Roadmaps and picking a lane: Time for a clear national COVID-19 strategy

In a Letter to the Editor published today in the Medical Journal of Australia, the TB-CRE's modelling group reflects on Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and foregrounds the importance of adopting a clear strategy moving forward.

The authors articulate the three discrete strategic options for managing COVID-19: mitigation, suppression, and elimination. For Australia, adopting a strategy of suppression or elimination would be the most appropriate. Suppression and elimination are, however, distinct strategies with different metrics of success and policy implications.

The nebulous goal of achieving no community transmission doesn't commit to either strategy. It falls short of the explicit and cohesive approach that is needed to ensure we avoid further major outbreaks.

Read the letter "Time for a clear national COVID-19 strategy" here.

Publication by

James M Trauer, Ben J Marais, Romain Ragonnet, Julian Savulescu, and Emma S McBryde.

Author competing interests: The Epidemiological Modelling Unit at Monash University (under James Trauer) provides the COVID-19 forecasts for the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.