Going Viral: Applied Epidemiology during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

At the time of writing, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is ongoing. As such, my thesis is unmistakably COVID-19-themed with several sub-themes - laboratory testing, genomic sequencing data, and exploring Australia's national pandemic response from the perspective of the Federal government. Firstly, I conducted a data analysis on SARS-CoV-2 laboratory testing in Australia during the first year of pandemic response. My aims were to determine who got tested for SARS-CoV-2 and where they got tested during that time; and to identify any significant public health events at the time that may have influenced testing activity. The objective of this study was to inform the continuing collection of enhanced laboratory testing data for COVID-19. In the following chapter, I evaluated the collection of SARS-CoV-2 variant data in the Nationally Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) to determine whether the current means of capturing whole genome sequencing data was effective. The objective of this evaluation was to understand whether Australian Government epidemiological reporting needs for SARS-CoV-2 data were met using NNDSS information during the study period. The next project was an epidemiological study on the impact of border closures on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Australia during 2021. The study explored where SARS-CoV-2 cases originated from and whether the travel restrictions imposed during the study period were proportionate to the risk posed by imported cases at the time. My thesis ends with a COVID-19 outbreak investigation conducted during August 2021. The outbreak occurred at a disability support provider in the Australian Capital Territory, effecting people with disability and their support workers. The objective of the study was to determine the source of infection of cases associated with the disability support provider and identify any lessons in the response that could be used to inform communicable disease response planning for the disability support sector. Together, these four chapters demonstrated my fulfilment of the MAE program's core competencies. Show more