Bali wedding a warning as dancing returns

An Australian wedding held in Bali in mid-March resulted in around half the attendees contracting COVID-19.

Welcome to The Medical Republic‘s COVID Catch-Up.

It’s the day’s COVID-19 news in one convenient post. Email bianca@biancanogrady.com with any tips, comments or feedback.

24 September

• Half the guests at an Australian wedding in Bali get COVID-19, study finds.
• US spends pandemic funds on military hardware while hospitals run out of PPE.
• Latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia.

• As NSW moves to ease restrictions to allow dancing at weddings (except your drunk uncle who dances like an octopus on crutches), science delivers a timely reminder of the risks of such exuberant and touchy-feely social gathering.
  A paper published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence describes a wedding held in Bali which resulted in around half the attendees contracting COVID-19. The 41 attendees travelled to Bali from Australia in mid-March for the event, and upon their return one attendee tested positive for COVID-19.
  The retrospective cohort study interviewed 17 of the attendees and collected health data for another 24. Overall, 23 individuals tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and the most common symptoms were cough, chills, loss of taste and smell, headache and fatigue.
  Those who attended the wedding day itself had a 66% higher risk of infection than those who didn’t, and those who smoked shared water pipes had a two-fold higher odds.
  “Our study highlights the important role which social gatherings play in transmission of COVID-19 and underscores the importance of physical distancing to control the spread of COVID-19,” the authors wrote.
• Another one for the ‘WTF America?!?’ file: The Washington Post reports that most of the US$1 billion that was approved by Congress to buy medical equipment for the pandemic has instead been spent by military defence contractors on jet engine parts, body armour and uniforms.
  US hospitals are still experiencing shortages of PPE, and the CDC has warned that around US$6 billion will be needed to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, the Post reports.
• Here are the latest confirmed COVID-19 infections numbers from around Australia, to 9pm Wednesday:
  National – 26,973, with 859 deaths.
  ACT – 113 (0)
  NSW – 4212 (6)
  NT – 33 (0)
  QLD – 1153 (0)
  SA – 467 (1)
  TAS – 230 (0)
  VIC – 20100 (15)
  WA – 665 (0)