NSW needs to mandate masks outdoors, provide adequate financial support, set up a ‘ring of steel’, use rapid tests for essential workers, and ensure cases not in full isolation get to zero, among others.
- Professor of Epidemiology Healthcare Infection and Infectious Diseases Control, UNSW
We need to stop relying on small GP clinics and urgently move towards using mass vaccination hubs like stadiums, schools and parks.
Australia’s expedited plan to start dishing out COVID jabs in mid-late February will call for NASA-like logistical organisation. And ideally, no more clusters of infections to distract frontline workers.
Open windows and doors, use fans, and set your aircon to pull fresh air from outside.
A previous version of Melbourne’s COVID roadmap flagged an exclusive bubble between two households. The new plan allows residents to have two adult visitors per day, which is far riskier.
The premier said Melbourne’s restrictions could be eased more than expected on Monday. But from an outbreak-management perspective, we should be careful of easing too soon.
We asked an epidemiologist, an academic who researches sharehouses and a philosopher to reflect on Victoria’s new coronavirus rules.
We have to balance the risk of transmission with the mental health challenges of lockdowns. A bubble system could alleviate loneliness while minimising infection risk.
Not everyone has a job they can do from home. Mapping the patterns of occupations across Melbourne’s suburbs against COVID-19 cases strongly suggests why some parts of the city are more vulnerable.
My analysis suggests when COVID-19 cases reach 100 over 14 days, an outbreak gets very difficult to control — as we saw in Victoria. Over the last fortnight, NSW has recorded at least 154 new cases.
The best option is for infected people to be admitted to hospitals or other suitable health facilities. This will help prevent transmission within families.
While we move soap around, it lifts up invisible oil that holds germs onto your hand.
They’re everywhere in hospitals, travellers’ backpacks and the aisles of pharmacies in winter, but do we really need to use alcohol-based hand sanitisers?
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