AndrewHewat

Vic Covid fortnightly update:
"In Victoria, COVID-19, influenza & RSV are at high levels of activity."
Covid looks like a bit of a plateau which would be good but we have such a limited view of the real picture now.
Anecdotally there is a lot of pressure on the system.
Flu & RSV also big problems.

Vic Covid update:
"In Victoria, COVID-19 activity is at high levels, with influenza and RSV activity continuing to increase. Indicators of activity have continued to increase for COVID-19, influenza and RSV in this reporting period"
Buckle up
Mask Up*
Ventilate
HEPAs on high
*N95

Vic Covid update:

Buckle up folks, it's not looking good.

We are back on an upward trajectory, coupled with flu and RSV surging as well.

Vic Covid update:
"In Victoria, activity of RSV, influenza and COVID-19 are increasing but remain at low levels.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 activity has remained at low levels with increases in recent weeks."
Trending back up again after period of relatively low activity.

health.vic.gov.au/infectious-d...

Vic CHO alert: more measles
"A new measles case has been reported in Victoria in a returned traveller who visited Pakistan.
There is currently an increased risk of measles in greater Melbourne."

#MeaslesIsAirborne

Exposure sites:
health.vic.gov.au/health-alert...

Vic fortnightly Covid update:
"In Victoria, COVID-19 and influenza are at low levels of activity, whilst RSV activity is increasing but remains at low levels."

Good time to get that important dental work done.

Full Vic respiratory report available here:
health.vic.gov.au/infectious-d...

HAI data was leaked & later through FOI.
Hospital numbers will only be accessed the same way now.
But we are assuming that all this data is still being accumulated despite not being reported. That is not a certainty.
You know how it goes, if you don't record/report then there really isn't a problem.

Vic Covid update:
Vic has moved to a Respiratory Surveillance report to include flu and RSV. This is a welcome addition with more information but they have deleted the consistent metric of Covid hospitalisations. Very disappointing Vic gov.
Full report here:
health.vic.gov.au/infectious-d...

Sadly but not surprisingly, we have lost the reporting of Covid hospitalisation data in the change.
Another step towards normalising Covid (mixing it in with flu and RSV reports) and the loss of arguably the most reliable metric we had and the only data to be consistently reported for the duration.

In Phase II, the respiratory effects of wearing N95 masks were examined. Each subject underwent two 15-minute exercise cycles on a treadmill. Each subject wore a Hans Rudolph mask, similar to that in Phase I, attached to a laboratory-based metabolic cart (Cortex Metalyser 3BR2, Leipzig, Germany) in order to obtain real time respiratory parameters during exercise. In the first (control) cycle, subjects wore the Hans Rudolph mask with the outlet opened to ambient air. In the second (N95) cycle, outlets of the Hans Rudolph masks were covered by materials obtained from representative supplies of N95 masks (3M, St. Paul, MN, USA). N95-mask materials were trimmed to form an airtight seal over the Hans Rudolph mask outlet so that the air flow resistance on inspiration and expiration would come from the mask material, simulating the actual wearing of an N95 respirator (Fig. 2) This experimental design allowed each subject to act as her own control. Tight fitting Hans Rudolph respirator masks used in Phase II. (a) Control cycles with outlet open to air, and (b) N95 cycles with outlet covered by N95 mask materials

TBH this is basically the whole thing. I could probably have just posted this one image and everyone who's paying attention would understand.

Pregnant nurses were tested while wearing a spirometry mask, with or without a small piece of N95 material taped over the hole.

The...tiny...little...hole.

Fig. 1: Determination of average work intensity of Health care workers: In phase I pregnant subjects performed simulated patient care activities while breathing through a tight fitting mask with a pneumotachometer. Oxygen content was sampled at every breath and measured with a portable telemetric metabolic cart

Unfortunately, none of the authors, reviewers, funders, ethics board, editors or citing authors appear to have bothered to understand the core concepts, so it has zero real-world relevance.

Preprint: osf.io/preprints/me...

H/T Dr. Ruzycki, an aerosol expert who first called this out.

Vic CHO alert: measles
"A new locally-acquired measles case has been identified in Victoria. This case has no history of overseas travel or links to recent measles cases, and most likely acquired their infection in the Melbourne area."
Exposure sites:
health.vic.gov.au/health-alert...

Vic CHO alert: measles
"A new measles case has been identified interstate who has been infectious at multiple locations around Melbourne. The case had attended a previously listed exposure site in Victoria."
Measles is airborne.

Full details & exposure sites:
www.health.vic.gov.au/health-alert...

Vic Covid fortnightly update:
"The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has decreased this week. The 7-day average is 49 (week ending 18 March), compared to 63 last week."
Very welcome period of relatively low cases reaching hospital.
Vic Covid test positivity continuing to stay low.

Vic avian flu update:
"Diagnostic tests done at CSIRO’s Aust Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong confirmed high pathogenicity strain of H7N8. This is a new outbreak & not related to the 2024 outbreaks in Vic, NSW & ACT which were successfully eradicated"
agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/...

It is hard to believe.
AUS aims for 95%+ vax rate for measles.
I think we have dropped below that but still in the 90s.
I have not seen confirmation that all current cases were unvaccinated and would like to know that they def are.

How we look out for those who are struggling is a measure of society.
We need to do far more to recognise, research & stop Long Covid & support those suffering from it.
Today is an important day to remind us that we are all only one infection away from potentially suffering debilitating Long Covid.

Vic CHO alert: MEASLES
"Five further measles cases have been identified in Victoria. Two of these cases are locally acquired and three cases acquired their infection overseas in Bali. These cases have been infectious at multiple locations around Melbourne"
Details:
health.vic.gov.au/health-alert...

Vic Covid update
"The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has increased this week. The 7-day average is 80 (week ending 04 March), compared to 75 last week."
Vic Covid hospitalisations - it appears that we are still in a trough.

Vic CHO alert: Japanese encephalitis in Victoria
"A second confirmed human case of Japanese encephalitis (JE) has been identified in a resident of northern Victoria, with likely exposure in the Riverina region of New South Wales on the Murray River."
Details:
www.health.vic.gov.au/health-alert...

Vic CHO alert: MEASLES
"An outbreak of measles has been identified in Vic after two new cases were reported who likely acquired their infection in metropolitan Melbourne. These cases have had no history of overseas travel or known contact"
More details:
health.vic.gov.au/health-alert...

Avian influenza (bird flu)

Vic bird flu update
"H7 avian influenza (bird flu) is confirmed at a fourth poultry property in northern Victoria near Euroa. All infected properties are within the restricted area and under quarantine."
Note this is a different strain to HPAI overseas.
Details
agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/...

Vic Covid fortnightly update:
"The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has remained stable this week. The 7-day average is 68 (week ending 18 February), compared to 67 last week."
We seem to be holding in a trough for now. Let's hope it lasts for a while.
But sadly #CovidIsNotOver
Stay safe.

Vic CHO alert: measles (again)
"A new case of measles has been reported in Victoria. This is in addition to the measles case reported on 7 February 2025."
Full details of exposure sites:
www.health.vic.gov.au/health-alert...

Vic CHO advisory:
"Victorians planning overseas travel should ensure their routine vaccinations are up to date.
Any returned traveller who develops illness after returning home (such as a fever, new rash or diarrhoea) should seek medical advice."
health.vic.gov.au/health-advis...

"Agriculture Victoria has confirmed the presence of avian influenza (high pathogenicity H7N8) at a poultry property in northern Victoria, which has now been placed into quarantine.
...different from the strains that impacted Vic poultry farms during 2024."
agriculture.vic.gov.au/about/media-...

Vic Covid update
"The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has decreased this week. The 7-day average is 76 (week ending 04 February), compared to 116 last week."
Definitely numbers are heading in the right direction. Let's hope for a long and low trough.
Test positivity falling as well.

Vic CHO alert: measles
"A new case of measles has been reported in Victoria with the total number of cases linked to travel in Vietnam since December 2024 now standing at eight. Growing outbreaks continue to be reported in Vietnam and Thailand."
Exposure sites:
www.health.vic.gov.au/health-alert...

Vic Covid update:
"The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has decreased this week. The 7-day average is 122 (week ending 21 January), compared to 184 last week."
Hospitalisations, positivity rate and reported cases continued trending lower.

Vic gov abandoned wastewater surveillance of Covid in June 2024.
There is still wastewater surveillance in place for other pathogens (eg polio) but they decided to cease tracking Covid.
They also ceased reporting the Vic Covid deaths and now refer them to the ABS aggregated data.