Disturbing figures shows the spread of Omicron among Queensland’s aged care facilities, as COVID infection rates soar in the sector.

The United Workers Union statistics show from January 7-20, in centres with active infections, COVID spread from 48 facilities to 212 facilities, while the number of infections grew from 148 to 1306.

Aged car worker infections grew from 264 to 2263.

Neil Breen said the statistics were “frightening”.

UWU’s national aged care director, Carolyn Smith, agreed.

“I do think people haven’t been paying attention, or haven’t realised that in residential aged care Omicron .. there’s a bit of narrative that Omicron is jut like the flu, but in residential aged care, Omicron is still a killer,” she said.

“We know aged care facilities were the flashpoints in the last rounds of COVID and that is still the case with Omicron.”

She said it showed being double vaccinated wasn’t enough when it comes to Omicron.

“We really need boosters, and unfortunately the federal government just hasn’t rolled out that booster program in aged care the way they should.”

She said the other disturbing element was the lack of rapid antigen tests and N95 masks.

Press PLAY to hear more about what the UWU wants to improve the situation

Caller Jeremy, whose grandmother is in aged care, said it was frustrating.

“The worrying thing is, I spoke to a senior staff member there, who just broke down in tears, because they’ve got limited staff, they can only do so much.”

Press PLAY below to hear him explain more about the ‘worrying’ situation