freelance science journalist and author
From The Saturday Paper, 2 November 2024: In 2018, the Australian government conducted a simulated pandemic stress test of how well federal departments on the frontline of a major health crisis would cope. It found they would perform well enough for shorter or “ordinary” crises but were not equipped for a significant, near-existential crisis dragging … Continue reading Covid-19 inquiry finds key failings in pandemic response
From The Saturday Paper, 24 August 2024: In September 2020, the United Kingdom government commissioned the British Academy – the national academy for the humanities and social sciences – to explore the long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. What they got in March 2021 was a report titled “The Covid Decade”. Even then, in the … Continue reading Dispatch from the long Covid frontline
From Nature, 21 November 2023: Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles is suing her employer, the University of Auckland, in New Zealand’s employment court. She alleges that the university’s management “failed in their duty to keep her safe in her employment” while, as a high-profile scientist providing public information about the COVID-19 pandemic, she was subjected to “vitriolic … Continue reading Microbiologist who was harassed during COVID pandemic sues university
From The Saturday Paper, 4 September 2023: On May 5 this year, World Health Organization director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the pandemic emergency downgraded from an acute global disaster into a more chronic, long-term affliction. Covid-19 became another in the long line of deadly pathogens that have seared their way into history, then faded … Continue reading The science on Covid boosters
From The Saturday Paper, 18 February 2023: In historical accounts of the 1918 influenza pandemic, references can be found to people experiencing exhaustion, nervous complications, apathy and depression for weeks, even months, after they recovered from infection. And reports of persistent, chronic fatigue-like symptoms have emerged following the major respiratory disease outbreaks of the past … Continue reading Lack of data hinders long Covid response
From The Guardian, 5 November 2022: When studying disease outbreaks, think like a microbe. That’s the lesson that was drummed into Prof Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, when she was undergoing her scientific training, and she’s never forgotten it. “In moving through a community, where are your opportunities as a microbe?” she … Continue reading Welcome to the ‘Pandemicene’: is Australia ready for the next pandemic?
From The Guardian, 16 October 2022: The story of long Covid is just beginning, and no one – not even the experts – knows how it will play out. The “known knowns” are that few, if any, health systems around the world are equipped to cope with the parallel pandemic of long Covid. It will … Continue reading How will long Covid play out over the coming years? Eight experts weigh in
From The Saturday Paper, 9 July 2022: Today, James is feeling about a two out of five. The young lawyer is reasonably articulate on the phone. He might be able to read a single news article today, maybe even go for a short walk. On a “five out of five” day, he can do four … Continue reading Long Covid: After-effect hits up to 400,000 Australians
From The Saturday Paper, 9 July 2022: Today, James is feeling about a two out of five. The young lawyer is reasonably articulate on the phone. He might be able to read a single news article today, maybe even go for a short walk. On a “five out of five” day, he can do four … Continue reading Long Covid: After-effect hits up to 400,000 Australians
From The Medical Republic, 21 March 2022: There was a time before covid, which seems a distant memory now, when the concepts of “immune” and “immunised” seemed relatively straightforward to anyone outside the field of immunology. Either by virtue of childhood infection or vaccination, a person believed that they were now protected from further assault … Continue reading What do we mean by Covid immunity?
Bianca Nogrady 