Tagged: transmission

New Zealanders are super-connected. When restrictions lift in Auckland, it won’t take much to amplify Delta’s spread - COVID-19

Guest Author • Oct 27, 2021 •

• #COVID19,
• networks,
• New Zealand stories,
• transmission,
• vaccination

Dion O’Neale, University of Auckland; Emily Harvey, University of Auckland; James Gilmour, University of Auckland, and Steven Turnbull, University of Auckland   As Aotearoa New Zealand moves from elimination to suppression, we need to understand how this could change the nature of transmission from Auckland’s Delta outbreak to the rest of New Zealand. Aucklanders can expect a three-step easing … Read More

Throwing Open the Windows: The Need for Ventilation Improvements as Part of Covid-19 Outbreak Control in Aotearoa - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Aug 30, 2021 •

• COVID-19,
• New Zealand stories,
• transmission,
• ventilation

Dr Leah Grout, Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Julie Bennett, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael Baker * The importance of indoor aerosol transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 is increasingly recognised. In addition to public health measures such as masking and physical distancing, further protections are needed to prevent the spread of the virus. Interventions to improve … Read More

COVID-19 vaccines prevent spread of the virus too - Code for life

Grant Jacobs • May 13, 2021 •

• BioNTech,
• COVID-19,
• immunity,
• mRNA,
• New Zealand,
• Pfizer,
• transmission,
• Vaccine

Many people seem to be reading that our COVID-19 vaccine won’t prevent the spread of COVID-19 from one person to the next.1 If you’re worried about this, this one is for you. We now have evidence the vaccine reduces transmission, and a rough idea of by how much.2 Science is often about pulling different pieces of evidence together, in this … Read More

Wellington, we have a problem… - The Psychology Report

Sarb Johal • Mar 12, 2020 •

• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• Pandemic,
• self isolation,
• transmission,
• WHO

It’s March 12. COVID19 is making its way around Europe. It has established footholds in the USA. Although some countries seem to have been largely successful in containing the spread of the virus, I think with the global declaration of pandemic by the WHO today has finally named the elephant in the room, the world’s worst kept secret. But … Read More

The three phases of Covid-19 – and how we can make it manageable - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 09, 2020 •

• 2019-nCov,
• containment,
• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• epidemic curve,
• herd immunity,
• Hospitals,
• transmission,
• vaccination

In a post last week, I showed you a picture of how the Covid-19 outbreak has played out in China. It was a graph of the number of cases reported each day, something we call an epidemic curve. It looked a bit like this. We can use the epidemic curve as a visual way to think about how Covid-19 … Read More

Can you catch Covid-19 from someone without symptoms? - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 05, 2020 •

• 2019-nCov,
• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• symptoms,
• transmission

The Ministry of Health yesterday announced a second person in Aotearoa New Zealand has tested positive for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Just like our first, this person has contracted the virus overseas. This time it was during a trip to Northern Italy. The woman, in her 30s, had travelled with her partner, who has … Read More

Coronavirus update: drug trials and asymptomatic spread - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Feb 02, 2020 •

• China,
• coronavirus,
• Germany,
• Gilead,
• grant jacobs,
• Helen Branswell,
• Imperial,
• Imperial College London,
• Johns Hopkins,
• Joseph Wu,
• Lancet,
• Micrbescope,
• Neil Ferguson,
• New England Journal of Medicine,
• R0,
• remdesivir,
• STAT,
• Timothy Sheahan,
• transmission,
• WHO,
• Wuhan

Now officially a Public Health Emergency of International Concern here’s my second round-up of some of the week’s coronavirus-related news. Gilead announces they are working with Chinese to test their antiviral drug remdesivir On the 31st January, pharmaceutical company Gilead announced they are working with health authorities in China to establish a randomized, controlled trial to see if … Read More

The coronavirus outbreak in China: what a difference a week makes - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Jan 27, 2020 •

• Ashley Bloomfield,
• Caroline McElnay,
• Chaolin Huang,
• China,
• coronavirus,
• Director of Public Health,
• Director-General of Health,
• Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan,
• Kristian Andersen,
• Lancet,
• New England Journal of Medicine,
• Pneumonia,
• snakeflu,
• transmission,
• virus,
• Wuhan

When it comes to emerging infectious diseases and outbreaks, so much can happen in a week. In the case of the coronavirus outbreak in China, I’ve gone from not being too alarmed, to thinking “oh, crap!”. But that still doesn’t mean we should all panic. As I’m writing this on Monday the 27th of January, New Zealand’s Director-General of Health … Read More

Zika: a potential new mozzie vector? - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 04, 2016 •

• Aedes,
• Brazil,
• Culex,
• Culex quinquefasciatus,
• Dr José Derraik,
• Mosquito,
• New Zealand,
• transmission,
• virus,
• zika

Brazilian scientists announce Zika could be spread by a different species of mosquito, one more common in Brazil and present in countries like New Zealand. According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Zika virus is currently known to be transmitted by Aedes species mosquitoes, namely A. aegypti and A. albopictus. Media … Read More