Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-...es-response-as-flu-spreads-20090601-brum.html
Victoria changes response as flu spreads
June 1, 2009 - 6:29AM
Victoria will stop contacting every person who contracts swine flu "within a week", Premier John Brumby says.
As the number of swine flu cases in Victoria reached 212, with 39 new cases reported on Sunday alone, Mr Brumby told The Age newspaper the state would soon move from the "contain" phase of combating the potentially deadly virus to the "sustain" phase.
Under the "contain" phase, healthy people who have had contact with a swine flu patient are quarantined voluntarily and given anti-viral drugs for a week, but in the "sustain" phase quarantining is limited to those who share a home with a confirmed swine flu patient.
This will last until a vaccine is available.
"You get to a point where the number of cases continues to escalate, and to be honest, it becomes physically impossible to track everybody who's got the virus and everybody who's come in contact with them," Mr Brumby said.
"We're not at that stage yet, but what I'm saying to you is that inevitably, in the next week or so, we will come into that stage and we will need to consider whether we move from 'contain' to 'sustain'. We haven't made that decision at this stage.
"We would need, obviously, further discussions with the national advisory committee and with the other states and territories.
"But inevitably, if you look overseas, if you look at a number of the European countries, a number of the US states, they are now in the 'sustain' phase and they are treating this as a normal, seasonal flu, albeit a little milder."
Six more Victorian schools will close on Monday because of the swine flu outbreak, but another two will reopen.
The latest closures include Keilor Downs Secondary College, Melbourne High School, Canterbury Girls Secondary College, Warringa Park School, Mercy College Coburg and Gilson College Taylors Hill.
Thornbury High School and Mill Park Secondary College are due to reopen.
? 2009 AAP
Victoria changes response as flu spreads
June 1, 2009 - 6:29AM
Victoria will stop contacting every person who contracts swine flu "within a week", Premier John Brumby says.
As the number of swine flu cases in Victoria reached 212, with 39 new cases reported on Sunday alone, Mr Brumby told The Age newspaper the state would soon move from the "contain" phase of combating the potentially deadly virus to the "sustain" phase.
Under the "contain" phase, healthy people who have had contact with a swine flu patient are quarantined voluntarily and given anti-viral drugs for a week, but in the "sustain" phase quarantining is limited to those who share a home with a confirmed swine flu patient.
This will last until a vaccine is available.
"You get to a point where the number of cases continues to escalate, and to be honest, it becomes physically impossible to track everybody who's got the virus and everybody who's come in contact with them," Mr Brumby said.
"We're not at that stage yet, but what I'm saying to you is that inevitably, in the next week or so, we will come into that stage and we will need to consider whether we move from 'contain' to 'sustain'. We haven't made that decision at this stage.
"We would need, obviously, further discussions with the national advisory committee and with the other states and territories.
"But inevitably, if you look overseas, if you look at a number of the European countries, a number of the US states, they are now in the 'sustain' phase and they are treating this as a normal, seasonal flu, albeit a little milder."
Six more Victorian schools will close on Monday because of the swine flu outbreak, but another two will reopen.
The latest closures include Keilor Downs Secondary College, Melbourne High School, Canterbury Girls Secondary College, Warringa Park School, Mercy College Coburg and Gilson College Taylors Hill.
Thornbury High School and Mill Park Secondary College are due to reopen.
? 2009 AAP
