Border closures can stop the spread of coronavirus if done well, say epidemiologists, but their public health benefits must be balanced against other costs — and the current position of some borders might not be practical.
And because of the incubation period of the virus, any results from the border closures are still a fortnight away.
"Without border protections or without ring-fencing hotspots, you're just going to have an enormous viral feeding frenzy."Professor McLaws, who is an adviser to the WHO for COVID infection prevention and control, has been tracking the data for Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland while they've had border closures in place.
Professor McLaws believes the reason parts of Victoria have had to return to lockdown, is because they didn't go for eradication, or close to it, the first time around.Border closures might be counted a success if they cut down the spread of the virus, but they pose plenty of other challenges, says epidemiologist Ivo Mueller of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
It's also not a matter of shutting the border and forgetting about interstate transmission altogether.
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