We need to rigorously analyse data from recent lockdowns, so we can respond better to future outbreaks.
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COVID-19 – Articles, Analysis, Comment
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Chinese international students stuck offshore due to border closures face shame, family tension and pressure to give up their dreams of studying in Australia. Some are even being urged to get married.
During the current COVID outbreak in Melbourne, the state government has been listing exposure sites as tier 1, tier 2, or tier 3. So what’s the difference between each level, and why does it matter?
When people start to hear that global case numbers are improving, there’s a tendency to relax — and that’s risky.
How will governments convince enough people to get vaccinated to achieve herd immunity?
When people who test positive to COVID-19 become subject to ridicule for their activities, it could make others feel reluctant to get tested, or reveal their movements to contact tracers.
Australia should pivot to a high-efficacy vaccine like Pfizer or Novavax to give us the best chance of achieving herd immunity.
Another lockdown in Victoria comes at a considerable cost. However, it’s important to see the distinction between this short, sharp lockdown and the one that lasted several months last year.
We already track potential vaccine side-effects in Australia. So we’ll be using, and building on, years of experience in monitoring any long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccines.
In the context of COVID-19, we’re hearing about new mutations, strains and variants all the time. It’s no wonder it can all get a bit confusing.
Over 130 million doses have already been administered worldwide. It’s early days, but the signs are promising in places like Israel and the UK.
More people than expected needed help, and the states have found stable housing for less than a third of rough sleepers who were put up in hotels. A hands-off federal government simply isn’t helping.
Nebulisers deliver life-saving medications yet they increase the risk of spreading COVID-19 in hotel quarantine.
Investigations are continuing into the case of a returned traveller in NSW who tested positive to COVID two days after leaving hotel quarantine. Could they have had an abnormally long incubation period?
These variants are definitely cause for concern. But there’s every indication we can adapt our vaccine strategy to combat these and other variants going forward.
If there are inevitably going to be leaks from quarantine, wouldn’t it be better to have it in an isolated location so it can’t spread further?
Yes, this news is disappointing - but it’s also no great surprise given how quickly this virus mutates. And it doesn’t yet mean Australia should bin its plan to use the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Women, particularly those of childbearing age, were more likely to be unsure about getting vaccinated.
Tanya Plibersek’s corridor altercation with Craig Kelly was a political win for both of them. But ‘debates’ like this don’t really get us anywhere. Here’s how to engage more constructively.
Researchers are already working to improve the current crop of mRNA vaccines. Hopefully this will help them become more practical and affordable for the entire world, not just first-world countries.
In contrast to other states after a positive case in a hotel quarantine worker, Victoria isn’t locking down. But the response is sensible and proportionate – we’re well positioned to manage this outbreak.
Business schools have vast and diverse expertise to contribute to rebuilding better in a post-pandemic world, but the problems it has laid bare require business schools to change too.
If one in five international students don’t re-enrol, the loss of revenue would plunge half of all Australian universities into budget deficit or financial turmoil.
It’s going to be a huge logistical challenge.
With no national standard, casually employed staff, a lack of PPE and a refusal to account for aerosol transmission, infections such as the one that prompted Perth’s lockdown will keep happening.