DR DOUG QUARRY
MBBS MSc (Community Health)
Remember we are only a little over three months into a pandemic caused by a completely new virus. So much remains unknown about COVID.
Even the best minds have got some things quite wrong:
βThe WHO advised against closing international borders
βThe Australian Health Principal Protection Committee (AHPPC), the main advisor to the Federal Government, advised against closing state borders
βEven that great epidemiologist Donald Trump said that that virus should miraculously go away by April!
Today we see that New South Wales has 300 active cases compared to Queenslandβs twelve
Dr Jeannette Young has served as Queenslandβs Chief Health Officer since 2005. In fact, she is the longest-serving CHO in Australia. She has advised four premiers through six epidemics, including MERS, swine flu and the 2009 dengue outbreak.
Dr Youngβs advice to the Premier on 25 January was β…we have to throw everything at this, absolutely everything and anythingβ.
Letβs thank Dr Young for being so right!
The Queensland Government is of course trying to balance the risk travellers bringing COVID into Queensland (where we have very little) versus damage to the business, particularly the tourism industry caused by border closure.
Remember that a 2nd wave of COVID could be more deadly and more economically damaging than the first. We donβt know…
I am sure that the Queensland Government will open the borders just as soon as it is safe to so.
It is a paradox is that when an adverse outcome is prevented, some deduce that the original risk did not exist.
