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INDUSTRY & RESEARCH
Kate Winslet as Dr Erin Mears in the
thriller, Contagion. Photo: Supplied
Again, with COVID-19, we can’t do that,
so contact tracers really are critical in this
battle and tend not to get recognised.
It’s a part of the health system that also
doesn’t get noticed, because they tend
to work in public health units, which are
part of the public health section of the
health department.
Will COVID-19 lead to a health workforce
review, and will the role of contact tracers
possibly be increased?
I certainly hope so. I looked into what they
were doing in Wuhan, China, in terms
of contact tracing, and I was amazed to
discover they had 1800 epidemiologists for
the team of five contact tracers each. And
that’s for a population of about half the size
of Australia.
I’m sure we wouldn’t have anywhere
near as many as that, and I wanted to find
out. So I left a message with the health
department, asking: “How many contact
tracers do we have in Australia?” I didn’t get
a reply. I also tried to find reports that might
provide an answer, but I couldn’t find any
that specifically mentioned contact tracers.
It was all about reviews of the health
system, but one did mention the fact that
there seems to be a focus on treatment
and little consideration to what they call
population health.
We obviously can’t afford to have
thousands of contact tracers waiting for the
next outbreak. But it’d certainly be good.
It’s a bit like fire: if you have a fire, you don’t
have hundreds of fire people employed
waiting on the fire, but you have volunteers,
or you have backup, a reserve.
I would hope that out of this will come
the fact that we need to have a reserve list
of contact tracers should this happen again.
I say when because it is just matter of time,
as prophesised in the book, The Coming
Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a
World out of Balance by Laurie Garrett.
Are you concerned about a second phase of
the virus being unleased?
There’s been talk that this could happen,
but I’m not totally up on the virology.
There are plenty of virologists who could
explain it in more detail. But I’ve heard that
it seems to be stable. It’s these unstable
viruses that can quickly switch to another
type. But there’s always that potential
for another outbreak that we need to be
concerned about.
In Wuhan they’re starting to relax
measures because they’re over the peak.
But now, you can see on the graph that
there’s a bit of a pickup, and that’s because
returning travellers are bringing it back with
them. So, you can have another outbreak.
Until such time as we have herd immunity,
there’s always that potential.
So, even though we might be pleased
that we could be getting over the top of
the curve, we obviously haven’t achieved
herd immunity, which is what you want
with your immunisation. There’s always
the potential for it to come back if we get
relaxed too soon. I’m a bit worried about
this complacency starting to emerge,
because it’s like, “Ah, I think we got away
with it. We’re only getting so many number
of [cases].”
The contact tracers can’t do their work
if they don’t know there’s somebody in the
community who’s got the disease. And
if you don’t test for it, you won’t be able
to find it.
Are you worried that not enough testing is
being done?
Yes. I was really concerned about that until
I found out the reason. It’s just the fact that
I think over the world they went bananas
doing testing and ran out of reagents;
Australia is dependent on the world’s
source of reagent, I believe. So that’s why
they’ve just had to restrict it to very clear
indications that someone probably has
the disease. So, in other words, the flu-like
symptoms plus having come back from
The contact tracers can’t
do their work ... if you don’t test
for [the coronavirus].
overseas or being in contact with someone
who’s been overseas.
Other than that, they had to restrict it to
people in hospital. Obviously, they need to
know if someone’s very sick with respiratory
problems, symptomatic with COVID-19.
So, if they can’t do the test in hospital,
that would be a disaster. To begin with,
there had to be rationing of testing. But
now they’re starting to get test kits, as well
as on-the-spot test kits that can give you
an answer pretty well straight away. The
sooner you get onto it, the better.
How will new technology apps and GPS
tracking assist in flattening the curve?
A group in Oxford, England, has said, “Our
mathematical modelling suggests that
traditional public health contact tracing
methods are too slow to keep up with this
virus.” As a result of that, they’re looking at
technology to assist the process – using
apps and other technology.
In Singapore, they’ve been successful in
using some apps that track people. And in
Victoria, they’re using Whispir apparently,
which helps with the whole process. So,
there is technology that can help.
I also heard about using drones with
loudspeakers, telling people: “You’re not
keeping your distance.” I can imagine how
that could be useful for contact tracers as
well. For example, if they can’t get hold
of somebody on the phone but have the
address, they could send a drone in there
and try to talk to them that way. All these
new technologies will help. ■
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