We can take some comfort in the considerable drop in new cases of Covid-19 in Australia so far in April but the question is: how long will it last?
Most of us are on the internet and wonderful though it is, the www is the playground for pranksters and conspirators who could undermine containment efforts.
Early on a tip sheet that purported to be from Stanford Hospital in the US. It said the virus was killed at 27 deg. This went viral – convincing but untrue and a sick joke.
Today Facebook has just agreed to remove a flood of posts claiming the rollout of 5G networks is linked to the virus. The usual shock jock suspects are pushing to end isolation saying the Government’s response was an overreaction.
Of course, President Trump trots out more nonsense daily – the latest promising infections will peak in days, that football will resume as scheduled.
He ordered 29 million doses of hydroxychloroquine – a malaria medication – and seriously ill patients are now being treated with it. Studies in China and France had mixed results. For some it slowed the infection, for others it made no difference to recovery and, the condition for some was severely worsened. It’s at best unproven.
Today the US has 369,179 reported cases – more than Spain, Italy & China combined.
Fortunately there are reliable sources of advice. Here are some:
- Coronavirus Australia App. It’s a Federal Government initiative so the information is official but it does have shortcomings. We could do much better.
- The section on symptoms gives the main three – fever, flu-like symptoms like coughing, sore throat and fatigue, shortness of breath – but it invites you to check your own symptoms with a link that lists symptoms that are largely unrelated to Covid-19 like badly bleeding.
- If you are looking for the Government’s promised modelling, released today, you will find it under the Financial support tab in the app.
- Under advice is a page of current charts but these are out of date and difficult to read on a mobile phone.
- Limits on public gatherings and travel arrangements take a lot of scrolling through text and on many rules we are told individual states will make their own announcements.
- The Guardian came to the rescue today with a comprehensive list of what the state-by-state-&-territory rules are and yes – they differ. The Guardian also has useful mapping here.
- Worldometer has up-to-date tables of Coronavirus cases, deaths recovered and tested numbers for every country. Australia ranks no. 21 for total cases reported. Australia has 48 deaths – 2 deaths per 1million people – equivalent to China and much lower than Spain with 295/100m people
- The ABC News has daily coverage and charts. Subscribe to videos by Dr Norman Swan
- The UK NHS has good, clear and easily accessible information
- And ANZSOG is another reliable source for reliable sources!
The chart above is from The Guardian