Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[Pushka]

My understanding is that 10,000 attendance per day was granted which is still not enough to break even. From a high ranking SAPOL officer I was also told that the government weren’t keen on the show all along as it’s the site of our biggest vaccination hub and with supplies starting to ramp ump they weren’t keen on interrupting the roll out or jeopardising vaccinations but sourcing and setting up alternate locations. The Showgrounds will hopefully be a hive of activity in the coming months but for other reasons

Originally they said the Vax centre would close for the show which didn't seem right. Then they said it would stay open, which likewise didn't seem right. Haven't been to the show for years but had thought it was very unlikely to proceed. Maybe there are 5000 people working in the show leaving 5000 people. And it only takes one case and everything is shut down anyway.

Post automatically merged: Aug 13, 2021

I think most people ask 'what would rioting in the streets achieve'? What if the rioters got what they wanted... all restrictions abolished. Then what? Everyone has covid and hospitals are overwhelmed. All this when vaccination targets are just 12 weeks away?

The rioting or at least public displeasure will be fully in force once the 80% target is reached.

 

[QF WP]

I'm still confused about why ACT thought it would fare any different to NSW regions. As harsh as it is to hear for Canberrans, if you are going to declare all of NSW a hotspot, it has to include ACT. It's functionally a region of NSW unless they implement a hard border.

The previous arguments about "we've been covid free for most of the pandemic" also applies to the NSW regions. Now it doesn't.

I have a friend who lives in Queanbeyan (which is in NSW) but works in Canberra. Queanbeyan has a separate sewerage system and nothing recorded from it yet. So next week he'll have to work from home as his office (Govt Department) will be shut.

He's also a ski instructor and plies his trade at Thredbo. They've asked people who have been in Canberra in the past 7 days not to come to work.

 

[Seat0B]

Live update - my relative has now waited 6 hours today, as a close contact ordered to test by the government, on top of the 7 hours she waited yesterday before being turned away. She’s a lot more tolerant and compliant than I feel right now. It’s really not good enough.

Well, they have now waited for 8 hours today and the queue has not moved at all for 3 hrs apparently. That’s on top of waiting 7 hrs yesterday only to be turned away. And they are only there because they were told to go by ACT Health after being at a cafe at the same time as Bouncer Guy earlier in the week.

This is just another government cluster f@#k. I hope they took some sustenance and boredom busters with them.

You can't blame the ACT authorities. Who would have thought that Covid would have been able to penetrate the ring of steel protecting Canberra? It's no wonder they didn't have a plan in place to handle large numbers of Covid tests!

Can’t argue with you at all @nutwood. Just hopeless. Couldn’t organise anything pleasurable for themselves with a fist full of $50s in Fyshwick.

 

[Seat0B]

Still zero in SA, masks to remain in all indoor and many outdoor settings. Limits of 10 in households. Ordered some nicer disposable masks yesterday as I cannot wear the washable ones and breathe at the same time. Expectations from SA Health it's just a matter of time for another lockdown.

Royal Show cancelled yesterday as they were only allowed 5000 people on site, which as the organisers said, was almost accounted for just by people working there. Was due to start in 3 weeks. Footy going ahead with 15,000. Sigh.

OMG, what is it with the bloody football. Enough already. They are not special, or important, or worth the risk for real people. Just cancel it all. Or make them play for the love of their game with no spectator. Unbelievable.

 

[Seat0B]

When I was out today I was just thinking that now that the large majority of people now are wearing the disposable blue medical masks.

Whereas it used to be the that the majority were wearing cloth masks (both bought and homemade).

At least here in ACT, that’s because it is now possible to buy the blue masks at an acceptable price. When they were first available, places like pharmacies and supermarkets were charging a king’s ransom for a box (I seem to recall over $100 for a box of 50 masks) - and they were very hard to source. So really h9me made or other fabric masks were all that was affordable and available. Now disposable masks are much more widely available and ca; be bought for $20 per 50 masks (or they could until lockdown started yesterday), I think a lot of people prefer them because they are easier to wear and breathe at the same time. YMMV.

 

[Seat0B]

The ACT CM at the presser made a few rather extraordinary statements;

1). We have been planning for this (when we have Covid cases).

2). If you are not a close contact and don't have symptoms then don't get tested.

3). No other jurisdiction was able to ramp up their testing sufficiently in the first couple of days.

It seems to me;

1). Planning was insufficient. Perhaps they didn't notice 6 lockdowns in nearby Victoria and various lockdowns in Sydney?

2). OK they can't cope but is this a message they really want to broadcast?

3). Ah OK. Everybody else stuffed up so we can as well. That is all right then!

I hope at some point they don't go on about their 'world class' response.

Yep it’s a total cluster. I’m sick of being asked to do the right thing and then having significant hurdles imposed. As many will have gathered, I’m sick of the whole thing. I want to take my bat and ball and go home now, home to 2019.

 

[N860CR]

I think most people ask 'what would rioting in the streets achieve'? What if the rioters got what they wanted... all restrictions abolished. Then what? Everyone has covid and hospitals are overwhelmed. All this when vaccination targets are just 12 weeks away?

Because it’s a democracy.

You made this exact same claim back in January. How many more “12 weeks” are we going to do?

 

[jakeseven7]

The rioting or at least public displeasure will be fully in force once the 80% target is reached.

There is already quiet civil disobedience happening everywhere. It’s done now.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Because it’s a democracy.

You made this exact same claim back in January. How many more “12 weeks” are we going to do?

The question was that if the rioters get their way and have the restrictions abolished... what's the outcome they would be hoping for? Covid running without check or control? I'm not sure that's a good outcome.

I made a very different claim in January. In January we didn't know what the answer was... more quarantine, treatments, a vaccine, the Swedish model, that Taipei/Singapore/Vietnam models, or 'live with covid'.

We needed to wait a couple months to see if the vaccine worked. It does.

Now we have a final few weeks to push the rollout to achieve the 70% and 80% targets.

 

[OATEK]

I was discussing with family today how I had not yet come across any friends or business associates that have had Covid. My daughter said a colleague at work (well only online at present) has Covid. She caught it from her Mum who caught from her grandmother. Two brothers also infected. Grandmother in hospital (Liverpool I think). All in S/W Sydney.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Over 400 published exposure sites in Victoria now.

And new regional ones.

View attachment 255403

Bit of an oops from Vic Dept of Health

 

[N860CR]

The question was that if the rioters get their way and have the restrictions abolished... what's the outcome they would be hoping for? Covid running without check or control? I'm not sure that's a good outcome.

Businesses saved. Families saved. Freedom restored. I’d say that’s a great outcome. Nobody is saying abolish all restrictions, the extreme restrictions being imposed on NSW do not match the risk. Again, the vulnerable have had a chance to be vaccinated. The risk needs to be based on the impact to those who have not had that chance.

I made a very different claim in January. In January we didn't know what the answer was... more quarantine, treatments, a vaccine, the Swedish model, that Taipei/Singapore/Vietnam models, or 'live with covid'.

You said why would be lift restrictions when we’ll be vaccinated in a few months. That few months is now stretching into a full year. And that’s assuming the goal posts aren’t moved again.

 

[jase05]

OMG, what is it with the bloody football. Enough already. They are not special, or important, or worth the risk for real people. Just cancel it all. Or make them play for the love of their game with no spectator. Unbelievable.

They are playing with zero crowd in Victoria.
In SA the state league and all metro and country amateur leagues are on tomorrow with crowds allowed

 

[Jenya]

Businesses saved. Families saved. Freedom restored. I’d say that’s a great outcome

On the back of hundreds lives lost which is inevitable in this case? No, its not a great outcome.

 

[jakeseven7]

Did anyone even bother listening to the debrief from ‘National Cabinet’? I don’t bother anymore… anything remotely useful?

I know QLD were ready with the hot coals to find out how NSW was going to ‘stop the spread north’… sigh.

 

[N860CR]

On the back of hundreds lives lost which is inevitable in this case? No, its not a great outcome.

I believe in the current outbreak there have been three deaths amongst those who were not eligible to be vaccinated. I think I heard today that it’s up to 10,000 cases. 3 in 10,000. The restrictions are doing far more damage than that.

For some context, Australia has had approx 22,000 deaths from other causes in the 7 weeks of lockdown.

Post automatically merged: Aug 13, 2021

Did anyone even bother listening to the debrief from ‘National Cabinet’? I don’t bother anymore… anything remotely useful?

Nothing at all

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I believe in the current outbreak there have been three deaths amongst those who were not eligible to be vaccinated. I think I heard today that it’s up to 10,000 cases. 3 in 10,000. The restrictions are doing far more damage than that.

For some context, Australia has had approx 22,000 deaths from other causes in the 7 weeks of lockdown.

Post automatically merged: Aug 13, 2021

Nothing at all

But it's not just deaths. Many people contracting covid are very unwell. Who's going to pay for a casual who gets sick and can't go in to work for a couple weeks, or longer?

 

[Must...Fly!]

On the back of hundreds lives lost which is inevitable in this case? No, its not a great outcome.

On the other hand, reporting the death of a person in their late 90s in palliative care as a COVID death shouldn't be considered tragic.

Did anyone even bother listening to the debrief from ‘National Cabinet’? I don’t bother anymore… anything remotely useful?

I know QLD were ready with the hot coals to find out how NSW was going to ‘stop the spread north’… sigh.

I don't bother listening any more either. Until it proves itself as useful, I've tuned right out.

 

[N860CR]

But it's not just deaths. Many people contracting covid are very unwell. Who's going to pay for a casual who gets sick and can't go in to work for a couple weeks, or longer?

So we don’t reopen because a casual may get sick? I can’t imagine they’re making a lot of money right now….

On the other hand, reporting the death of a person in their late 90s in palliative care as a COVID death shouldn't be considered tragic.

Exactly. The fact that we’re even taking about people who are nearly 100 years old dying in palliative care is the clearest indication as to just how out of touch Australia is with reality.

How many businesses went bust today? Families fell apart? Homes lost? Lives destroyed? That’s tragic, but doesn’t even rate a mention.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Almost everyone in the country will be exposed to COVID-19 in the next 2-3 years.

It's that simple & is now a fact of life that is impossible to ignore.

Get vaccinated and protect yourself & others around you, because you have no idea when that might be.

Prolonging the economic and mental suffering of the community once we have a significant portion of the population (in particular the vulnerable population) vaccinated through travel restrictions (domestic or otherwise) and lockdowns is simply not reasonable and should not be tolerated.

We should celebrate what we have done as a nation, and look forward to fighting the battles ahead instead of looking in the rear view mirror and pointing fingers and bickering amongst each other (i.e. the states).