All posts by Michael Toole
Three years into the pandemic, it’s clear COVID won’t fix itself. Here’s what we need to focus on next
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. On March 11 2020 the World Health Organization classified COVID as a pandemic. Three years on, it remains just that. As much as we don’t want it to be, and as much as it is off the front…
China’s COVID cases may have hit 900 million. What’s headed our way?
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. Over the weekend, Peking University released a study that estimated 900 million Chinese had been infected with COVID up until January 11, representing 64% of the population. This compares with 43% of Australians testing positive, although antibody studies…
Imagining COVID is ‘like the flu’ is cutting thousands of lives short. It’s time to wake up
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. It is difficult to understand the ease with which we have accepted a major proportion of the Australian population getting infected with COVID in just a matter of months. Many have been infected multiple times, potentially exposing them…
Why doesn’t monkeypox have a new name yet?
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. As monkeypox vaccination programs roll out and health authorities release information about how to reduce the spread of the virus, progress on another aspect of the outbreak is lagging: its name. On June 14, the Director-General of the…
Australia’s response to COVID in the first 2 years was one of the best in the world. Why do we rank so poorly now?
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. Australia’s elimination strategy during the first two years of the COVID pandemic was one of the most effective in the world. Through a combination of early border closures, widespread testing and meticulous contact tracing, localised lockdowns and mask…