The majority of COVID-related deaths in WA are occurring outside the hospital setting, in aged care homes and palliative care.

An analysis by WAtoday showed the state’s Omicron wave has recorded more than 300,000 cases and 96 deaths since the start of the year, however only 28 people who died had been admitted to intensive care.

The most recent publicly available WA Health data shows 1264 out of around 15,000 residential aged care residents in WA have already contracted COVID-19, with 41 deaths recorded.

6PR Breakfast host Gareth Parker said the data was interesting and showed COVID was impacting mortality in a similar manner to most other respiratory viruses.

“What does that all mean? I think it is in an interesting reality,” Parker said.

“It does sound like the combination of our very high vaccination rates, and the fact that our infections are Omicron – the more transmissible but less serious variant of COVID-19 – means that we are getting to the point where COVID’s having a similar impact to every other respiratory virus that we’ve dealth with over the years, at least when it comes to mortality.”

Press PLAY below to hear more from Parker on the analysis

Read the full story at WAtoday here