Queensland Chief Health Officer John Gerrard has warned that the Australian state will face a “major emergency” in the coming weeks with modelling projecting a peak in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus around late January, early February. “We are going to be stepping up to a very major emergency in the coming two to three weeks,” Gerrard told reporters in Brisbane on Jan. 6. However, he reasoned that the news was also somewhat positive in that the peak would be short-lived. “When that emergency drags on for a long time that is much more draining to deal with. So, there’s an upside and downside to this,” he said. The state may also call on asymptomatic COVID-19-positive Queensland Health staff to work in hospital wards as part of contingency plans being discussed in preparation for the upcoming emergency period, Gerrard said. “It’s certainly something that has been discussed,” he said. …