Norman Swan
@normanswan
Followers
155K
Following
32
Media
221
Statuses
8K
Co-host of RN’s Health Report and What’s That Rash & reporter on ABC TV’s 730. You can order my book on kids aged 0-10 at: https://t.co/E12jORDqjp
Joined February 2011
My new book, So You Want to Know What's Good for Your Kids?, will be published 31 July 2024. It cuts through to what matters most in raising a healthy, resilient child from birth to ten. It’s available for pre-order now:
91
14
85
It is very frustrating to see that the lessons from Victoria have not been learned by NSW. Half measures fail. Act fast.
572
2K
11K
News Limited better lawyer up. I suspect @jonathanvswan will think it’s defamatory to have the photo of whoever that ugly old bloke is associated with his name. I am of course not referring to Kenny who’s a fine figure of a man and so young looking for his age.
664
1K
9K
After an interesting couple of days with flu like symptoms, worried about the innocent contacts who might have been close, there is good news: the test was negative. Not a licence to party. Distancing makes so much sense.
571
801
9K
Vindicates what my sources told me months ago: ‘Millions of doses’: Pfizer approached Australia first for vaccine deal
482
2K
8K
The politics are now so toxic that the community is confused & losing trust. Trust got us through 2020. What’s needed is a cathartic re-set. No spin. The facts even if they’re unpalatable, should be on the table. NOT via News LTD. Then a new plan based on capacity to deliver.
601
2K
8K
Got this from a clinician at a major Sydney hospital. “Hospital swamped. More than 100 staff furloughed. 30 covid positive & 50 amber. It will be increasingly hard to do anything else. It’s difficult to describe how furious we are with perrotet. He will destroy the health system”.
674
3K
8K
The complacency over hotel quarantine is scientifically and economically unsustainable. One leak and a state might be shut down.
352
2K
8K
I reckon people are being too hard on the SA authorities. What’s safe is to act decisively then if you get it wrong act equally decisively and ask for forgiveness. No prizes for a second wave.
319
562
8K
All this political agony over NYE in Sydney yet they don’t mandate masks which would reduce risk. Hard to understand the reasoning.
490
1K
7K
What’s hard to understand in NSW is why doing the same thing day after day will get you a different result.
472
1K
7K
Just listen to the new venues. Makes absolutely no sense that they’re not going city wide. They knew that yesterday. This is politics not public health.
355
2K
7K
Act fast and decisively. Didn’t happen in Victoria. Did in SA. Not happening in NSW. Minimum should be mandating masks. Each day’s delay can equal a week on the other side. Feds can’t sit this one out either. They have to bring an effective vaccine forward now.
308
1K
7K
Hey Melbourne, really sorry you’ve gone into lockdown. But with this being a big weekend for celebration spare a thought for the restaurants who’ve spent a fortune on food. So if you can, order takeaway from your favourite place to help them out even if dinner may be only for two.
248
950
7K
Donald Trump Axios interview: Jonathan Swan corners US President on coronavirus
460
997
7K
Really suffering in NSW from a late lockdown. Wouldn’t be in this situation if it had happened when other states would have fired off. Peak not happened yet, unlinked cases out there spreading, and it’s in health care which can be a nightmare.
429
1K
7K
What is the NSW Govt waiting for?? Every day they wait adds up to seven on the lockdown. Need greater Sydney locked down now. Go in early and hard. That’s the rule they’ve broken.
470
1K
6K
The FT reports this morning the way a Danish supermarket is stopping sanitiser hoarding. They charge $6 for the first bottle and $150 for each one after that. Put that in your bog roll.
79
2K
6K
I’m afraid we’ve known since the 1st wave that the NSW incremental approach doesn’t work & risks a very prolonged lockdown. A proportionate response is the maximal one and has been all along. Plus what’s their root cause analysis saying about the overseas’ leaks we know about?.
768
1K
6K
Very proud of @jonathanvswan for winning the White House Correspondents’ Association’s 2022 Beckman Award for overall excellence in White House coverage.
124
313
6K
Israel has just done a deal with Moderna for a variant specific vaccine. Why haven’t we?.
467
1K
6K
Good news so far from Denmark. Relaxed restrictions apart from border rules on Sept 10. They’re at 74.7% of the total population fully vaxed - 85% of the eligible population. 400-500 range cases per day. Hospitalisations and ICU admissions are declining. Need to watch Norway too.
262
677
5K
Victorians get vaccinated as soon as you can. Don’t wait. This is a highly contagious variant. Also register your Myki card so you can be tracked on trams and trains. Plus masks.
636
1K
5K
Every day NSW delays can be an added week to get out of it at the other end. Half hearted measures are not effective if contact tracing isn’t buttoning it down.
202
1K
5K
The achievable aim is to turn COVID-19 into the common cold. Then the zero spread goal is entirely unnecessary. But for that we need vaccines in arms in huge numbers fast. The US and UK data are showing the way towards far less impact. We’ve being left behind, knotted in fear.
334
1K
5K
Picked up Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year. 1665 London. I’d forgotten it was on the shelf. It’s all there. The poor get it worst. Official denial. Epidemic curve. Proven excess mortality. Underreporting. Social distancing, curfews and the best and worst of human responses.
188
1K
5K
The Premier just said that NSW always acts on the precautionary principle. If so on the bases of the numbers and locations now is the time for a Greater Sydney lockdown.
588
1K
5K
We should set a fixed date for opening up internationally. That will focus everyone. Watch the queues for the vaccine. And the pressure on Fed Gov bureaucrats to just get stuff done incl reformed quarantine and creative comms that don’t look like they come from a Canberra Soviet.
419
875
5K
An insider’s account of what’s going on in pathology labs with PCR testing. A source in the industry has verified that this is what’s happening. Private path has earned hundreds of millions out of this yet reportedly some labs closed for the hols.
393
2K
5K
Power of social distancing file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/A879DC5D-D29F-4B7A-9983-11C6183A3240/tmp/0C6C8A5D-097A-4675-A716-E56BBEBB5101/image1.png.
142
1K
5K
Very messy presentation of data and cases in NSW. Really hard to follow the chains of transmission from the person who infected the driver onwards. Could be making the same mistake as Vic last June. Thinking that locking down loosely bounded suburbs can work.
420
926
5K
Vic Gov saying they have no visibility on vaccine roll out in private aged care. Serious questions need to be asked about the bespoke private contractor program insisted on by the Fed Gov. Especially since it deliberately bypassed long standing national vaccine arrangements.
183
2K
5K
One thing this variant might do is cause a re-think about boosters. You could argue that since Omicron is either here already or will be soon that we should maximise high level immunity and bring forward third doses to 12 or 16 weeks. Plus allow Moderna as a third dose.
618
861
5K
My prediction is that unless we vaccinate kids under 12, within 18 months or sooner, depending on 12yrs and older vaccination rates, COVID will be a childhood disease. And not a trivial one.
2K
1K
5K
Just had my second AstraZeneca vaccination. A bit less than nine weeks since the first. Willing to accept a little lower immune response to get protection against severe disease.
295
382
5K
This is the kind of infrastructure that a country committed to the science of climate change puts in.
430
540
4K
The fact that the BWS cases aren’t linked to Avalon but another overseas ‘leak’ shows how vulnerable we are & how much missed transmission there may be. Need distancing to control spread incl masks and testing rates to be really high while the contact tracers hunt this down.
211
908
5K
Growing concern???? They should have been thoroughly spooked already. What are they waiting for?.
208
694
4K
So proud of my daughter. Anna Swan's long road back from brain trauma after a road accident in Italy
117
228
4K
The question in NSW is whether the lockdown needs to be more restrictive rather than relying on voluntary restriction on movement. The number of cars on the road suggests there is still a lot of movement.
495
681
4K
Yet another failure of hotel quarantine. It’s no mystery. Airborne spread can occur because the rooms aren’t designed for negative pressure. And now a flight from Perth and days of possible transmission. We are vulnerable. Need cabin accommodation. 1/2.
290
962
4K
The aged care sector was getting advice from an expert committee that didn’t believe in either aerosol spread or masks.
293
1K
4K
Why is Qld having to lockdown aged care? The Commonwealth is responsible for vaccinating them to avoid just this. The data show even a single dose is effective. Hasn’t this been done by now? Some should have had both doses surely.
320
871
4K
1700 on Monday, 3400 on Wednesday or Thursday, 7-8000 by next weekend. True number by then 70-80,000 possibly. Primary school maths. Someone should go figure. No magic fairy will bring that down. 14-20 days behind Italy. Believe in maths not magic.
384
2K
4K
We’re now in science-free political management of the pandemic. No science behind individual responsibility. NSW COVID cases grow, Victoria COVID cases grow, Qld COVID cases grow, ACT COVID cases grow, Doherty modelling sparks warning.
465
1K
4K
This cannot be described as an epidemiologically sound approach and given there are many competent epidemiologists NSW you have to assume they’ve been given the right advice but the politics are working against it or slowing it down.
143
835
4K
Use our common sense? Use your own, Premier, and tell us what ‘essential’ means
254
855
4K
Sadly what’s been predicted for two weeks now. Was inevitable if they didn’t do anything significant. They’ve focussed on blocking the borders. But not enough on social distancing which is all that works. Heartbreaking. Oh it would have been so good to have been wrong.
Australia now has more than 1000 confirmed cases of coronavirus . case numbers rising steeply over last 2 days. ABC is compiling the latest statistics from states and territories . This graph is up to 7.30 tonight
276
2K
4K
If you’re interested in the modelling that is guiding National Cabinet, this is worth a careful read.
459
2K
4K
We should hang our heads in shame. Afghan interpreter rejected for protection visa evacuated to the Netherlands
213
961
4K
In March 2020 the policy goal was flatten the curve. The policy evolved to zero spread. No articulated policy goal now apart from hospitalisations. Haven’t heard a goal of acceptable numbers of deaths. So far ~10% of last year’s in nine days acc to @CaseyBriggs numbers.
210
882
4K
Happy New Year. Deep breath. And another one. Slowly exhale. Let’s come in to land safely in 2021.
132
227
4K
Got to be kidding. Giving remdesivir to India? As if that’s going to help anyone. Dumping a sadly barely useful medication on the desperate.
199
759
4K
Let’s hope the next set of NSW decisions acknowledge that the virus doesn’t understand what an LGA is. The trouble with a full lockdown is you have to accept that you don’t know which individual measures are the ones which work.
165
589
4K
99
284
4K
‘A shambolic mess’: the only example Australia is giving the world now is how not to manage Covid
162
983
4K
If this is right, how quickly we’ve forgotten the lessons of the last two years. Get public health right first and the economy will follow. Imagine if we’d let this happen in March 2020 before immunisation as some wanted to. Tens of thousands of deaths.
This is huge. nationwide 'economic lockdown'. "Spending in Sydney and Melbourne is now near levels typical of lockdown conditions.". "Indeed, total ANZ-observed spending in Sydney is at its lowest point since COVID began.". via @ANZ_Research.
176
860
4K
So here’s what must have happened. I just had a fall on a bush walk. Must have been a pocket tweet. Only scrapes and cuts! Need to keep my phone off!!.
I tryhih u ok ywe.
313
168
4K
The best Christmas present the Fed Gov can give - if they don’t want more lockdowns - is to get on their bikes and bring in a decent number of Pfizer and/or Moderna doses right now to help get the clusters under control. Brewing in QLD? Hope not. Are we really in this together?.
190
620
3K
Saying that the residents have been vaccinated is misleading. Key question is what % of residents and staff have had two doses. That’s what’s needed ASAP to this variant.
113
717
3K
Vaccination rate of 70% won’t end lockdowns if Covid case numbers are too high, Doherty Institute expert says
258
1K
3K
NSW is almost certainly on the precipice of a massive deterioration
448
1K
3K
Senior business figures turned to former PM Kevin Rudd to intervene in bringing forward Australia's Pfizer vaccine supply
194
595
3K
Huge study. Worrying findings. We’re letting this rip and doing pretty much nothing about indoor air.
200
1K
3K
Why isn’t Victoria insisting on masks? @victoriancho Given you can’t really go back to full lockdown, a month of masks might give you the extra help you need. A real shame it’s got to this. Victoria seems to have done everything right.
233
679
3K
Something for the blokes protesting in Melbourne to have a think about:.
449
650
3K
This explains what the Doherty model really states. Nothing like what we’re being told by Canberra. A must listen. Have we misunderstood the Doherty modelling?
247
1K
3K
Lest we forget. Just been in Italy where just about everyone I know knew two or three people of their age who died of COVID. Get your third shot. Get kids immunised. Sort out ventilation. Masks. Omicron is as virulent as the virus that killed those young Italians.
Mandated or not, masks in shared spaces indoors where air quality is poor or unknown are a crucial tool in a COVID wave. Be informed, adults & kids. Great info - I also like this. 17 Face Masks We Actually Like to Wear via @wired.
252
803
3K
I’m stopping the gym until this outbreak is sorted out. Changed my mind re vaccine. TGA needs to accelerate approval. They have the data and several other regulators have run the ruler. Could take a ring fence approach to immunisation around clusters.
133
370
3K
Proud father.
NEW: President Trump tells @jonathanvswan on #AxiosOnHBO that he didn't raise the issue of alleged bounties on U.S. troops during his call with Vladimir Putin last week: "That was a phone call to discuss other things."
175
242
3K
Just done my weekly talkback on local radio. Swamped by COVID calls. Haven’t had that many for months. Could be confirmation that the expected surge is on. @abcsydney.
422
580
3K
What an incredible tool viral genomics has been. May not feel like it but we live in fortunate times.
53
221
3K
NSW could be at 25,000 cases a day now. Here’s how. Last year with test positivity rates rarely above 1%, there was underdiagnosis by a factor of three as estimated by population antibodies. Now there is a much higher positivity rate meaning more missed cases.
324
777
3K
A sober warning from @GMegalogenis 70% opening is high risk acc to both Doherty and Burnet models. Sydney in real danger of a once-in-a-century setback
189
824
3K
Hopping mad. My daughter is doing a teaching course and they’re insisting on face to face classes on first aid and exposure to young kids near Sydney’s epicentre. Highest order stupidity.
127
569
3K
This is not a benign virus. Wishful thinking won’t make it go away. Currently on a stuffy plane. Few masks. Young and middle-aged people, barely sick with covid-19, are dying of strokes
407
866
2K
Coronacast is coming back early, with an episode this Friday! Talking curves, hospitals, new variants, kids, vaccines & when this might peak. Plus… I'll update you on the colour of my pants 😬 . Apple Podcasts: .ABC Listen app:
275
305
3K
Note 29 residential aged care facilities completely unvaccinated. Not a single dose.
Greg Hunt statement on 130,000 additional vaccine doses headed to Victoria
192
931
2K
Amazing. Truly.
Today ACT 12-15 year-olds passed 80% 1st dose vaccinated.
90
144
2K
The venues with COVID contacts are getting closer and more geographically spread out. I’m stopping going to my gym until the picture is clearer in NSW.
123
493
3K
The Parafield cluster was 33. This one from the Northern Beaches which may soon be known as the Greater Sydney outbreak is 129 as of 9am. Not a success story. Can’t say it’s population size because in a vulnerable population it doesn’t matter. Ref Israel. And no vaccine to help.
118
521
2K
Just in case you need fortification against the naysayers.
66
568
2K
I just cancelled my Foxtel subscription and took my ‘box’ to a return point where the guy told me that he’s getting at least 15 returns a day. One shop one suburb. Disruption in full flight.
278
620
2K
From a GP. High staff anxiety . ceasing nursing home & house calls. Only the beginning. No strategy seems in the offering - only advice on guidelines & protocols. need the right resources now. Won’t happen! Italian scenario awaits.
130
798
2K
How we’re being seen.
How an Australian🇦🇺 state beat its second wave of #COVID19: Widespread testing, relentless contact tracing and draconian restrictions. Does Canada🇨🇦 have the stomach for this? by @kellygrant1 via @globeandmail @IrfanDhalla #GlobalHealth.
71
283
2K
Now that’d keep me indoors.
Anal swab testing part of China's tough new COVID measures ahead of national holiday
112
244
2K
The jury is in. You are infectious before symptoms. Applies to kids as well as adults.
@normanswan @PatersJpat The question being - and I know the jury is till out on this. Are people contagious before showing symptoms? . Are children who show no symptoms able spread the virus?.
77
1K
2K
My prediction? We’ll hide behind a single source of modelling, not focus on elimination of spread and struggle for months as a consequence. NZ is relying on public health rather than modelling. One day lost on prevention = one week extension of measures on the other side.
130
774
2K