Coronavirus Australia live news: South Australia wakes up in lockdown after COVID-19 outbreak - ABC News

'I'd be putting in every single prevention and control measure possible'

UNSW epidemiology expert Mary-Louise McLaws is speaking on the ABC News Channel, and is asked about her thoughts on SA's lockdown.

"Six days is about one incubation period, on average. Usually outbreak managers would use two, to make sure that all cases are captured, because there are some people that have longer incubation periods than others. I would suspect that they're telling the public to start with six to get them ready with their resolve and resilience. But it's probably likely it might have to go for a bit longer.

"They will know a little better when they've got about 70 to 90 per cent of all contacts. That's the gold standard that's often used around the world, that you find those within 48 hours, not 72 but 48. Find them fast. Make sure that you've captured them all. And then whether or not they then can contact all contacts of contacts. That's second generation of contacts. So, they will know better than you or I, because they haven't explained to us how many contacts they have been able to ring up and interview, and of those, their contacts.

"I can only imagine that because you're not allowed to go out and exercise, therefore there is no compulsory mask use. But I think that they're buying some time. But I'd be putting in every single infection prevention and control measure possible, because they've 
got 22 or 23 cases now. So, it's grown very rapidly, and I imagine they're very frightened.

Professor McLaws is asked what she would put in place that hasn't been done already.

"Well, I think that I'd get them used to the idea that they will be in lockdown for 14 full days, that they need to use face masks, and that they can go out walking. That's, of course, if they've got enough policing to ensure that people go walking.

"Of course, the curfew after 8:00pm, no-one is allowed to go out walking at all. In fact, I'd probably bring in an earlier curfew. Just a few more bells and whistles to ensure that they've really got this. Because the cost of a second wave is enormous. It's billions. And it often starts with a little trickle, and it's gone from 17 to 23 fairly rapidly."

She also says she is surprised that more regular testing in hotel quarantine hasn't been done before.

 "I'm really surprised it hasn't been done before. It's not enough to have a quarantine hotel in the middle of urban Australia and then allow staff who are at risk to go into the community. We now have two rapid point-of-care tests. That means it takes about 13 minutes to get a result.

"They're TGA-approved. They come with a caveat that says they should only be used with research. But, quite frankly, if we're not going to put all our return travellers into Howard Springs in the Northern Territory, away from a built-up environment, we can live with a small proportion of those that are labelled "negative" to go home, and they aren't really negative. I think it's about less than 1 per cent.

"At the moment, we don't know who's going home negative or positive, and they should be tested at the end of every day, every shift."

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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTExLTE5L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWF1c3RyYWxpYS1saXZlLW5ld3MtY292aWQxOS11cGRhdGUtYWRlbGFpZGUtbG9ja2Rvd24vMTI4OTc0NTTSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI4OTc0NTQ?oc=5

2020-11-18 19:40:00Z
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