10-06-2021, 10:52 PM
Epidemiologist warns Covid will spread ‘like wildfire’ in Victoria if rules are relaxed now,news.com.au
Quote:An epidemiologist has poured cold water on calls by business groups and others to overhaul Victoria’s isolation rules, saying any change would cause the virus to spread “like wildfire”.
Nancy Baxter also says the reason the state’s outbreak is being controlled is because of the stay-at-home requirement, despite the focus on vaccination.
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“The lower we can keep the numbers, the safer we can keep our hospitals, so when we do open up, we have the space to put the patients that are going to increase, because because of openings.”
Dr Baxter said before the AFL grand final long weekend she hoped Victoria would beat predictions by getting vaccinated as quickly as possible and bring numbers down.
But a failure by Victorians to abide by rules helped drive the outbreak.
“All of us know people who are not following the rules and most of the time they get away with it,” she said.
“But the more people in our community that have COVID, the more the chances that they’re not going to get away with it and they’re going to fuel the outbreak.
“I do think the narrative is a bit precious that somehow the government is to blame for the increase in people in isolation, when actually it’s because we’re not following the rules and the cases are spreading, and so there’s more people in isolation.”