Director of Public Health said the coronavirus is under control in Tassie

He is the public face of a huge team of health professionals and public servants who saw Tasmania through the COVID-19 pandemic with far less infections and casualties than early modelling predicted. Dr Mark Veitch says it’s one for the history books >>

THE state’s Director of Public Health has no doubt Tasmania’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be one for the history books — thankfully for all the right reasons.

Thrust into the spotlight by the crisis, Dr Mark Veitch’s calm and thoughtful responses at press conference have become familiar to Tasmanians as he helped guide the state through a once-in-a-century event.

He has reflected on the pandemic with relief that the state has dodged the dire outcomes some predicted.

Early modelling predicted 477,000 infections in the state, a hospital system overwhelmed and up to 4,700 dead.

As of this morning, the state had experienced 226 cases, and 13 deaths.

Dr Veitch said the pandemic was by no means over, but there was cause to be pleased with what the state had achieved.

Director of Public Health Dr Mark Veitch said the pandemic was without precedent in the last 100 years. Picture: Luke Bowden

“I think it is very satisfying that we’ve achieved this control of coronavirus but I think we have to maintain vigilance and the ability to respond to it for months and months to come,” he said.

“When we started out in this pandemic there was some fairly frightful predictions that came out from our colleagues in modelling which showed what would happen if there was an unmitigated outbreak and it was just let to rip through the community – and we’ve seen that in some countries internationally. I think it is very pleasing that we haven’t gone down that pathway.”

He put the success down to the imposition of border controls, the measures to reduce social mixing and the rapid identification and isolation of active cases and their contacts.

Dr Veitch said the pandemic was without precedent in the last 100 years.

“I quite enjoy reading old medical historical accounts, and I’ve read quite a bit about pandemic influenza,” he said.

“It’s interesting to contemplate living and experiencing something quite like something that’s been in the history books.

“I guess we’ll be in the history books of the future.

“We’re not there yet we need to continue to play the long game so the historical record reflects that we stayed at it and we got there in the end.”

Director of Public Health is Dr Mark Veitch at the last regular Tasmanian Government coronavirus press conference 4th June 2020. Picture: Richard Jupe

Today’s press conference was the last scheduled public briefing of the pandemic.

The series of 71 near-daily live-streamed events attracted a loyal following of viewers who shared their frank and unfiltered feedback on the performance of the politicians and attending media via social media comment fields.

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For Premier Peter Gutwein, Health Minister Sarah Courtney and Dr Veitch, it was the end of an unprecedented effort to keep the public informed as the crisis unfolded.

It also made a local stars of Auslan interpreter Stephen Nicholson, Ali Dowland Joyce Clifford, who tirelessly translated the sometimes hour-long briefings for deaf and hard of hearing audiences.