straws, water bottles or cosmetics.

Can COVID-19 spread through the air?

So far, studies show that people are mainly catching COVID-19 through these droplets, rather than the virus hanging out in the air. This is good news, because it means if an infected person is in a room, breathes for a while, then leaves the room, the virus isn’t lurking in the air waiting for the next person to come in. If with further study we find out this information has changed, we’ll let you know.

Because it’s a new virus, everyone is at risk of catching COVID-19, because our immune systems don’t recognise it yet. This is why everyone around the world is trying so hard to make sure that people with the virus don’t pass it on to others.

This doesn’t mean that everyone is going to get COVID-19, but it does mean we all have a role to play in keeping ourselves and others well. The more everyone follows the advice to wash their hands often and properly, stay at home as much as possible, and stay home when they’re sick, the fewer people will catch this virus.

Who is most at risk of getting seriously unwell from COVID-19?

In countries like China, where there has been the most cases COVID-19, people who have become seriously unwell have been elderly (over 70-years-old) or have already had a health condition like a high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, or are immunocompromised.

We haven’t had many cases in Queensland yet, so it’s too early to tell exactly how this virus will affect Queenslanders. We expect that most people in Queensland who catch COVID-19 will experience a mild illness, like a cold, that lasts a few weeks.

Washing your hands often and properly means that you can prevent viruses from entering your body. That means washing your hands when you’ve been out and about and before you eat (and after you go to the toilet!).

Did you know there are six steps to washing your hands properly? Follow the below steps to make sure you’re washing your hands successfully.

Try to stay at least 1.5 metres away from people who are coughing or sneezing. Even if they don’t have COVID-19, they might have germs you don’t want anyway!

We are now asking all Queenslanders to follow social distancing practices:

• Stay home as much as possible.
• Keep 1.5 metres away from others as much as possible.
• Avoid shaking hands, kissing or hugging others.
• If you can, work from home.
• Avoid gatherings that aren’t essential.

You can find more information in our blog, How does COVID-19 spread and how can I stop myself from catching it.

As soon as an individual returns a positive result for COVID-19, just like with other contagious viruses such as measles, we undertake what is called contact tracing to prevent the infection spreading further through the community.

As part of this process, we speak to the patient to identify anyone who might have had close contact with them during their infectious window.

If there are people who are considered as close contacts, who are at a higher risk, our staff follow up with them directly.  If they begin showing symptoms, we assess them faster and take the right action.

If we can’t identify people who could have been in close contact with a confirmed case, we will issue a public health alert with specific dates, times and locations that the public should be aware of. Only people who match the exact criteria provided need to contact us.

Close contact

Close contacts are those who have had face-to-face contact with a confirmed case for a period more than 15 minutes, or those who have shared an enclosed space with a confirmed case for more than two hours.

We are not looking for people the person may have passed on the street or in a shop, as the risk in these situations is extremely low.

If you have been in close contact with someone who has a confirmed case of COVID-19 you need to self-quarantine for 14 days from your last contact with them. If you become unwell during that period, see a doctor immediately.

View current public contact tracing alerts.

People are asked to quarantine themselves before they get sick in order to stop or slow the spread of the virus. For example, you may be asked to self-quarantine in your home, hotel room or provided accommodation, and not leave for 14 days if you have just returned home from overseas.

If you are a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 you will be asked to self-isolate unless your symptoms require treatment in a hospital.

To sum it up: isolation is for people who are sick and have tested positive for coronavirus, and must self-isolate while recovering. Quarantine is when you are told by a doctor or the Government you must stay at home for 14 days.