The team at Western Sydney Local Health District’s (WSLHD) Public Health Unit have found evidence that airborne transmission of COVID-19 can happen under the right conditions following an investigation into an outbreak at a western Sydney church.

The outbreak stemmed from several July 2020 church services where 12 people who attended the services in western Sydney were infected with COVID-19.

Dr Anthea Katelaris is a Public Health Doctor at the WSLHD Public Health Unit and the lead author of the research paper published in the Centers for Disease Control Emerging Infectious Disease journal this week.

“While the vast majority of COVID-19 transmission occurs from direct or close contact between people, this study supports previous studies which suggest that, occasionally, airborne transmission of COVID can occur under certain conditions,” Dr Katelaris told Channel 10.

The initial person infected was a choir singer who was asymptomatic – they were not showing any symptoms of COVID-19 when they sung at the church service. 

They were located in a choir loft, 3.5 metres above the congregation, which they entered before and left after the service. They did not touch objects or mix with the general congregation, making direct transmission unlikely.

This was backed up by video recordings of the service, which the team – along with doctors from The Westmead Institute for Medical Research and the University of Sydney – meticulously reviewed.

“The conditions that lend themselves to airborne spread of COVID seem to be in crowded indoor settings with poor ventilation, especially when combined with higher-risk activities like singing or shouting,” said Dr Katelaris.

“This is why we recommend physical distancing – especially during activities like singing – wearing a mask when people cannot physically distance, gathering outdoors where possible, and increasing natural or mechanical ventilation.”

Dr Katelaris thanked churchgoers for following recent health advice and adhering to restrictions when needed, as well as the western Sydney church and its congregation for their cooperation in the world-leading study.

*Source: The Pulse

A Mercedes Benz driver who killed a 73-year-old man after drinking shots and mixers has been sentenced to four years jail.

Stephen Papagelou, 29, killed Henry Ekselman on Melbourne’s Chapel Street in November 2018 while he was crossing the road.

On Monday, Papagelou was sentenced to four years jail with a non-parole period of two years.

Last month, the 29-year-old apologised to Ekselman’s loved ones at the Victorian County Court through his lawyer Peter Morrissey, but said he could not ask for their forgiveness.

“If I could turn back time and switch places with (Mr Ekselman) I would do it in a heartbeat,” Papagelou said in his statement.

Papagelou consumed three shots and three mixed drinks at the Prince Alfred Hotel in Richmond over two-and-a-half hours before he struck and killed Ekselman while travelling about 60km/h, 7News report.

Staff at the venue warned Papagelou and his friends they would be kicked out if they didn’t stop their “rowdy behaviour” about 90 minutes before the crash.

A friend of the 29-year-old then warned him against driving after seeing him quickly polish off a glass of wine.

Papagelou, who has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death, returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.075 after the crash, which threw Ekselman about 15m.

Female councillors have today spoken out about how the toxic workplace culture inside federal and NSW Parliaments is replicated at a local level and is a disincentive for women to enter local government.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, female councillors face a barrage of gendered abuse and harassment from their council colleagues, politicians and the public, including bullying, verbal abuse and intimidation.

One of these females is independent Georges River Councillor, Sandy Grekas. She told the SMH that with council elections due in September, she expects the verbal abuse and online harassment she has suffered to continue “and probably get worse.”

“When other women see the rubbish that I’ve gone through, it completely puts them off from running for council,” she told the media outlet.

Fewer than one in three councillors in NSW are women compared to 43 percent in Victoria.

Researchers found gender abuse and harassment was rife in Victorian councils, with 23 percent of women councillors “very often” experiencing negative behaviour that affected them personally, compared to 3 percent of male colleagues.

More than one-quarter of local government workers experienced sexual harassment on the job, Victoria’s auditor-general found in 2020.

Cr Grekas told the SMH that some male councillors spoke aggressively to and over female councillors and staff, “and there’s no way in the world they would speak that way to men.”

A neighbour’s fence was graffitied with the words “F—in’ Snitch” after a meeting at which Cr Grekas called on two councillors facing corruption allegations to stand aside. A supporter’s car was also vandalised.

Cr Grekas said she had suffered verbal abuse in council meetings and a campaign of online abuse. “There’s been all sorts of nonsense published about me; that I’m a bully, that I’m an alcoholic,” she said.

In response, Local Government Minister, Shelley Hancock, said it was unacceptable for any woman to feel harassed, abused or bullied. She said the model code of conduct had been strengthened and any councillor found to have breached their obligations, which includes bullying or harassment, faced suspension or disqualification from civic office.

“I am appalled and horrified hearing accounts of abuse,” Ms Hancock said. “This type of behaviour has no place in any council or in society more broadly.”

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.