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No - 30% rejection rate for #covid19aus testing is in Vic terrible. We& #39;ve had 18,000 arrivals, 1-2% of them are positive. Yes, uptake of test is better in those who develop symptoms. But that& #39;s IF they report symptoms. Also we miss asymptomatic cases. Not good enough #auspol
Victorian quarantine offers tests on day 3, day 11 and if you have symptoms. Ppl are asked daily if they have symptoms of #covid19aus. If they have symptoms they are offered a swab. The point of 14 day quarantine is to see if symptoms develop in this time. There& #39;s a problem here:
Someone could incubate #covid19aus and get symptoms near the end of quarantine, not report them, and remain infectious, which is typically 10 days. A day 11 test offers us a chance to capture this, esp if they& #39;re asymptomatic. If we don& #39;t detect this:
We are releasing people who are infectious back into the community where they could infect family members and propagate further spread. This isn& #39;t a joke. 30% is ridiculously high.
I don& #39;t really want to hear "but you don& #39;t know how many of people not accepting tests are x/y/z" - yeah you& #39;re right, we don& #39;t know because much of the data is not being released.
I don& #39;t know how BEST we get the rate down from 30% - education/encouragement vs laws but:
I don& #39;t know how BEST we get the rate down from 30% - education/encouragement vs laws but:
I think it& #39;s ridiculous to imagine that 30% is acceptable. Could there be some funny breakdown of this that is acceptable? Could it be that these ambiguous stats mean that 30% of offers of tests are refused, but 95% of people get tested? Maybe. But that& #39;s not what I& #39;m seeing here
So I don& #39;t care for any charitable interpretations of these stats considering we have a public health crisis. Either we get to see the breakdown, or we take these stats on face value, and demand that authorities lower this 30% rate of testing rejection immediately #covid19aus
Are there good reasons why people don& #39;t want to get tested? Yes! Glad we agree - let& #39;s address them. That& #39;s not a reason to pretend 30% is OK. In parallel, I think it& #39;s disingenuous to ignore that people often have PATHETIC reasons for rejecting testing.
I know why Vic health department is being complacent on this. They don& #39;t want to enforce/coerce. This is a GREAT instinct in health authorities. But we have rising community transmission, contact tracers stretched to the limit. O/S travellers have high prevalence of #covid19 so:
Could it be that the reputation of nasopharyngeal swabs as being invasive is responsible? We& #39;ll know very soon as now it& #39;s only nasal swabs that are suggested by the government, and saliva samples on the way. Should we communicate this to arrivals in quarantine?
Yes! I& #39;m not saying that softer approaches like this won& #39;t have an impact. My point is we need action now because being happy with 30% is total bs.
So apparently Brendan Murphy just announced new testing requirements that *sound* mandatory? If so, good.
really shameful the denial in the Victorian authorities seem to be in.
these facts were not made public until now - terrible.
really shameful the denial in the Victorian authorities seem to be in.
these facts were not made public until now - terrible.
Had we acted earlier we could have come up with methods that weren’t mandatory.
