If one thing's clear about the Australian debate on school safety in the age of Covid-19, it's that so much of what we're told via mainstream journalism appears as little more than thinly-disguised government public relations. The recent release of an investigation commissioned by NSW Health and the Education Department

This week the Kirby Institute released a presentation from Professor Raina MacIntyre entitled The COVID19 pandemic update [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wnne5pdBdQ]. Raina MacIntyre is head of the Biosecurity Program at The Kirby Institute and NHMRC Principal Research Fellow. She has a research track record in respiratory transmissible

The global pandemic highlights a major flaw in society: the ability of politicians, politicised experts and agenda-driven media voices to rely on (and get away with) logical fallacies, contradictions and inconsistencies when advancing arguments. Imagine a society where public statements in national debates were scrutinised and skewered based on a

Globally our understanding of how children are affected by COVID-19 has evolved. Once thought of as peculiarly resistant to the disease, there is now an emerging view that they are not. Children appear to be infected at comparable rates to adults, and as they are more likely to be asymptomatic,

The WHO just revised their advice on masks [https://www.who.int/publications-detail/advice-on-the-use-of-masks-in-the-community-during-home-care-and-in-healthcare-settings-in-the-context-of-the-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-outbreak] , acknowledging that "wearing medical masks is one of the prevention measures that can limit the spread of respiratory viral diseases, including COVID-19". This move comes after the US and other countries have started to

In a recent ABC radio interview, Burnet Institute Director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb called for the Federal Government to implement the most extreme containment measures possible: > An immediate lockdown of non-essential services will buy us precious time to contain #COVID19 [https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=

We're seeing many prominent Australians beginning to break ranks with the Australian Government's 'go slower' approach to this global health crisis, demanding an immediate change to policy. It should give you hope that Australia's strategy will change soon. An increasing number of high-profile Australians are speaking up about our national

In a press conference updating the Australian public on Coronavirus, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Paul Kelly delivered advice that appeared to us politically motivated. Dr Kelly is a highly respected academic [https://medicalschool.anu.edu.au/people/academics/professor-paul-kelly], with 25 years research experience and specialisations in Epidemiology and

Many Australians have been unnecessarily confused by the clear messaging of the Prime Minister during this crisis. We're here to clear things up. If you have more suggestions to add, please email us at lets@crushthecurve.today 1. It is absolutely safe to send children to school, as there is

In times of national crisis, we really get to see how incredibly important the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is to everyone in our society. If you haven't already watched last night's outstanding reporting from Dr Norman Swan on the ABC, please watch it now and share widely within your own networks:

Scott Morrison's latest reversal on hairdressers - removing the arbitrary 30 minute limit on appointments, even as the industry demands to be part of the lockdown - shows us a man feverishly committed to 'business at all costs'. So feverishly committed that the cost can even be business itself. It

TLDR: How is Australia like France back in 1986? Both suffer from expert advice that is impossible to rationalise, guided by an economic ideology, and which makes an outlier of the nation in the face of a global health emergency. Australians - struggling in disbelief - are witnessing an increasingly

We continually hear from Scott Morrison that a lockdown would take 6-18 months. Why? Who's asking the hard questions? Challenge the fear of a 6 month lockdown [https://blog.crushthecurve.today/challenge-the-fear-of-a-6-month-lockdown/]. > "Schools in some provinces... are planning to go back at the end of this month." Lockdowns were instituted

In the midst of a national crisis it's our leaders who are spreading fear. Fear about how long a lockdown will take... as a justification for not doing it. We constantly hear that a lockdown will take 6-18 months (or until we develop a vaccine) but some leading voices outside

Let's #CrushTheCurve: demand Australia #LockdownNow to protect all Australians. * Add your selfie to the virtual protest [https://crushthecurve.today/take/selfie/] * Call your MP * Challenge the fear of a long lockdown [https://blog.crushthecurve.today/challenge-the-fear-of-a-6-month-lockdown/] Leading pandemic experts are urging nations around the world to act decisively in instituting