More people on the Gold Coast may have been living with COVID-19 than the official figures show, a new survey has revealed.
The Gold Coast Public Health Unit, helped by medical and nursing students, went door-to-door on 22 January to 117 households in Gold Coast suburbs collecting PCR tests.
Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk said the results showed that 20 of the randomly selected people tested positive for COVID-19 — about one in six.
Ms Palaszczuk said only four of the 20 who tested positive reported having any symptoms and only two of the 20 were already aware they were positive.
She said these initial results indicated COVID-19 was considerably more common in the community than reported and that many people who were infectious might not be aware of it.
“This is particularly true for fully-vaccinated-and-boosted Queenslanders who were benefiting from the protective effects of the vaccine,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Minister for Health, Yvette D’Ath urged Gold Coasters to get vaccinated and to get tested as soon as they experienced symptoms.
“As we know, the true number of cases in the community is likely to be much greater than what is reported to Queensland Health due to the number of cases confirmed through at-home testing,” Ms D’Ath said.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and refine our response in light of any updated data and modelling as it is released,” she said.
