The South Australian government has instituted a hard lockdown for six days on the state’s capital, as it tries to contain a sudden outbreak of the virus.
Queensland has already listed Adelaide as a hotspot as a result, although thousands of people are understood to have travelled from the southern city to Queensland during the dangerous timeframe.
Asked on Thursday about whether wearing masks would be a good idea in Queensland, CHO Jeannette Young said she was not mandating mask use but urged Queenslanders to have some handy just in case.
"What I would like to see is I would like everyone in Queensland to make sure they have some masks, so that if we were to see something happen like has happened in South Australia, I could immediately go out and say right, it’s time to put masks on," Dr Young said.
"If that ever happens it would be good if people have already got masks."
Dr Young said while there might be differences in some of the genetic code of the virus, it would likely not be substantially different from SARS-CoV-2 recorded in the rest of the country.
"I don’t think it is a different strain, I think it’s a different sub-lineage and I suspect it will be fairly similar when all is said and done," she said.
Griffith University infectious diseases expert Nigel McMillan said he was confused as to why South Australian authorities were even talking about a new strain, as it would not yet have been able to be verified.
"There is no genomic data for the scientific community to verify such a claim, where a new strain has a specific definition," Professor McMillan said.
"The new 'strain' is also described as being much more infectious than before but we know the natural course of SARS-CoV-2 infection is one-to-14 days post-exposure, so this is not any faster than what has previously been observed.
"It is far more likely this is a super spreader event for which we have seen previously."
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University of Queensland virologist Ian Mackay agreed and said there was still not enough evidence to make claims about whether the virus causing the cluster in Adelaide was markedly different from that found in other parts of Australia.
But he said health authorities needed to keep monitoring new outbreaks in case the virus did mutate enough to cause new problems.
"As the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads in different areas and onward among people, it continues to evolve and so vigilance remains essential," Professor Mackay said.
"Beyond simply cataloguing their occurrence, it's also really important that we continue to examine the impact of amino acid changes among SARS-CoV-2 variants, through study in the lab."
Stuart Layt covers health, science and technology for the Brisbane Times. He was formerly the Queensland political reporter for AAP.
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2020-11-19 12:00:00Z
CBMijAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5icmlzYmFuZXRpbWVzLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC9xdWVlbnNsYW5kL3F1ZWVuc2xhbmRlcnMtdXJnZWQtdG8taGF2ZS1tYXNrcy1yZWFkeS1pbi1jYXNlLW9mLXN1ZGRlbi1vdXRicmVhay0yMDIwMTExOS1wNTZnNzEuaHRtbNIBjAFodHRwczovL2FtcC5icmlzYmFuZXRpbWVzLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC9xdWVlbnNsYW5kL3F1ZWVuc2xhbmRlcnMtdXJnZWQtdG8taGF2ZS1tYXNrcy1yZWFkeS1pbi1jYXNlLW9mLXN1ZGRlbi1vdXRicmVhay0yMDIwMTExOS1wNTZnNzEuaHRtbA
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