The Burnet Institute and Doherty Institute followed a group of more than 570 Victorian participants from key age groups since mid-2020 – at the height of the state’s second wave of coronavirus. Researchers found participants were quick to change their behaviour in response to the snap lockdown in May-June this year by limiting contact in social settings and practising social distancing.Testing rates among participants who reported Covid-like symptoms also increased during this time, but a majority who reported symptoms failed to get a test. Co-lead of the study and Burnet Institute deputy director Margaret Hellard said just over one-in-six participants who had symptoms were tested in April. “By June this increased to one-in-three. This is encouraging, but it means that two-in-three people who had symptoms did not get a test,” she said. “This is an issue, as testing is critical to stopping outbreaks of Covid-19.”Participants reported long wait times at testing sites and the unavailability of walk-in (as opposed to drive-through) sites as barriers to getting a coronavirus test. “We also heard participants describe negative economic and social consequences of a positive test, such as the associated stigma and not being able to work,” Professor Hellard said.“It’s crucial that we break down these barriers to testing and clearly communicate information in multiple languages that allays fears of negative consequences to testing and isolating.”Study participants said daily media conferences from political leaders and health officers helped reinforce the importance of getting tested even when displaying the slightest symptoms.“One participant, who had a runny nose, recounted how they called their manager to say they were going to get a test and couldn’t work because ‘Dan [Andrews] told me so’,” Professor Hellard said.She encouraged the use of rapid testing to reduce wait times, an idea Victoria’s opposition also put to the state’s public health officials.“Until we have a sufficient proportion of the population vaccinated and restrictions can ease, it’s essential that we make it easier for people to get a Covid-19 test,” Professor Hellard said.“It’s our only way to find cases and crush outbreaks before the virus spreads in the community and we have to impose lockdowns. “It’s important to explore the feasibility and benefit of rapid tests to increase testing uptake in people with symptoms.”But chief health officer Brett Sutton had previously shut down any push to introduce the rapid form of testing, saying PCR testing had the highest accuracy and was the “gold standard”, and rapid testing would not “provide much additional value”.Almost 40,000 tests were conducted across the state in the past 24 hours as Victoria posted 11 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 on Monday. The state is grappling with its sixth lockdown since the pandemic hit after a cluster of cases cropped up in Melbourne’s western suburbs last week.
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