@acorn
this was part of what I posted yesterday and your first 3 sentences above is related.
Professor Peter Collignon from ANU does not agree with you acorn. He was on Melbourne radio this morning and said the virus was spreading in a similar way to the previous strain. He thought with the trend in the case numbers Victorians had a lot to be optimistic about.
Well it appears there are now three infectious diseases experts that do not agree with you. Professor Peter Collignon, Professor Catherine Bennett and Professor James McCaw. Basically they are saying the data does not support Brett Sutton when he says the Indian variant is more infectious than the previous Covid-19 strain. You can read the rest but Sutton and Merlino need to temper their spin.
This was published in The Age this morning:
Scientists find no evidence strain is ‘fast-moving beast’
By Chip Le Grand and Liam Mannix - 3rd June 2021
The COVID-19 strain at the centre of the outbreak that has forced Melbourne into a second week of lockdown is not moving faster than other variants of the virus or spreading in new, unexpected ways, Australia’s peak pandemic advisory group has found.
The government justified yesterday’s extension of the lockdown by claiming what is now being called the “Kappa” variant of the virus is more contagious than previous outbreaks and infections are occurring more readily between people who only briefly came into contact.
University of Melbourne Professor James McCaw, an infectious disease expert and member of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, which advises the national cabinet, said this was not supported by the data he had seen.
“There is no epidemiological evidence that this virus spreads faster,” he said. “There is no clear reason to think this virus is spreading in different ways.
“We need to be very cautious. We are on an absolute knife-edge in Victoria about whether we bring this under control rapidly or it develops further. But I don’t think it is helpful to seed alarmist or doomsday-type thoughts into the community.”
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, who has described the virus strain at large in Melbourne as an “absolute beast” that was spreading “in settings and circumstances we’ve never seen before”, toned down his language yesterday, as acting Premier James Merlino detailed the state’s next stage of COVID-19 restrictions.
The following was also published this morning, in The Australian - 3rd June 2021
Nature of the beast: Experts have questions
Several epidemiologists have expressed concern over claims the Covid-19 strain at the centre of Melbourne clusters is spreading faster than previous strains of the virus.
Some of the nation’s top epidemiologists including University of Melbourne Professor James McCaw, Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett and ANU infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon raised concerns over whether Victorian authorities have accurately described the nature of the virus.
“There is no epidemiological evidence that this virus spreads faster,” Professor McCaw, told The Age.
“There is no clear reason to think this virus is spreading in different ways.”
“We need to be very cautious. We are on an absolute knife-edge in Victoria about whether we bring this under control rapidly or it develops further. But I don’t think it is helpful to seed alarmist or doomsday-type thoughts into the community.”
Professor Bennett questioned the reasoning behind the lockdown and whether it was the right response.
“We are being locked down because of their fear that they don’t know what they don’t know and there could be more out there that they do know. That is never grounds for a lockdown, not even for continuing one.”
