Infectious Thoughts

Just how worrying is the new Covid-19 strain for Britain – and the rest of us?

Siouxsie Wiles • Dec 21, 2020

• COG-UK,
• COVID-19,
• genomics,
• United Kingdom

Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA made up of almost 30,000 nucleotides. These are code for the amino acids that in turn give us the proteins that make up the virus. Each time the virus enters a new cell and replicates, its genetic material is copied, … Read More

Aches on a plane – new findings on in-flight Covid transmission

Siouxsie Wiles • Nov 24, 2020

• air travel,
• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• genomics,
• plane

One of the good things about New Zealand pursuing an elimination strategy for Covid-19 (aside from the obvious) is that we are able to help answer some of the questions there are about how the SARS-CoV-2 virus transmits between people. Take air travel. As many people in the US start to head off around the country to spend Thanksgiving with … Read More

Don’t fall for the Covid contrarians

Siouxsie Wiles • Oct 20, 2020

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• Great Barrington Declaration,
• John Snow Memorandum,
• lockdown

As life in Aotearoa gets back to some kind of normal after our latest Covid-19 outbreak, cases in the northern hemisphere are on the rise again and that puts us all at risk. Because no one is safe until we are all safe. This is a tricky virus. We now know that it spreads well through droplets and aerosols and … Read More

How to strengthen the post-isolation Covid rules

Siouxsie Wiles • Sep 21, 2020

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• isolation,
• quarantine,
• testing

Over the weekend, the Ministry of Health reported a case of Covid-19 in Auckland that is not related to the current Auckland cluster. Before we start to panic, here’s how I think the case happened and how we can strengthen our current border controls. The new Covid-19 case is someone who returned to New Zealand from India on August 27. Read More

How the PCR test works and why it’s such a critical weapon against Covid-19

Siouxsie Wiles • Sep 21, 2020

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• covid-19 testing,
• pcr testing

I’ve been asked by several people in recent days whether there is any truth to a video about the Covid-19 PCR test that is currently doing the rounds on social media. I’m not linking to it, because it is chock full of false information; the fewer people who see it the better. It is by a medical doctor who talks … Read More

Now let’s flatten the infodemic curve

Siouxsie Wiles • Sep 08, 2020

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• disinformation,
• misinformation,
• Pandemic

It’s likely you’re being exposed to masses of Covid information on a daily basis, and not all of it will be reliable. Here are some tips for telling the difference, and stopping the spread. Thanks to Covid-19, most of us have a new word in our vocabulary. Epidemiology: the branch of medical science that deals with the who, what, when, … Read More

What is the Covid-19 ‘triangle’?

Siouxsie Wiles • Aug 31, 2020

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• Pandemic

Since this pandemic started, I’ve been getting lots of messages from people and hearing an awful lot of pundits who sum up Covid-19 as a simple case of virus vs person, with a binary outcome: the infected person either lives or dies. If only it were that simple, but there’s more to it than just the microbe against its unfortunate … Read More

Why Covid elimination remains the best game-plan for NZ

Siouxsie Wiles • Aug 25, 2020

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• elimination,
• lockdown,
• suppression

Here in Aotearoa, we’re playing Covid-19 in “elimination” mode. Some countries are trying “suppression” mode, while others are running with what seems like “survival-of-the-fittest/wealthiest” mode. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been getting messages from people who don’t think our elimination game-plan is going to work. Some of them point to the fact we are currently experiencing an outbreak. Others … Read More

What does a robust Covid response look like for New Zealand?

Siouxsie Wiles • Aug 23, 2020

• border,
• COVID-19,
• ESR,
• quarantine,
• sewage,
• testing

Because we don’t have widespread community transmission of Covid-19 in New Zealand, our response managing our border and responding to any outbreaks will also help the rest of the world understand more about Covid-19. Let me explain how, and what I think a robust Covid-19 response looks like at least in the short term. Controls at the border are all … Read More

They say, ‘learn to live with Covid-19’. Here’s what I say back

Siouxsie Wiles • Aug 18, 2020

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• plan b

Around the world, different countries are taking different approaches to dealing with the global pandemic. Here in Aotearoa, our government listened to the advice of the overwhelming majority of its medical experts and scientists and settled on an elimination strategy, which we’ll call Plan A. But a vocal minority has been calling for us to take a … Read More