Western Sydney Health Check

Behind the lines with disease detective Dr Shopna Bag

September 24, 2020 Western Sydney Local Health District staff Episode 15
Western Sydney Health Check
Behind the lines with disease detective Dr Shopna Bag
Show Notes

We welcome our first return guest this episode in Dr Shopna Bag, director of the Public Health Unit in Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD).

Dr Bag and her team have led the incredible contact tracing efforts in Western Sydney, interviewing every one of our 500+ COVID-19 patients to find out how they caught disease and who they might have passed it onto.

In this interview she delivers expert insight into how NSW managed to cope better with the 'second wave' of infections in July compared to the first spike in March.

Dr Bag also directly addresses the accusations that we 'overreacted' in our response to a disease that has now claimed nearly one million lives worldwide.

She speaks personally about the highs and lows of working with patients during this stressful time, what she's learned about herself this year, and why she loves working in public health.