Media release – Dr Mark Veitch, Director of Public Health, 29 May 2022

Public health emergency extended

A further extension of the Public Health Emergency Declaration has been declared under the Public Health Act 1997 (the Act), until 30 June 2022.

We have recently experienced two epidemic waves of Omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Nearly a third of Tasmanians have been diagnosed with COVID-19 so far this year. Sadly, during that time, COVID-19 has contributed to the death of nearly 60 people.

We have achieved very high levels of primary vaccination among eligible people. Uptake of boosters has been good, but there are still many eligible Tasmanians yet to get their dose. And now we have an additional winter dose available for people most at risk of harm from COVID-19.

As case numbers slowly fall, and complications of COVID-19 remain manageable by our health system, we are approaching the time when the public health powers and actions enabled by the Public Health Emergency Declaration will no longer be needed to manage the threat posed by COVID-19.

Although we expect to transition out of the state of Public Health Emergency by 30 June, this does not mean that COVID-19 will be over.

However, the ongoing public health threat posed by COVID-19 will soon be manageable with

  • workplace health and safety practices,
  • cases and contacts of COVID-19 managed as are other notifiable communicable diseases, using non-emergency powers of the Public Health Act 1997, and
  • community practice of COVID-safe behaviours.

For the time being, existing emergency directions remain in place. Over the coming weeks we will provide Tasmanians with more information about what will change, what will stay the same, and what we all still need to do keep our communities safe from harm from COVID-19.

COVID-safe behaviours, such as vaccination, mask wearing, physical distancing, hand washing, and staying home and getting tested if you have symptoms, remain the best ways to protect against COVID-19.

The transition to this new phase of Tasmania’s response to COVID-19 will have significant implications for businesses and workplaces across Tasmania, as work health and safety requirements become key mechanisms for managing COVID-19 risks in the workplace.

I expect this will be that last extension of the Public Health Emergency Declaration. This will provide sufficient time for agencies, businesses, and organisations to embed COVID safety planning and behaviours in their business-as-usual risk management.

By working with stakeholders and communicating widely we aim to promote public confidence and participation in a transition to seeing COVID-19 as a common, familiar and manageable communicable disease.

Twitter thread – COVID News Network, 28 May 2022

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One of the most prestigious virology labs in the world, the ones who confirmed BA 2 was more pathogenic than BA 1, Sato Labs, released a new study that finds that the VOCs BA4/5 as well as BA 2.12.1 are more infectious and pathogenic over BA 2.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.26.493539v1

Abstract – After the global spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 lineage, some BA.2-related variants that acquire mutations in the L452 residue of spike protein, such as BA.2.9.1 and BA.2.13 (L452M), BA.2.12.1 (L452Q), and BA.2.11, BA.4 and BA.5 (L452R), emerged in multiple countries. Our statistical analysis showed that the effective reproduction numbers of these L452R/M/Q-bearing BA.2-related Omicron variants are greater than that of the original BA.2. Neutralization experiments revealed that the immunity induced by BA.1 and BA.2 infections is less effective against BA.4/5. Cell culture experiments showed that BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/5 replicate more efficiently in human alveolar epithelial cells than BA.2, and particularly, BA.4/5 is more fusogenic than BA.2. Furthermore, infection experiments using hamsters indicated that BA.4/5 is more pathogenic than BA.2. Altogether, our multiscale investigations suggest that the risk of L452R/M/Q-bearing BA.2-related Omicron variants, particularly BA.4 and BA.5, to global health is potentially greater than that of original BA.2.

This is a bombshell study from Sato. They were the first to sound the alarm about BA 2 back in February, and nobody heeded their warnings. Are we destined to repeat those mistakes yet again? Only time will tell but it’s not looking promising. Let’s dive in to the study briefly.

According to Sato, BA 4/5 are showcasing a clear growth advantage over its predecessor BA 2, primarily attributed to the spike mutations on the L452 site. This advantage is stark and showcased perfectly down below.

BA 4/5 was also observed having much more fusogenisis than its ancestor BA.2, and given that information there it is easy to conclude to Sato labs that BA 4/5 are indeed more pathogenic than BA 2.

The abstract gives a clear summary of all their findings in this marvelous preprint. They conclude that BA 4/5 is not only more infectious/immune evasive compared to BA 2, it is also more lethal than BA 2 was. This should put the entire planet on red alert ????????????????????????

Recently a study came out from Harvard that concluded that BA 2 was much more severe than omicron BA 1 and in equal lethality to its predecessor the infamous delta variant. For Sato to say BA 4/5 is even worse than BA 2 should be ringing alarms globally.
Sato warned us all about BA 2 before it really took off and we did not listen.

They’re again warning the world that these VOCs pose a massive threat to public health. They believed BA 2 should have also been a VoC but was never labeled by authorities as such.

BA 4 and 5 already have been upgraded to variants of concern. And with the latest findings here from Sato we can see why that occurred. BA 4/5 and BA 2.12 all pose significant problems to our society as a whole. This is a clear warning from Sato.

Share this thread far and wide my friends. The world needs to know what they’re facing. Minimisers will harp that they used rodents for their pathogenic studies on these variants. They claimed the same with BA 2, and BA 2 is now proven to be more severe than BA 1.