This week the Z-man is on vacation and the Restoration Global Watchdog worked the show with Radio Joe. Here is a Watchdog recap of today’s show…
This week we welcome back Brad Prezant to IAQradio+. It’s been 8 years since we had Brad on the show he is now working in Australia.
Brad Prezant is an evidence-based public health scientist with a background in epidemiology, occupational health & hygiene, and ergonomics.
Until the company was sold in 2007, he operated Prezant Associates, Inc. in Seattle, providing consulting, training, and laboratory services for 20+ years.
After migrating to New Zealand in 2008, Mr. Prezant spent 3 years at Massey University researching a variety of occupational health issues including solvent exposure to auto body painters, fumigant and VOC exposures from shipping containers, and dust exposures to woodworkers.
He previously was Chief Editor of AIHA’s first edition of Recognition, Evaluation, and Control of Indoor Mold, an author of several other standard of care documents, and is the current Vice President for Practice of ISIAQ (International Society of Indoor Air Quality & Climate).
Since 2015, he is Chief Scientific Officer at VA Sciences, an occupational health consultancy, IICRC training facility (TESA Directive), and microbiological laboratory (Symbiotic Labs) in Melbourne, Australia.
He is involved in a wide variety of indoor air quality and occupational health issues, from indoor moisture and mould to ventilation, traditional IH exposure assessment, and infection transmission indoors.
Q: What has Brad been up to since the last time he was on in Jan. 2012
After completing his epidemiology research in New Zealand, he immigrated to Australia and for the past five years has been living and working in Melbourne in the state of Victoria as a consultant.
Q: How is Australia handling COVID?
- Some states are COVID free; Melbourne has been in a strict lockdown.
- Various states around the country have closed their borders to other states to control transmission (in some cases, 0 case states are closed to 0 case states).
- There are various government support programs including JobKeeper and JobSeeker, as well as salary support to small companies and select industries to prevent unemployment.
- The government supports minimum pay for persons forced to isolate due to possible COVID -19 infection.
- There are “back packer” types around the country “looking for work” and as non-citizens get no government support.
Q: Are schools open, bars, restaurants and what about travel restrictions?
- The hospitality industry has been hurt bad.
- No theaters, no arts (except online), etc.
- Victoria is the worst impacted state, particularly Melbourne.
- The states call the shots on border restrictions, accepting overseas returning citizens, etc.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governors_of_the_Australian_states
- Certain state borders get closed and opened based on transmission risk and fluctuations of confirmed cases.
- Travel to New Zealand has been erroneously reported through the rumor mill though has been proposed as a self-contained bubble – only permitted travel is permitted currently for critical business reasons andselect compassionate reasons, and only with hotel quarantine.
- There is no tourism except within state when allowed at present.
- Business travel requires rigorous screening/vetting and requires quarantining
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