He should be sacked. He cherry picked one poor, non peer reviewed study to preach his agenda to the public who should be able to trust in his judgement. Scrap the term to avoid the mass hysteria around long covid? What hysteria? What bedlam is occurring in QLD where the majority of people are living like it’s 2019? He’s a liar, an idiot and completely corrupt.
>What bedlam is occurring in QLD where the majority of people are living like it’s 2019
The vast majority of people in Australia and worldwide are back to their pre-pandemic lifestyles...
That’s all well and good for the general public - but that doesn’t make it okay for the Chief Health Officer, who has a key role in assigning resources and supports within the healthcare system, to pretend it’s 2019 and that the pandemic isn’t still causing an ongoing ripple burden to the healthcare system.
His long COVID comment is his way of saying Queensland Health doesn’t want to recognise and assign the appropriate resources to ensure that appropriate healthcare is given. [Australia is already being criticised on an international stage for our ignorance of falling short of the global standards for managing long COVID in peer reviewed scientific journals](https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/public-health-reviews/articles/10.3389/phrs.2023.1606084/full), so his comments are an embarrassment to Queensland and Australia as a whole.
[An October 2023 study found 14% of Victorians who contracted Covid ended up with long COVID - that’s not a minority number.](https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2023/oct/long-covid-response) It’s well past time we start taking this more seriously, because not doing so is placing a strain on the already under resourced under funded health care system and ignoring the impact of long COVID will cause it to collapse.
I'd suggest re-reading the CHO's comments. His view is that long Covid isn't a unique condition, not that people don't sometimes get long running symptoms from the disease. He has said this quite explicitly, noting the need for appropriate medical treatment.
He tried to say long Covid didn’t exist, which justifies the removal of long Covid support services. He did so using a non peer reviewed paper he wrote without disclosing the conflict of interest. He is an embarrassment on a global stage.
Gerrard stressed that long running symptoms are an issue for a small proportion of people who contract COVID. His argument is that this shouldn’t be considered different to other types of long running post viral illnesses and that the incidence in Australia is quite low.
He stressed that term "long covid" should be scrapped. Why scrap something that is obviously real? Should be given the flick imo as all he does is engage in minimising nonsense.
I feel the media should take a lot of the blame too - they're the ones who took already poorly made comments and turned it into "long covid doesn't exist".
Seems a bit over the top, all through the pandemic CHOs recommend often nonsensical restrictions that had little to no scientific basis, you probably didn't want them to stand down because it suited your agenda at the time.
Likely none that would tow the political line. There reportedly was another who was due to take up the CHO role before Gerrard, but they suddenly dropped out before officially taking the role.
And then Dr Gerrard appeared, telling everyone they have to get infected and wash hands.
He's an expert in infectious diseases, having (among other things) run the infectious diseases department at a major hospital.
Queensland's Covid settings since Gerrard started as CHO have been basically the same as the other states.
Mate, he's literally an expert in this field rather than a dabbler and smart arse like Musk. Australia has been fortunate to have such well trained and experienced professionals as CHOs throughout the pandemic.
I don't care about his creds on paper or experience. What comes out of his mouth shows you who he is. You can be brilliant in theory but hopeless practically. You can rise to the top if you have political will and luck.
The scumbags forced me out of a job and university. Everyone called me a "conspiracy theorist," yet here we are with increased mortality rates and strange blood clots being found in autopsies. I'm still furious!
What would have been better? Sitting in a pharmacy for 15 minutes playing on your phone on the way to your weekly shop a couple times, or to delay your education and to throw away your part time job and the repercussions from that? Vaccination for most was as literally as bad as sitting though half an episode of MasterChef!
Our net excess mortality throughout the first years of the pandemic is tiny, *including during the vaccine rollout with* ***negative 4% in 2021***.
During the rollout (2021), the excess death rate increased in those that didn't fully vaccinate (0 to 34 years) while decreased in those that did (35 plus).
Looking long term, between 2020 and 2023, Australia's net excess mortality ***dropped*** in those aged 35 to 54 years yet we had well over a 95% vaccination rate and an uncontrolled Omicron epidemic here. The full net rates.
* 0-34: 3.1% (2021 was 2.4%, 2022 was 2.6%)
* **35-54:** ***negative*** **5.2%** (2021 was -3.5%, 2022 was 4.1%)
* 55-64: 4.7% (2021 was -0.7%, 2022 was 7%)
* 65-74: 15.5%
* 75-84: 21.9%
* 85-94: 14.7%
* 95+: 25.5%
I think you will struggle to see any statistically significant excess deaths in those countries that got vaccinated and kept the virus out. Countries large enough to show anything meaningful and used our vaccines with almost universal coverage are Australia, NZ, Singapore, and Taiwan. Big spoiler, nothing of interest happened in any of these countries in those under 65.
Overseas, such as in places like the US and UK, excess mortality did rise in these age groups, mostly before the vaccine rollout.
Maybe think twice next time before allowing some nutter online to con you into believing some crazy theory?
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He should be sacked. He cherry picked one poor, non peer reviewed study to preach his agenda to the public who should be able to trust in his judgement. Scrap the term to avoid the mass hysteria around long covid? What hysteria? What bedlam is occurring in QLD where the majority of people are living like it’s 2019? He’s a liar, an idiot and completely corrupt.
>What bedlam is occurring in QLD where the majority of people are living like it’s 2019 The vast majority of people in Australia and worldwide are back to their pre-pandemic lifestyles...
That’s all well and good for the general public - but that doesn’t make it okay for the Chief Health Officer, who has a key role in assigning resources and supports within the healthcare system, to pretend it’s 2019 and that the pandemic isn’t still causing an ongoing ripple burden to the healthcare system. His long COVID comment is his way of saying Queensland Health doesn’t want to recognise and assign the appropriate resources to ensure that appropriate healthcare is given. [Australia is already being criticised on an international stage for our ignorance of falling short of the global standards for managing long COVID in peer reviewed scientific journals](https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/public-health-reviews/articles/10.3389/phrs.2023.1606084/full), so his comments are an embarrassment to Queensland and Australia as a whole. [An October 2023 study found 14% of Victorians who contracted Covid ended up with long COVID - that’s not a minority number.](https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2023/oct/long-covid-response) It’s well past time we start taking this more seriously, because not doing so is placing a strain on the already under resourced under funded health care system and ignoring the impact of long COVID will cause it to collapse.
I'd suggest re-reading the CHO's comments. His view is that long Covid isn't a unique condition, not that people don't sometimes get long running symptoms from the disease. He has said this quite explicitly, noting the need for appropriate medical treatment.
He tried to say long Covid didn’t exist, which justifies the removal of long Covid support services. He did so using a non peer reviewed paper he wrote without disclosing the conflict of interest. He is an embarrassment on a global stage.
Which is why his "it doesnt exist" routine serves no purpose.
Gerrard stressed that long running symptoms are an issue for a small proportion of people who contract COVID. His argument is that this shouldn’t be considered different to other types of long running post viral illnesses and that the incidence in Australia is quite low.
He stressed that term "long covid" should be scrapped. Why scrap something that is obviously real? Should be given the flick imo as all he does is engage in minimising nonsense.
Well, good for you. Those of us who wound up in ICU and are still suffering years later never want to see that man's stupid, smug face ever again.
He should step down, his approach and process since taking on CHO has been horrible.
It's his study, with a couple of others. And he declared no conflict of interest. He's shameless.
His own study to boot!
I feel the media should take a lot of the blame too - they're the ones who took already poorly made comments and turned it into "long covid doesn't exist".
Seems a bit over the top, all through the pandemic CHOs recommend often nonsensical restrictions that had little to no scientific basis, you probably didn't want them to stand down because it suited your agenda at the time.
"Agenda"? I wound up with organ failure - I didn't imagine that. The restrictions saved a lot of lives, and I bet you know that.
Gerrard should resign.
These were from the Acting CHO that I believe is Dr Catherine McDougall. It'll be interesting to see if Gerrard responds after his holiday.
Get rid of him.
He didn’t apologise though. He’s off overseas launching that crappy study.
Good
They should also apologise for hiring him.
Honestly, how does someone like this even get the position? There was no other possible option?
Likely none that would tow the political line. There reportedly was another who was due to take up the CHO role before Gerrard, but they suddenly dropped out before officially taking the role. And then Dr Gerrard appeared, telling everyone they have to get infected and wash hands.
He's an expert in infectious diseases, having (among other things) run the infectious diseases department at a major hospital. Queensland's Covid settings since Gerrard started as CHO have been basically the same as the other states.
Maybe an expert theoretically but maybe not pragmatically. Like how Musk is an expert.
Mate, he's literally an expert in this field rather than a dabbler and smart arse like Musk. Australia has been fortunate to have such well trained and experienced professionals as CHOs throughout the pandemic.
I don't care about his creds on paper or experience. What comes out of his mouth shows you who he is. You can be brilliant in theory but hopeless practically. You can rise to the top if you have political will and luck.
He's not an expert because he doesnt say what I believe
The scumbags forced me out of a job and university. Everyone called me a "conspiracy theorist," yet here we are with increased mortality rates and strange blood clots being found in autopsies. I'm still furious!
What would have been better? Sitting in a pharmacy for 15 minutes playing on your phone on the way to your weekly shop a couple times, or to delay your education and to throw away your part time job and the repercussions from that? Vaccination for most was as literally as bad as sitting though half an episode of MasterChef! Our net excess mortality throughout the first years of the pandemic is tiny, *including during the vaccine rollout with* ***negative 4% in 2021***. During the rollout (2021), the excess death rate increased in those that didn't fully vaccinate (0 to 34 years) while decreased in those that did (35 plus). Looking long term, between 2020 and 2023, Australia's net excess mortality ***dropped*** in those aged 35 to 54 years yet we had well over a 95% vaccination rate and an uncontrolled Omicron epidemic here. The full net rates. * 0-34: 3.1% (2021 was 2.4%, 2022 was 2.6%) * **35-54:** ***negative*** **5.2%** (2021 was -3.5%, 2022 was 4.1%) * 55-64: 4.7% (2021 was -0.7%, 2022 was 7%) * 65-74: 15.5% * 75-84: 21.9% * 85-94: 14.7% * 95+: 25.5% I think you will struggle to see any statistically significant excess deaths in those countries that got vaccinated and kept the virus out. Countries large enough to show anything meaningful and used our vaccines with almost universal coverage are Australia, NZ, Singapore, and Taiwan. Big spoiler, nothing of interest happened in any of these countries in those under 65. Overseas, such as in places like the US and UK, excess mortality did rise in these age groups, mostly before the vaccine rollout. Maybe think twice next time before allowing some nutter online to con you into believing some crazy theory?
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The censorship on this platform is unbelievable! Pure evil.
Comment showed lack of insight.