Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[HappyFlyerFamily]

VIC: Some elective surgery to resume next week​

The Victorian Government has announced some elective surgery can resume from Monday, with the state's private hospitals and day procedure centres able to operate at 50 per cent capacity.

But Health Minister Martin Foley says a date for full resumption of elective surgery has not yet been decided.

Mr Foley also announced a $1.4 billion funding package he says will be critical in helping the state's health system navigate its response to Omicron.

There will be $938 million allocated to public hospitals, $161 million will be invested in the state's PPE stockpile and more than $30 million will be used for critical medicines and equipment for patients.

"We're doing so because our health system continues to be the subject of unprecedented levels of demand from this Omicron wave," Mr Foley said.

"This investment is so critical in allowing our world class health system to get through this crisis, supporting our people, our infrastructure and our services," he said.

Mr Foley says $35 million will also support the state's stressed ambulance service to help bring forward the recruitment of a further 120 paramedics.

...ABC blog

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

NT to pause elective surgeries with 1,306 COVID-19 cases recorded​

The Northern Territory is pausing elective and day surgeries in hospitals to help ease the pressure on the health system, particularly on intensive care.

There are now 148 people being treated for COVID-19 in hospital in the territory, with 16 people receiving oxygen and 6 in intensive care.

1,306 new cases were announced by the NT government today, including 302 cases added to yesterday's tally.

There are now 7,094 active cases across the NT.

....from ABC blog

 

[Pushka]

Fair point, but RATs don't seem that accurate either - not that we have a better/timely alternative - so we make do.

Agree which is why they PCR if any symptoms. It isn't perfect but then it's better than not testing at all if no symptoms.

 

[Lynda2475]

would much rather be prompted to get a test so I can know if I'm positive and infectious. As a triple vaxxed person, I'm more likely to be infectious but asymptomatic, and I'd rather know so I can avoid people I care about who are at higher risk of serious health consequences if infected.

You can voluntarily opt to do RAT anytime you like, if you are going to be around vulnerable people.

 

[burmans]

Well the NSW Tourism Minister would hopefully have some input to the decisions made by the NSW Government on when their restrictions would end. however he has absolutely no ability to decide when International tourists are let in.

No ability to decide for sure but in line with the often stated line that this is about opening the economy surprising he isn't saying that much about letting tourists in.

 

[Pushka]

Amazon delivered two boxes of RAT today, about four days after order. Will use when appropriate now.

Anyone here would answer the door to do the random PCR? I wouldn't.

 

[drron]

No ability to decide for sure but in line with the often stated line that this is about opening the economy surprising he isn't saying that much about letting tourists in.

But he has commented on OS tourism for over 3 months.Surely doesn't have to do it every time he speaks.

NSW’s tourism minister, Stuart Ayres, has suggested international travel could resume as early as the end of this month.

NSW suggests it could restart international travel as soon as October

Currently, the state has committed to switching hotel for home quarantine when it hits 80 per cent double dose vaccinations, but no firm start date has been announced.

australianaviation.com.au

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Amazon delivered two boxes of RAT today, about four days after order. Will use when appropriate now.

Anyone here would answer the door to do the random PCR? I wouldn't.

Just Qld atm.

I probably would do it, use the x hours waiting time to stock up in case one of the household became positive. It’s probably better to know - re later travel/recovery certification , but it would be annoying to drop all planned schedule if positive

 

[jakeseven7]

I'm half expecting to have a completely asymptomatic PCR test (for travel purposes) and discover I'm "positive" for that reason alone. For over 4 months now I've had almost daily RATs (would be over 100 for sure) and not a single positive but worked with over 25 colleagues who have turned out positive and been (for me, anyway) out and about a bit (movies, pubs, etc). Considering we were told ad-nauseum (in Victoria at least) how hyper-infectious and evil this virus was, I can't figure it out...

I could easily have had covid ten times over by now…. Who even knows. If you tested at every junction of the long list of symptoms now you’d literally be testing every couple of days…. Time to let this all die down

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Was a little surprised not to see a NSW case increase today with all the back-to-school RATS. While you might not expect everyone to register a positive result, I thought they'd be enough asymptomatics to generate a spike. Maybe tomorrow

from ABC blog

'It's not a time to get complacent'​

The New South Wales Education Minister says schools have been able to manage COVID-related staff vacancies at a local level.

617 staff from 438 state schools tested positive to COVID in the first week of school, with 2,417 students returning a positive rapid antigen test.

Sarah Mitchell says schools have not had to draw on departmental staff or final year teaching students to fill the gaps.

"I'm so pleased with how this first week has gone, obviously it's not a time to get complacent, we know that there may still be bumps along the way when it comes to our education system but having said that, I really couldn't have wished for a better start to the year."

 

[Must...Fly!]

A mate sent me this tweet and felt it deserves a place in this thread.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1489133035370864640

 

[oz_mark]

WA. 18 local cases. 14 linked, 4 under investigation.

+14 more related to returned travellers.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

WA. 18 local cases. 14 linked, 4 under investigation.

+14 more related to returned travellers.

Interesting tidbit at the bottom

Variants​

To date, 482 cases of variant strains have been detected in Western Australia – including 275 Omicron strain, 53 Alpha strain, 15 Beta strain, one Gamma strain and 138 Delta strain.

COVID-19 update 4 February 2022

ww2.health.wa.gov.au

Edit: for reference the last Delta seems to have been added on 19 Jan

Variants

To date, 326 cases of variant strains have been detected in Western Australia – including 119 Omicron strain, 53 Alpha strain, 15 Beta strain, one Gamma strain and 138 Delta strain.

COVID-19 update 19 January 2022

WA Health has reported two local COVID-19 cases and three travel-related cases to 8pm last night.

ww2.health.wa.gov.au

 

[jrfsp]

WA. 18 local cases. 14 linked, 4 under investigation.

+14 more related to returned travellers.

Not nearly enough! Need some super spreader events

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Not nearly enough! Need some super spreader events

I think what you are meaning is you would like a high number either unlinked or linked but were in the community while infectious.

 

[JohnM]

Not nearly enough! Need some super spreader events

If we keep up this arithmetic increase of about 15/day, it will take about 40 years to infect 10% of the WA population.

On that basis, we might be able to declare it endemic some time in the 23rd century.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Update on the hospitalisation graphs which I have not posted for a while for the current Delta/Omicron wave/s:

 

[oz_mark]

If we keep up this arithmetic increase of about 15/day, it will take about 40 years to infect 10% of the WA population.

On that basis, we might be able to declare it endemic some time in the 23rd century.

Maybe Omicron doesn't like these balmy 40 degree days....

 

[N860CR]

N860CR said it's proving to be nothing more than a mild cold. He doesn't mention flu. That was my point.

You can argue semantics all you like (as you often do) but I won't be bothering to respond to anything else you say.

With all due respect, that’s the response we’ve come to expect from those who don’t really have any idea as to how we deal with this in the long term. What you quoted from me literally said “it sits somewhere between a cold and flu” and I’m of the opinion this variant is far closer to the cold side of that scale (which data well and truly supports).

I’m more than happy to have an adult discussion, but if you can’t provide anything to support your position then I’d agree that you’d be better off not responding to any logic that’s put forward.

 

[jb747]

There's been a bit of it around my area (i.e. the street), and it's interesting talking to the survivors.

First family. Adult son came first. He basically had a bad cold. Rest of family were in isolation with him, but none came down with it.

Second. Wife and hubby were 'fluish' but not bad, for a couple of days. Adult daughter, mild symptoms. Other daughters, not living at home, one was quite ill (worst flu ever), whilst the other had no symptoms at all.

Third. Both under 10s came down with delta in December. Neither parent. Now, only a few weeks later, one of the kids has it again (do you hear that Tennis Australia). Cold symptoms only though.

No zombies.