Originally Posted by
dr dre
The report into that case hasn't been released yet, but the worker may have been aware of their position, they mask have worn a mask, socially distanced, limited their interactions with others. But what we do know is that strain B.1.1.7 is more
transmissible if it spreads unchecked into the community. It's much easier to contact trace the close contacts of one case than three. I think the WA government also admitted lowers levels of social distancing in WA factored into their decision making, and not having a real world experience of contact tracing as well. Maybe it'll be different if it happens again?
It may be more transmissible but the measures to keep it at bay are largely the same. I argue that
compliance with existing hygiene protocols is the issue. The premiers are not helping themselves by using hyperbole to justify their actions. The federal government finally mandated mask wearing in airports and on flights when this could have been done months ago without having to learn of a ‘new, highly transmissible strain’ of COVID. The introduction of mandatory negative COVID tests before travel to Australia could have been enacted prior to Jan 2021.
In light of this we learn that in the WA quarantine hotel, there were a mixture of quarantining travellers and other guests, and no mandatory mask-wearing for security guards. Don’t you think we deserve better risk management than that from Health Departments given what we already have learned from a number of serious outbreaks? If you put someone in a dead boring job for 12 hours straight, how long does it take for them to violate one of the protocols, even innocently, due to the lack of stimulus in that role? Perhaps if there was better supervision of existing protocol compliance the entire SW Australian seaboard would not have needed lockdown. The lockdown feels over-compensatory in light of latent basic errors in quarantine management.
As for WA allegedly not having real world experience in contact tracing, come again? They’ve had 10 months of no COVID in the community to prepare for this, learning all the while from other states’ the do’s and don’t’s of outbreak management so forgive me if I’m just a little incredulous at that reasoning. I’m not against lockdowns of varying degrees, if there is a logic to it and a little bit of explanation of the ‘medical advice’ where it differs significantly from other CMOs. It’s not too much to ask for is it?
Clearly, the most recent example would be Victoria and WA’s respective responses this week.