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https://theconversation.com/from-covid-control-to-chaos-what-now-for-australia-two-pathways-lie-before-us-174325>
"Australia has swung from one extreme in pandemic control to the other – having
great control of COVID, to now having the world’s highest rise in daily cases.
Across the country (except for Western Australia), COVID cases are exploding.
True case numbers are much higher than official reports, as many sick people
cannot even get a test or are only tested with a rapid antigen test, which
isn’t counted in statistics.
Frail, ill and vulnerable people have queued for hours at testing centres, only
to be turned away. Others find testing centres closed down without explanation.
Instead of rushing to expand capacity, state and federal governments restricted
access to testing even more, by narrowing the definitions of who was eligible
for a test and of what a close contact is.
State and federal governments have also pivoted to a strategy of using rapid
antigen tests, as the traditional PCR testing system is overwhelmed. But these
tests aren’t provided free, are exceedingly hard to come by, and there have
been reports of price gouging.
The net effect of inaccessible, restricted and expensive testing is falsely low
case numbers but exploding transmission, because undiagnosed cases fuel
transmission.
Combined with vastly reduced contact tracing, this has toppled two pillars of
epidemic control: test and trace. Modelling for the national plan assumed these
would be still standing. Without these, it will get much worse.
The public has been left to their own devices as all our previous safeguards
collapse around us.
We urgently need to change our approach and follow a “vaccines-plus” strategy
to flatten the curve."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
