Coronavirus: Professor Mary-Louise McLaws reveals why she won’t be going to a restaurant
An infectious diseases expert who is also an adviser to the World Health Organisation reveals why she wants the infection rate to get to zero before she’ll be going out to dine.
Manly
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An infectious diseases expert and Adviser to the World Health Organisation has revealed she won’t be rushing out to a restaurant or bar now restrictions have lifted until the number of COVID-19 cases are down to zero.
Professor Mary-Louise McLaws who is a north shore resident said in her opinion it was still too risky to sit in for a meal or go head to a pub for a drink.
“I am looking forward to enjoying having a cup of coffee sitting outside in the sun while social distancing,” she said.
“People need to get the message this is not the end of the epidemic.
“It’s the end of the restrictions, not the epidemic.
“We still have to keep our distance.”
Her stance comes despite her local health district revealing there are no patients with the disease in any of the hospitals in northern Sydney including Royal North Shore and Northern Beaces hospitals, for the first time since a cluster broke out at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Ryde in March.
Since then there have been 534 cases across the district which includes the northern beaches, Ryde, Hornsby, Mosman, North Sydney, Lane Cove, Willoughby, Hunters Hill and Ku-ring-gai, and parts of Parramatta.
The authority, which has been a hotspot for the virus, has recorded the second highest number of cases in NSW, with 534.
Eight people have died.
On Friday the health authority confirmed there are now just seven ‘active’ patients in the district and they are all recovering at home.
Prof McLaws, who is the Professor of epidemiology in hospital infection and infectious disease control at the UNSW Faculty of Medicine, said she wasn’t a germaphobe despite being in the business of germs, but she also wasn’t about to take any risks.
“This virus is too unpredictable,” she said.
“I would ask people in northern Sydney to keep their distance until we’ve got to zero.”
Prof McLaws said people should also respect others who want to social distance as restrictions are lifted after hearing reports of a woman who was abused in Mosman for asking another person to stand further back from her in a queue.
She did so because her husband has leukaemia.
“It’s very disappointing to hear this because every family circumstance is different,” Prof McLaws said.