The Government must introduce more random testing for COVID-19 to build a clearer picture of the impact of the virus in our community.
New evidence from the Medical Journal of Australia backs Labor’s call for testing to be expanded beyond those showing symptoms.
An article published in the MJA finds:
“Asymptomatic transmission remains a constant threat to the elderly population and has implications for infection control measures; community surveillance must go beyond targeting only symptomatic individuals.”
Labor Leader Rebecca White said the Premier needed to listen to the evidence and act.
“The Government has shown it was willing to move before other jurisdictions to close borders and provide support to visa holders, they should demonstrate the same logic to testing and expand it to all Tasmanians and set up mobile testing clinics that are easily accessible for people in places like supermarkets,” Ms White said.
“This is a serious issue for Tasmania in particular as the demographic of our population places many at high risk due to age.
“Despite this, Peter Gutwein continues to be dismissive of Labor’s calls for random testing at places like supermarkets and shopping centres where large numbers of people are gathering.
“Instead, the Government is just expecting people to present to testing centres despite their own data showing they clearly aren’t doing this in large enough numbers with just 482 people presenting for testing in the past 24 hours, despite the state having capacity to test 2000 people a day.
“Random testing has been adopted in many places around the world and the ACT has also begun testing asymptomatic people who present at testing centres.
“In light of the latest evidence in the MJA, the Government must immediately move to introduce more random testing in line with the recommendation to go beyond targeting only symptomatic people.”
Rebecca White MP
Labor Leader
