PRESS RELEASE: DECREASING COVID TESTING IRRELEVANT

• Respiratory diseases like Covid and Influenza are seasonal and drop rapidly in spring;
• Victoria’s Health Officer’s threat that lower Covid PCR testing numbers will extend lockdowns is foolish and again demonstrates a total lack of understanding;
• PCR swab tests do not confirm an active infection, only that the subject has been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. PCR tests detect fragments of the virus RNA long after the immune system has eliminated the virus;
• Approximately 0.01% of those tested confirm a positive result, where the vast majority of the people with positive results have already eliminated the virus and are not infectious;
• The Victorian government and its health officers continue to focus on PCR test numbers to unnecessarily prolong the restrictions. They are creating an artificial, fear-based casedemic;
• Broad Covid-19 PCR testing should only be conducted on residents in aged care, health workers that may be exposed to the virus, or members of the public that present with more serious breathing difficulties, that their medical practitioner believes may be Covid-19.
Covid-19 is a new respiratory disease that is now proven to mirror the seasonal patterns of influenza, where the peak of infection occurs mid-winter. Numerous studies and observations in Europe, USA and Australia confirm this infection pattern, as shown by the attached charts. The decline in case numbers Victoria is presently observing has little to do with facemasks or lockdowns.
The attitude of the Victorian Health Officer was appalling and grossly ignorant to suggest that lower daily testing numbers were a concern and may justify extension of the current excessive lockdown restrictions. Even an idiot would understand the lower numbers reflect the improving weather conditions and reduced minor cold and influenza symptoms that drive people into test stations.
The danger to the high-risk population, primarily those aged over 70 years, will continue unless care and isolation is maintained in aged care facilities. The failure of the Victorian government to adequately manage quarantine hotels or implement effective contact tracing is the only reason why 770 older Victorians have died with this disease. It has nothing to do with general community spread which will continue to occur and is fundamental to develop a level of herd immunity.
The contagious memory loss of each Government Minister and many senior public servants during the Hotel enquiry as to who was responsible for the quarantine hotel security decisions, the reasons for the curfew and offers of defence personnel, are examples of gross dishonesty and deceit on an epic scale. Each of these public servants should be dishonourably discharged from their positions.
The only area where the Andrews government and its health officials has credible performance was in the seamless introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into most Victorian aged care facilities, and are therefore directly responsible for the 770 deaths. Approval of the Covid-19 Omnibus Bill must therefore be rejected by the Legislative Council, as this Government cannot be trusted.