Qld has 100 times fewer COVID-19 mystery cases than Victoria
Queensland has 100 times fewer COVID-19 mystery cases than Victoria, and experts have identified the key issues behind the state’s success
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Victoria has 100 times more mystery cases of pandemic coronavirus than Queensland, highlighting the success disease detectives have had in tracking down the source of infection in the Sunshine State.
While Victoria has had 4278 cases of the virus that cannot be sourced to a known contact, Queensland has reported just 42 infections which have left public health sleuths shaking their heads.
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Comparatively, NSW has recorded 393 untraceable cases, more than nine times the Queensland numbers.
Commenting on the low Queensland figures, virologist Ian Mackay said they reflected “strong, intense management, plenty of Queenslanders fronting up for testing, exhausting levels of lab and public health work, and some luck”.
“Queensland has hunted down every transmission chain it’s found and done so by reacting very flexibly and rapidly,” Associate Professor Mackay said.
“Most of Queensland remained relatively unrestricted and ‘COVID normal’ during our recent clusters, with limits being very focused. This is a result of having a science-driven response creating a largely COVID-19-free state.”
But for it to stay that way, the University of Queensland researcher said the state needed to keep “our borders controlled for now” and for the public to continue getting tested when unwell.
“Otherwise, we’ll simply see clusters and widespread transmission and restrictions need to return,” he said.
“We know this now. These patterns are really obvious.”
Former Queensland Chief Health Officer Gerry FitzGerald also backed Queensland’s pandemic response.
“If you apply the core principle, which is to isolate the community where the disease has broken out from other communities, the only thing state premiers can do to do that is manipulate state boundaries,” he said.
Professor FitzGerald, who lectures in public health at the Queensland University of Technology, praised the state’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young for her leadership during the health crisis.
“I think she’s done a terrific job,” Prof FitzGerald said. “She’s acted quickly. She’s not a political player. Her only intent would be to protect the health and wellbeing of the people of Queensland.”
The proof is in the numbers.
Queensland has had 1150 cases of known infections of SARS-CoV-3, the virus that causes COVID-19, compared to NSW’s 4185 and Victoria’s 19,943.
In terms of active cases, Queensland has 27, NSW 148 and Victoria 991.
Of Australia’s 832 deaths from SARS-CoV-2, six Queenslanders have died, compared to 745 Victorians and 52 in NSW.
Victoria’s death rate represents 3.7 per cent of infections – about seven times higher than in Queensland (0.52 per cent).
Prof FitzGerald said the much higher death rate in Victoria was probably a reflection of the virus infecting staff and residents in nursing homes.
