A high rate of testing is needed to contain the state's current coronavirus cluster to avoid the risk of it "blowing up into something bigger", according to a University of Queensland virologist.
Key points:
- Dr Short says the next fortnight is crucial and more testing is the key
- She says anyone with suspected contact from a recent case should be tested
- Queensland Health still says it only wants symptomatic people tested
Kirsty Short said testing in the next two weeks was crucial to monitor and contain the spread of the virus — and suggested broadening the criteria for who to test.
"What's important is that we maintain really high levels of community testing — especially at the moment — because essentially what we want to ensure is that these clusters are just limited to those clusters and that this virus does not embed itself within our community," she said.
"The only way we can be sure of that is if a large portion of the community is getting tested.
"I think what's very important is going to be the next two weeks or so because that's really the incubation time of the virus.
"That's going to be the critical time for Queensland in determining whether we stop this transmission cluster in its tracks or it blows up into something bigger."
Yesterday, Queensland recorded one new case of coronavirus linked to the cluster at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre at Wacol and Queensland Corrective Services training centre.
There are now 24 coronavirus cases in the cluster.
Last Tuesday, a record number of COVID-19 tests — 20,856 — were carried out in a 24-hour period, and a similar rate of testing occurred later that week.
On Sunday, about 10,558 tests were recorded for the previous 24 hours, but that number fell to 6,800 tests yesterday.
Dr Short said several factors could impact testing numbers and one could be people avoiding being tested on weekends.
"I think it's important either way to know what's going on in our community and the only way to do that is to test," Dr Short said.
"What we've learnt from the outbreak in Melbourne is that we don't want this going undetected in our community.
"That's what happened there … it broke out of a quarantine hotel, it then embedded itself in the community and by the time cases were tested it was almost too late to get a head start on it so that's really what we want to avoid happening here."
Call to broaden testing
Dr Short said she would also encourage anyone who had come into contact with a suspected case to get tested immediately, which is different advice to that being offered by Queensland Health.
"I think there is a risk of only testing people who are symptomatic because we do know this virus can be asymptomatic in some individuals and those individuals can still shed the virus," she said.
"I would actually personally say that it shouldn't just be symptomatic individuals being tested, it should be anyone who's a suspected contact or has crossed paths with individuals who potentially have been infected."
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she only wanted people who were sick or had symptoms to come forward and get tested, but close contacts of suspected cases would also be asked to get tested.
"We're finding that all of these people that we are testing who are positive, they've got symptoms," she said.
"It's really, really important if you've got any symptom at all that you come forward and get tested.
"We don't need people who are well to get tested, unless they are close contacts, and we'll be asking you to get tested.
"You don't need to come forward. This is about people out in the general community with symptoms, just come forward and get tested."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA5LTAxL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXF1ZWVuc2xhbmQtdmlyb2xvZ2lzdC10ZXN0aW5nLWNyaXRpY2FsLXN0b3AtY2x1c3Rlci8xMjYwNzM0NtIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjYwNzM0Ng?oc=5
2020-08-31 20:23:00Z
52781033667614
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Queensland coronavirus caseload at 'critical time', more testing needed to ensure cluster contained, virologist says - ABC News"
Post a Comment