Letter From Australia: A Never-Ending Pandemic?
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Rickard, Claire M
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Abstract
Australia has faced a trajectory of COVID-19 unlike that seen in other nations. The first Australian cases occurred in January 2020 among tourists from China, yet most regions of Australia then had prolonged periods of almost complete absence of COVID-19 transmission. After 20 months of the pandemic, with a population roughly 10% that of the United States, Australia had a little more than 80 000 infections and 1128 deaths, whereas at the same time, the United States had more than 41 million infections and 666 407 deaths (1). This pattern continued until mid-2021, when major cities experienced transmission of the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant and recent large outbreaks of infection, which may foretell a different future. Of course, “large” in Australia is relative to zero—the current outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne mean 100 to 1000 cases per day. We reflect on the successes and challenges of Australia's pandemic response and suggest lessons that can be learned.
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Annals of Internal Medicine
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Epidemiology
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Paterson, DL; Rickard, CM, Letter From Australia: A Never-Ending Pandemic?, Annals of Internal Medicine, 2021