At first glance, it might seem pretty bleak that COVID case numbers in Victoria more than doubled those recorded yesterday. However, according to health officials that is not the reality of the situation.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley told reporters that today’s total of 51,256 positive was “exactly what we wanted” as per 9 News.
Foley then went on to elaborate that the reason Victoria’s cases were so high was that they were inclusive of a whole week’s worth of RAT results that before yesterday, couldn’t be officially counted in the daily numbers.
“The reported figure has certainly significantly spiked based on that week’s worth of unreported figures that we now have captured in the system” as per News.com.
Note: most people who reported a positive rapid antigen test got that result earlier in the week, and reported it when the webform opened yesterday. The number of people who actually received their positive rapid antigen test result yesterday was 5,923.
— Victorian Department of Health (@VicGovDH) January 7, 2022
In the above tweet the Victorian Department of Health concludes by stating “The number of people who actually received their positive rapid antigen test result yesterday was 5,923”.
Of today’s total positive cases – 26,428 were detected from rapid tests and 24,928 were detected from PCR tests.
*Deep breath in… Deep breath out*
Despite this (kinda) relieving news (?), there are worries that there is still widespread community transmission flying under the radar.
Earlier in the week a public health expert estimated that 60% of Australia’s population could end up having covid before the end of January. Based on current trends, this could actually be true.
Such a spike would definitely be a bit of a ~yikes~ moment and could mean that by the end of the month, the daily cases could become inaccurate due to a strain on testing infrastructure.
At this point in the panny-d, we’ve all learned to take things day by day – so let’s look after ourselves and our mates, and wait and see what the bloody hell happens next.
For those who haven’t done so yet – if you’ve tested positive with a RAT but haven’t logged your result, you may do so by following this link.
