Why Victoria’s case numbers Monday’s are the worst yet
Monday’s fresh spike of COVID-19 cases is far from the highest daily total recorded in Victoria so far — but Victorians should be alarmed by them. Health editor Grant McArthur explains why this is the scariest set of numbers yet.
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Monday’s massive jump in COVID-19 cases may be the scariest set of numbers the Victoria has yet faced during the pandemic, with community transmission driving a resurgence in infections.
Although the 75 confirmed coronavirus cases announced this morning are the state’s fourth highest daily total, only one is from a returned traveller who caught COVID-19 overseas — meaning the other 74 have all been infected from another person within the Victorian community.
Although 14 of those cases are connected to existing known clusters, 37 have come from routine testing, with no indication yet of where the person caught coronavirus, or how many others may already have it.
Monday’s grim number paints a far more concerning picture than even Victoria’s record 111 cases on March 28, which included just five infections regarded as community transmissions.
The other peak coronavirus days — 96 cases on March 31, with six community transmissions; 84 cases on March 29, none considered community transmissions — were almost exclusively among people arriving in Victoria already infected, or directly passing it on to a close contact.
With the source of those early peaks so easy to identify, the state and federal governments were able to respond by closing the borders, introducing mandatory hotel quarantine, and eliminating the problem.
But with the virus now spreading rampantly through suburban hot spots and driven by families and social gatherings, there are no simple measures the governments can introduce to remove the source.
Instead, it is largely up to ordinary Victorians living in all communities to stop the pandemic’s new front by doing the things they have been told over and over again.
That means being tested if symptomatic, or otherwise practising good hygiene, social distancing, and staying at home unless they really need to be out.
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