No - 30% rejection rate for #covid19aus testing is in Vic terrible. We've had 18,000 arrivals, 1-2% of them are positive. Yes, uptake of test is better in those who develop symptoms. But that's IF they report symptoms. Also we miss asymptomatic cases. Not good enough #auspol 
Victorian quarantine offers tests on day 3, day 11 and if you have symptoms. Ppl are asked daily if they have symptoms of #covid19aus. If they have symptoms they are offered a swab. The point of 14 day quarantine is to see if symptoms develop in this time. There's a problem here:
Someone could incubate #covid19aus and get symptoms near the end of quarantine, not report them, and remain infectious, which is typically 10 days. A day 11 test offers us a chance to capture this, esp if they're asymptomatic. If we don't detect this:
We are releasing people who are infectious back into the community where they could infect family members and propagate further spread. This isn't a joke. 30% is ridiculously high.
I don't really want to hear "but you don't know how many of people not accepting tests are x/y/z" - yeah you're right, we don't know because much of the data is not being released.
I don't know how BEST we get the rate down from 30% - education/encouragement vs laws but:
I don't know how BEST we get the rate down from 30% - education/encouragement vs laws but:
I think it's ridiculous to imagine that 30% is acceptable. Could there be some funny breakdown of this that is acceptable? Could it be that these ambiguous stats mean that 30% of offers of tests are refused, but 95% of people get tested? Maybe. But that's not what I'm seeing here
So I don't care for any charitable interpretations of these stats considering we have a public health crisis. Either we get to see the breakdown, or we take these stats on face value, and demand that authorities lower this 30% rate of testing rejection immediately #covid19aus
Are there good reasons why people don't want to get tested? Yes! Glad we agree - let's address them. That's not a reason to pretend 30% is OK. In parallel, I think it's disingenuous to ignore that people often have PATHETIC reasons for rejecting testing.
I know why Vic health department is being complacent on this. They don't want to enforce/coerce. This is a GREAT instinct in health authorities. But we have rising community transmission, contact tracers stretched to the limit. O/S travellers have high prevalence of #covid19 so:
We need a solution. Now. Not in a month's time. Now. #covid19aus #auspol
Could it be that the reputation of nasopharyngeal swabs as being invasive is responsible? We'll know very soon as now it's only nasal swabs that are suggested by the government, and saliva samples on the way. Should we communicate this to arrivals in quarantine?
Yes! I'm not saying that softer approaches like this won't have an impact. My point is we need action now because being happy with 30% is total bs.
So apparently Brendan Murphy just announced new testing requirements that *sound* mandatory? If so, good.
really shameful the denial in the Victorian authorities seem to be in.
these facts were not made public until now - terrible.
really shameful the denial in the Victorian authorities seem to be in.
these facts were not made public until now - terrible.
Had we acted earlier we could have come up with methods that weren’t mandatory.
