Rhinovirus rampant or testing triumphant?
Turns out, this physical distancing thing actually works as advertised. Who would have thought that keeping the things viruses need for their survival – hosts full of cells – far Read More …
Author: Ian M Mackay, PhD (EIC)
We don’t yet know the origin story for SARS-CoV-2
By Katherine E Arden, PhD & Ian M Mackay, PhD The existence of a coronavirus related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was first hinted at by a researcher Read More …
Kits and reagents and viruses
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the use of the words “kit” and “reagent”. I completely feel for you if you still have no real idea of what is meant by Read More …
COVID-19 cases slow a little in Australia
Our borders have been shut to non-citizens for about a week and despite being regularly admonished for being terrible at obeying confusing, constantly changing or poorly communicated new rules, the Read More …
COVID-19 is not a virus, but SARS-CoV-2 is
For about two weeks we lived with, published using, and talked about, a disease-causing virus called the “novel coronavirus”. That name was always going to create problems like, what do Read More …
Politically infectious period
A senior Australian politician arrived in Australia from the United States (US) carrying a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Many infected travellers are arriving from the US at the moment. He self-reports becoming Read More …
Why does soap work so well on SARS-CoV-2?
This is a guest post from Prof Palli Thordarson of the Uni of New South Wales. It was previously posted in a Twitter thread and on Facebook and has been Read More …
COVID-19 in Australia
As the cases begin to build up – but are still pretty low with limited community spread having been detected – now is a good time to start watching where Read More …
Face off
We touch our faces often. Maybe 3 to 23 times an hour often! But if our hands haven’t just been washed and we’ve touched surfaces contaminated by viruses surviving in Read More …
Ya es tiempo pasado para decirle al público: ‘Probablemente será una pandemia, y todos deberíamos prepararnos ahora’
Por Jody Lanard y Peter M. Sandman al Español por Daniel Romero-AlvarezPublicado originalmente en Inglés por Ian M. Mackay en su blog personalA translated version of my earlier post, performed Read More …
Add some balance to the expert commentary
Look. If this triggers your innate biases or your need to call me out as a virtue signaler or tell me “now isn’t the time”, seriously save yourself the spittle Read More …
¿Piensas que pronto estarás en una pandemia?
Por Ian M Mackay, PhD y Katherine E Arden PhDKindly translated by Assistant Professor María Paz Bertoglia Arredondo El síndrome agudo respiratorio severo Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 [1]) se ha expandido Read More …
So you think you’re about to be in a pandemic?
by Ian M Mackay, PhD and Katherine E Arden PhD The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 [1]) has spread to over 30 countries and regions outside mainland China. Read More …
Past Time to Tell the Public: “It Will Probably Go Pandemic, and We Should All Prepare Now”
by Jody Lanard and Peter M. Sandman NOTE FROM IAN: The expert risk communication team of Lanard and Sandman has given me permission to post their very well-considered reply to Read More …
Not so novel: numbers: around COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2
A mammoth overview was just released by researchers from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (their website is a bit slow right now so have patience).[1] It broke Read More …