Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[SydneySwan]

Could actually be a nice money earner for hotels otherwise sitting empty and likewise for these secondary airports which are going to get NOTHING for a long time....

Some of these secondary ports could flip this into an opportunity....

(All hinges of course on a well run program)

It doesn't solve the problem that the state governments are getting fed up with the costs. I know NSW is very unhappy as they have quarantined many pax from other states without reimbursement from those states. I think now is the time to make it a user pays system and anyone coming in now should pay for their own quarantine, Pax have had 3 / 4 months to get back since quarantine was introduced so have had plenty of time to return.

If it was user pays states would be competing to receive flights as it is jobs for their airports, hotels, etc.

 

[jase05]

Reports of someone trying to escape one of the residential towers today and on capture they bit a police officer

 

[jakeseven7]

Reports of someone trying to escape one of the residential towers today and on capture they bit a police officer

Rabies? Or has Zombie mode has been initiated?

It doesn't solve the problem that the state governments are getting fed up with the costs. I know NSW is very unhappy as they have quarantined many pax from other states without reimbursement from those states. I think now is the time to make it a user pays system and anyone coming in now should pay for their own quarantine, Pax have had 3 / 4 months to get back since quarantine was introduced so have had plenty of time to return.

If it was user pays states would be competing to receive flights as it is jobs for their airports, hotels, etc.

Agree - make them bid for it! It honestly would be a really great economic driver. Even TSV could get in on the action!

 

[Pushka]

Reports of someone trying to escape one of the residential towers today and on capture they bit a police officer

It's disgusting. Biting of all things. I can understand a push or shove. But biting is the lowest of lows.

 

[DC3]

Reports of someone trying to escape one of the residential towers today and on capture they bit a police officer

I hope that this is not true. I view biting/spitting as pretty disgusting behaviour. Such actions achieve what, exactly?

 

[jase05]

I hope that this is not true. I view biting/spitting as pretty disgusting behaviour. Such actions achieve what, exactly?

Without casting aspersions I recall talk yesterday that these towers are home to many vulnerable and troubled residents with plenty having drug dependency issues

 

[Flying mermaid]

Each state seems to be fed up with paying for hotel quarantine now and are taking action to ensure planes go elsewhere;

BNE charges pax for the quarantine.
PER now wants one flight every 3 days.
MEL is closed for 2 weeks.
SYD will only allow 450 pax per day and max of 50 per flight.

So are DRW, ADL, HBA, CBR about to get very busy or Is Australia closing to international flights by stealth?

Cbr has already been taking international flights. I know we had one from Nepal recently and possibly one from India as well. Our Chief Minister has already said we are happy to take more flights but I think only one at a time, as we don’t have the ability to do more.

 

[DC3]

Without casting aspersions I recall talk yesterday that these towers are home to many vulnerable and troubled residents with plenty having drug dependency issues

No doubt. And a lockdown messes up people’s plans no end. Desperation for some, it seems.

 

[Pushka]

Without casting aspersions I recall talk yesterday that these towers are home to many vulnerable and troubled residents with plenty having drug dependency issues

I can only wonder how the Govt can manage that.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I am worried about the management plan for the positives. Whatever the plan was at Newmarch in Sydney it clearly failed. Some of the families in the Melbourne Towers have enough kids for a sports team but only 3 or 4 bedrooms. If one person tests positive but does not require hospital treatment then how do you prevent the spread to the rest of the family?

With respect to Aged Care Facilities in Victoria while have I not kept track of the exact number of facilities there must have been well over a dozen in recent times and none have grown out of control. Indeed virtually all have not had cases beyond the initial one or two. I think one of the lessons from Newmarch was not to leave it just to the facility to control things.

So while Vic did stuff up the hotel quarantine at two hotels, they have done well with Aged Care Facilities.

Now the Apartment Towers is on whole another magnitude of course. Hence the reference by some to it being a vertical cruise ship. With the ships in quarantine as I understand poor PPE protocols by the crew, who were also often infected themselves and fomite transmission via food trays were thought to key reasons for the cases continuing to grow.

Even with everything being done perfectly there will most likely already be people who are already infected, but who will not yet be positive. Plus most people are yet to be tested. So cases there will most likely climb even without one new infection.

 

[jakeseven7]

Each state seems to be fed up with paying for hotel quarantine now and are taking action to ensure planes go elsewhere;

BNE charges pax for the quarantine.
PER now wants one flight every 3 days.
MEL is closed for 2 weeks.
SYD will only allow 450 pax per day and max of 50 per flight.

So are DRW, ADL, HBA, CBR about to get very busy

What about adding TSV, CNS, OOL to this list? Could be a business opp here, QLD hotels and airports are EMPTY! So just need some ability to manage the logistics....

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Significant points from today:

There have been two new deaths reported since yesterday. A man in his 90s passed away in hospital yesterday and the Department has just confirmed another man in his 60s passed away in hospital this morning. To date, 22 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

Two new abattoir cases

• One new case at the JBS abattoir in Brooklyn. All staff at the site are being tested and the department’s outbreak squad will visit today to ensure the appropriate public health actions are taken.
• One new case at the Pacific Meats abattoir in Thomastown. The site has closed, and all workers will be tested.

Plus:

• One case in a worker from the Woolworths online fulfillment centre. It’s believed the person worked shifts while infectious and the contact tracing process is underway.
• 14 new cases linked to the Al-Taqwa College outbreak, all previously identified school contacts. We have also linked some existing cases, taking the total number of cases linked to the outbreak to 77.
• One new case linked to the Camberwell Grammar School outbreak, taking the total to four
• 16 cases relating to the North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers. These cases, plus existing cases on site that have now been linked to the outbreak, take the total number of cases to 53.

 

[jeza]

It's been mentioned that currently there are 1100 people currently quarantined in 5 hotels in WA. It's not just having the rooms available, there is also having the number of suitably skilled persons in place to ensure the quarantine is enforced, There was one fellow that may still be in the clink after his escapades when quarantine was first introduced.

Given that life in WA apart from the borders being closed is pretty close to being relatively normal I'm not sure you will see any real desire from a majority of WA people to have that change in the short term.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

It's been mentioned that currently there are 1100 people currently quarantined in 5 hotels in WA. It's not just having the rooms available, there is also having the number of suitably skilled persons in place to ensure the quarantine is enforced, There was one fellow that may still be in the clink after his escapades when quarantine was first introduced.

Given that life in WA apart from the borders being closed is pretty close to being relatively normal I'm not sure you will see any real desire from a majority of WA people to have that change in the short term.

WA is slightly below processing returnees from overseas on a pro-rata basis.

So it should be either train more people up, or somehow have WA residents who are overseas not return to Australia. The second is unlikely, and there are I believe about one million people overseas who are residents of Australia who could return (many will not of course, well at least not immediately).

SA is the main state that is below processing returnees on a pro-rata basis.

 

[p--and--t]

Significant points from today:

There have been two new deaths reported since yesterday. A man in his 90s passed away in hospital yesterday and the Department has just confirmed another man in his 60s passed away in hospital this morning. To date, 22 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

Two new abattoir cases

• One new case at the JBS abattoir in Brooklyn. All staff at the site are being tested and the department’s outbreak squad will visit today to ensure the appropriate public health actions are taken.
• One new case at the Pacific Meats abattoir in Thomastown. The site has closed, and all workers will be tested.

Plus:

• One case in a worker from the Woolworths online fulfillment centre. It’s believed the person worked shifts while infectious and the contact tracing process is underway.
• 14 new cases linked to the Al-Taqwa College outbreak, all previously identified school contacts. We have also linked some existing cases, taking the total number of cases linked to the outbreak to 77.
• One new case linked to the Camberwell Grammar School outbreak, taking the total to four
• 16 cases relating to the North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers. These cases, plus existing cases on site that have now been linked to the outbreak, take the total number of cases to 53.

Sad two more passed away, but that should be expected unfortunately.

I wonder idly whether the number of deaths from natural causes and seasonal flu has dropped with more people with cause of death marked covid. I do note in some jurisdictions outside AU it has been reported they don't bother to test for covid if the death occurred outside the context of a hospital or the person was already in hospital / seriously ill with something else.

One of the things that my idle mind often question is how long those people were in hospital and whether that are or are not related to what is happening this month. e.g. was either of them diagnosed and/or admitted to hospital several weeks ago or just recently.

The other thing that doesn't seem to get reported is if its been classified as covid because the person was tested and the policy is to add the case to the numbers but the death was more related to co-morbidity. I think I read somewhere (IIRC) that if the person had covid at some point then they were added to the totals almost regardless of the eventual cause of death, I could be wrong of course. (None of it is actually my business, but minds do wander and wonder)

As others have pointed out we are getting a lot of infections counted/reported, making the figures look more frightening than they should be as connections to known cases such as family members who are remaining co-habitants. I have also wondered what is being weighed up by the experts between the decision to allow them to cohabitate with non-infected people rather than separately isolating them. Perhaps cost, logistics, stress/mental health issues, public backlash, insufficient resources.

 

[Flying mermaid]

55 border crossings between Vic and NSW according to AFR - going to be fun policing that.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

One of the things that my idle mind often question is how long those people were in hospital and whether that are or are not related to what is happening this month. e.g. was either of them diagnosed and/or admitted to hospital several weeks ago or just recently.

They rarely release many details now on deaths, but from what I have read deaths normally only occur after several weeks.

So the recent cases would be more influencing possible deaths in two or more weeks. (Which is why for example deaths in Texas may start to jump in a week or so, and their ICU's are already filling up now after the large increase in cases there in recent weeks.)

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I wonder idly whether the number of deaths from natural causes and seasonal flu has dropped with more people with cause of death marked covid.

Well the various reports on the flu all have the incidence as tiny at present compared to all other years in recent times.

• Australian Influenza Surveillance Report No 06 - 15 June to 28 June 2020 - PDF
• Australian Influenza Surveillance Report No 06 - 15 June to 28 June 2020 - Word

In Vic:





Also in other years you would hear reports of flu outbreaks and deaths in Aged Car Facilities. I can't recall any so far this year.

ie

Flu outbreak kills 17 in SA, nursing homes go into lockdown

The death toll from influenza outbreaks in South Australia this year has risen to 17, including 13 residents of aged care homes, as an "unprecedented" flu season continues to wreak havoc across the state.

www.abc.net.au

NSW flu deaths rise to 57, aged hit hard

The elderly continue to fall victim to this year's flu virus.

www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au

'It's a killer': Flu outbreaks, deaths in aged-care facilities rising in NSW

The elderly are continuing to fall victim to this year's flu virus, with seven more fatalities in the past week of a person aged over 60 years.

www.smh.com.au

etc

 

[SydneySwan]

55 border crossings between Vic and NSW according to AFR - going to be fun policing that.

Not to mention that the border is a river that can be swum across well away from any of those 55 crossings.

 

[jakeseven7]

Not to mention that the border is a river that can be swum across well away from any of those 55 crossings.

I think we all know if someone really wanted to get across any of these borders they could. Some will and I'm sure it will just be a minority to no harm. But hopefully none be idiots and try.