Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[stryker]

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?

No one, it seems, on this board (perhaps apart from me) cares...

Well, they are "frequent flyers".

 

[Must...Fly!]

No one, it seems, on this board (perhaps apart from me) cares...

Well, they are "frequent flyers".

It's not about not caring, it's about reality.

How many casuals are on reduced or zero hours at the moment in NSW, ACT, QLD and VIC?

There is a balance to be struck in the coming months as vaccinations increase and hit a natural peak, and we as a nation must rise to that challenge.

COVID zero is no longer our future. It never was actually, it was only our present but as a nation it is now our past.

 

[MelMel]

I’m gobsmacked - I didn‘t realise NSW didn’t have this up until now

 

[jb747]

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.

Grown men chasing a leather bladder around a paddock. It would be much more interesting if it were randomly explosive.

 

[Pushka]

I’m gobsmacked - I didn‘t realise NSW didn’t have this up until now View attachment 255411

Every day I'm surprised at what has, and hasn't been happening.

Post automatically merged: Aug 13, 2021

Grown men chasing a leather bladder around a paddock. It would be much more interesting if it were randomly explosive.

Geez, I'd actually watch that.

 

[bcworld]

New rules in NSW

https://twitter.com/x/status/1426110890441461766

 

[N860CR]

No one, it seems, on this board (perhaps apart from me) cares...

Well, they are "frequent flyers".

This sort of hysteria is what needs to stop. The concern raised there was that somebody might be unwell. Unwell. It’s nothing to do with “not caring”, it’s about being realistic and accepting the way things are. If we are going to drop everything because someone is “unwell” then we shouldn’t even bother getting out of bed in the morning.

 

[suze2000]

While the rhetoric of Vics ring of steel was useful.
In reality I suspect it was little different to what NSW is doing.

It was very different. They put up concrete bollards and checked every car - asked who they were and where they were going and proof that they were essential workers if they were crossing the ring of steel. I have a friend who lived out of it and worked inside of it. It was a massive workload for the police, but there was actually very little crime during the lockdown because everyone was required to be at home, so regular policing was less onerous (though not non-existent, obviously).

 

[Must...Fly!]

It was very different. They put up concrete bollards and checked every car - asked who they were and where they were going and proof that they were essential workers if they were crossing the ring of steel. I have a friend who lived out of it and worked inside of it. It was a massive workload for the police, but there was actually very little crime during the lockdown because everyone was required to be at home, so regular policing was less onerous (though not non-existent, obviously).

Every car was not checked after the first two days, when they realised that traffic queues of several kilometres on a freeway were a fatality waiting to happen. Pity South Australia didn't learn from this.

 

[moa999]

not checked after the first two days, when they realised that traffic queues of several kilometres on a freeway were a fatality waiting to happen. P

Yep.
That was what I was told - spot checks at best, and many ways around it. More like a leaky colander.

But the rhetoric is far better than NSW and it may have stopped some from trying

 

[Pushka]

No one, it seems, on this board (perhaps apart from me) cares...

Well, they are "frequent flyers".

Depends on what you classify as 'care'.

I am very concerned about my DIL who is desperate to hug her mum in the UK while she cares for her young family here in Australia and is a family doctor working at the coal face.

I care for the people who face a very uncertain financial future with young families.

I care for the young people who have lost two years of their eduction. I care for their welfare being never able to have important milestones of their life experience.

I care for those parents with young kids who through restrictions cannot see their kids do the things that we should see kids do. They remember.

I care for those people who have missed never to be repeated important milestones in their family life, including funerals of their parents, their children. Their weddings. Who cannot console their family when their relationships breakdown. Cannot hug their mums on mother's day. Cannot see their grandchildren.

Who cannot see their aged or disabled relatives because they are in lockdown and not sure when they will see them again.

We care. More than you obviously know.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Depends on what you classify as 'care'.

I am very concerned about my DIL who is desperate to hug her mum in the UK while she cares for her young family here in Australia and is a family doctor working at the coal face.

I care for the people who face a very uncertain financial future with young families.

I care for the young people who have lost two years of their eduction. I care for their welfare being never able to have important milestones of their life experience.

I care for those parents with young kids who through restrictions cannot see their kids do the things that we should see kids do. They remember.

I care for those people who have missed never to be repeated important milestones in their family life, including funerals of their parents, their children. Their weddings. Who cannot console their family when their relationships breakdown. Cannot hug their mums on mother's day. Cannot see their grandchildren.

Who cannot see their aged or disabled relatives because they are in lockdown and not sure when they will see them again.

We care. More than you obviously know.

But what is being advocated is the complete abolishment of all restrictions so that we can 'live freely'. Sweden tried that and abandoned it. Taiwan and Singapore had that to some degree but have also introduced lockdowns.

Will complete freedom allow all those milestones you mention in your post to happen? The student can either miss attending school because of a lockdown, or they can miss school because they are sick, or their teacher is sick, and so on. My cousin is a teacher in their early 40s and got very sick with covid. The students still had disruption for over a month while their teacher was sick, and then in recovery.

We might not be able to hug mum on mother's day, but if mum is in isolation (shielded) or in hospital, that hug might still not happen. Isn't it better to know mum is alive and safe? And you can give her a hug the week after mother's day than not at all?

The argument is that if we have complete freedom all businesses will be open and thriving. Will that actually be the case when our daily cases are in their thousands? As was shown in Victoria, even if restrictions are lifted, it's not a guarantee that customers will return. People have not embraced returning to Melbourne's CBD even when allowed to do so.

 

[Pushka]

But what is being advocated is the complete abolishment of all restrictions so that we can 'live freely'. Sweden tried that and abandoned it. Taiwan and Singapore had that to some degree but have also introduced lockdowns.

Will complete freedom allow all those milestones you mention in your post to happen? The student can either miss attending school because of a lockdown, or they can miss school because they are sick, or their teacher is sick, and so on. My cousin is a teacher in their early 40s and got very sick with covid. The students still had disruption for over a month while their teacher was sick, and then in recovery.

We might not be able to hug mum on mother's day, but if mum is in isolation (shielded) or in hospital, that hug might still not happen. Isn't it better to know mum is alive and safe? And you can give her a hug the week after mother's day than not at all?

The argument is that if we have complete freedom all businesses will be open and thriving. Will that actually be the case when our daily cases are in their thousands? As was shown in Victoria, even if restrictions are lifted, it's not a guarantee that customers will return. People have not embraced returning to Melbourne's CBD even when allowed to do so.

What does being alive and safe mean if you can't hug your family and don't know when that might happen?

I do not advocate and have never advocated an abandon all rules approach and the failed examples have been all All or none.

Vaccinate. Wear masks. Socially distance with strangers. Be with your family. Hug them. Accept risk. Live the way you want and need to live.

 

[N860CR]

But what is being advocated is the complete abolishment of all restrictions so that we can 'live freely'. Sweden tried that and abandoned it. Taiwan and Singapore had that to some degree but have also introduced lockdowns.

Again, and I’m over telling you this, nobody is advocating removing all restrictions. The restrictions in NSW are amongst the harshest in the world and they don’t reflect the level of risk.

The fact that people can’t see their own families at the moment is ridiculous. Especially when more than a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated and the vulnerable have had six months to do it.

 

[kyle]

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).

I'm going back to the disposables (and bought some grey ones on Amazon which look better) because they are much easier to breathe!

 

[ethernet]

More OR fun and logarithmic progressions since I scribbled an estimate when NSW would loose elimination and seek containment and a delaying action as vaccine arrivals begin to ramp up. 134 days until Christmas. Or say 19 weeks. Lets assume the cost is 1.5 Billion per week, and we still have blockade runners.
We observe since lockdown numbers are not bouncing, but rising firmly to strongly. At this rate Christmas shopping and the silly season will have to be BANNED in a very hard lockdown. I suppose click and collect will not quell unsuppressed anger, where a 2nd Christmas of no customers will bankrupt many mature businesses. Lets assume 7-10 deaths per week is manageable as long as ICU does not explode. That is why NSW is seeking 65% vaccination rate from above, so that an economic/political catastrophe is blunted. And instant test strips broken out to put window dressing / distraction from the main issue.

I have not included the cost of those suffering from necessary surgery, or the impact of long covid.
I have not included cost of code red/bypass in hospitals, because there is no 'slack' in the system.
I have not included school kids coming home after school year, increasing household density
I have not included priority peoples whose current vaccination rate is HALF of the general population at around 20%. Not to be outdone, SA Ambulance workers setting awful numbers as well. WA has decided to close the gate, again.

Knowing some of the above will come true, some emergency hard hitting commercials are needed yesterday. The NSW directions now include 3 week vaccination activation windows.
19 weeks - 6 weeks. The best outcome is could NSW hit 80% in 13 weeks, if Santa is coming to the party.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Again, and I’m over telling you this, nobody is advocating removing all restrictions.

This is exactly the point. It's not an all or nothing approach, it's taking risk in to account when calculating what freedoms you need to, as a government, impinge upon.

Who cannot console their family when their relationships breakdown.

Didn't want to say this but I'll be honest. This struck a chord with me as it's exactly what I'm going through this week, relationship of 4 years all but over. Would like nothing more than to be at home with family and friends, but alas it is not possible - and that's a great shame. And to add, the travel and other various restrictions have necessitated putting a few big things on hold, which have significantly contributed to the breakdown of the relationship.

So, yes, there is more to this than just raw numbers. And I am far from the worst off, that's for sure. I still feel much worse for those with family overseas really needing to reunite for many reasons better than the above.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Again, and I’m over telling you this, nobody is advocating removing all restrictions. The restrictions in NSW are amongst the harshest in the world and they don’t reflect the level of risk.

The fact that people can’t see their own families at the moment is ridiculous. Especially when more than a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated and the vulnerable have had six months to do it.

You're only looking at the risk of dying. Not the risk of large numbers of people - some for long periods of time - suffering due to covid even when surviving it. The teacher might not die, but they could be off work for a month. And students could have two or three of their teachers each off for a month. That might not be less disruptive than home schooling.

 

[N860CR]

Didn't want to say this but I'll be honest. This struck a chord with me as it's exactly what I'm going through this week, relationship of 4 years all but over. Would like nothing more than to be at home with family and friends, but alas it is not possible - and that's a great shame. And to add, the travel and other various restrictions have necessitated putting a few big things on hold, which have significantly contributed to the breakdown of the relationship

I’m sorry. And I hope you’re doing ok. I went through the same during the worst of a previous lockdown and it’s hard. Being alone with 10 years of memories to process isn’t healthy. Actually one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through to be honest. But you’ll come out a lot stronger.

 

[N860CR]

You're only looking at the risk of dying. Not the risk of large numbers of people - some for long periods of time - suffering due to covid even when surviving it. The teacher might not die, but they could be off work for a month. And students could have two or three of their teachers each off for a month. That might not be less disruptive than home schooling.

Yes. There is not a whole lot of evidence to suggest that “long covid” is any worse than recovery time from any number of fairly mild viruses.

At last count, there are 205mil confirmed covid cases worldwide. The WHO has said they believe the real number is 10 times higher than that. That’s 2 billion infections, or a quarter of the worlds population. I very much doubt that 1 in 4 people are currently on their backs for months on end.