Opinion

Despite the lockdown success, we're far from done with COVID-19

The curve is flat, but new modelling shows that a return to normal could bring the virus back unless we remain vigilant about social distancing.

Stephen Duckett and Will Mackey

Jun 21, 2020 – 12.38pm

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It has been five months since the first coronavirus case in Australia. Since then, the combined efforts of the federal and state governments, and the people they represent, have prevented us from experiencing the disaster that is now playing out around the world.

COVID-19 didn’t fundamentally change. We did. The virus can still spread the way it has in China, then in Italy, and then the United States and the United Kingdom and Brazil, and so on, around the globe. It was stopped by our behaviour, which slowed the spread and flattened the curve.

Stephen Duckett is Honorary Enterprise Professor in the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne.

Will Mackey is with the health program at Grattan Institute.