Support women in science at Burnet Institute
Donate today to support women in science at Burnet and their work to unlock the vaginal microbiome and reduce risk of HIV infection and preterm birth for women around the world.
Donate today to support women in science at Burnet and their work to unlock the vaginal microbiome and reduce risk of HIV infection and preterm birth for women around the world.
The Optimise Study is a research project led by Burnet Institute and Doherty Institute, that aims to find out how Victorians are experiencing COVID-19 and responding to the measures introduced to stop the spread of the virus.
The information gathered in this research project will help guide Victoria’s approach to COVID-19, both to prevent new infections and to reduce the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19 restriction and prevention measures.
The study is focused on two key intervention methods to restrict the spread of the COVID-19 virus – isolation/quarantine and physical distancing.
This network image is an example of close contact between people from the Optimise Project which covers from the beginning of the project in September 2020 until September 2021. The network image does not show all people involved in the Optimise Project, but instead focuses on only some of the connections between people.
The blue dots are people in the Optimise Project, and are participants or other people that participants have contact with. The grey lines represent the close contact between people. You can see that between some people (i.e., some blue dots) there are many lines between people who interact a lot with one another. Between other people, there is only one connection between people indicating only one interaction between those people. And of course, there are no lines between some people, meaning they do not have contact with one another at all. You can see that some people cluster together in groups, while others only have regular contact with one other person. It is natural for people to differ in how many others they connect with.
Click to view a larger image.
The below animation, which shows the speed and far reach of the spread of COVID-19 across greater Melbourne in 2020, highlights the need for populations to practice physical distancing and follow isolation/quarantine orders.
“Even with high vaccine coverage across the community, if people have COVID-like symptoms they still need to get tested and stay home until they get their test result,” Burnet Deputy Director Professor Margaret Hellard AM said.
Evidence from the Optimise Study will also assist community organisations and key health service groups in restoring economic activity and recreational activities whilst keeping new infections of COVID-19 at a low level. This involves real-time testing of key interventions to allow global scaling at speed.
Melbourne University
Swinburne University
LaTrobe University
Monash University
Victorian Department of Health & Human Services
Centre for Culture Ethnicity and Health
Health Issues Centre
Royal Children’s Hospital
Independent Multicultural Consultant
OPTIMISE REPORTS
Report 17: COVID-19 vaccine intention, and adherence to isolation and quarantine recommendations
Special Report: A rapid survey examining frequency, impacts of long COVID and associated concerns
Report 16: COVID-19 related worry, acceptability of prevention measures and confidence in government
Special Report: Concerns about children returning to school in 2022
Special Report: Summer 2021-2022 Snapshot
Report 15: COVID-19 testing, test positivity and contacts over time
Report 14: COVID-19 worry and perceptions about infection and potential severity
Report 13: Impacts of the COVID-19 response on culturally and linguistically diverse communities
Report 11: COVID-19 testing and vaccination
Report 10: Information access and communication about COVID-19
Report 9: Vaccination knowledge, attitudes and beliefs
Report 8: Impact of government restrictions on risk mitigation strategies
Report 7: The impact of COVID-19 on income and finances
Report 6: Gendered differences in coping and responding to COVID-19
Report 5: Social Networks and Mixing Patterns
Report 4: Vaccine Preparedness
Report 3: Testing and Strategies to Improve Testing Uptake – February 2021
Report 2: Vaccine Confidence – December 2020
CARE SURVEY REPORTS
CARE Survey 7. Report to the Victorian Department of Health, June 2022
CARE Survey 6: Report to the Victorian Department of Health, December 2021
CARE Report 5 and Appendix. Report to the Victorian Department of Health, November 2021
CARE Report 4 and Appendix. Report to the Victorian Department of Health, August 2021
CARE Report 3, COVID-19 Attitudes, Practices and Impacts: The Victorian Experience. Report to the Victorian Department of Health, October 2020
COMMUNITY FORUM REPORTS
Report 1: COVID-19 - What needs to come next?
Report 2: Rapid Antigen Testing
Report 3: COVID vaccinations - what are the barriers for your family?
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GROUP FOR CALD
(Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities)
12 months
AUD$3 million total
For any general enquiries relating to this project, please contact: