Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[Hvr]

(and I suspect your regular police/ADF member wouldn't get much more than 10min on PPE training either)

One benefit of having a strong union is that WH&S is taken seriously. The police union (aka association) is strong and very serious about WH&S. Any training will be top notch and fully accredited.

 

[Pushka]

Some people think that the Black Lives Matter marches had negative influences on others in the community.
Those selfish ignorant opportunistic idiots acting very badly in their jobs may well have done so anyway.

We will never know, will we. But the point remains that the messaging is important.

 

[Gremlin]

Once again the big difference in NSW v VIC.
VIC - allowed 'guests' out for cigarette breaks and fresh air/limited exercise
NSW - locked in room for 14 days

I think you might find that the big difference in NSW v VIC is not what you have stated above. The big difference might be closer to "In VIC there were catastrophic downstream consequences for poor risk management practices in quarantine and in NSW there weren't the same level of downstream consequences". Every state has learnt from what has happened in VIC and every state has improved on their own practices as a result. Some more than others.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

covid19data.com.au reporting nsw is 13(+11) today...hope that doesn’t mean 2 under investigation

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

News.com.au reporting draft SA Covid borders laws being before Parliament

Two years' jail for crossing SA border
Anyone who crosses the South Australian border in breach of COVID-19 restrictions could be jailed for up to two years under new laws going before parliament today.
The State Government drafted a new bill upping the maximum penalty from a $20,000 fine to two years’ jail, The Advertiser reported.
Authorities said the penalty would not have applied to the seven people who have committed the offence so far.

 

[SydneySwan]

Think of the job creation possibilities if all the states built walls!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I haven't read all the posts, so I'm not sure where the 'debunking' occurred. But I have read this:

Victorian health authorities have confirmed a link between two COVID-19 cases in people who attended the Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne’s CBD just over a month ago, and the cluster of at least 242 cases in public housing towers in the city’s inner northwest.

But the Department of Health and Human Services has refused to say whether members of the cluster, which includes the protest attendees, live in the public housing towers.

Yes that was from a Journo at The Australian who was trying to whip up a frenzy.

They posted a number of articles that had no actual substance and mainly only her speculation. Very pour journalism IMO.

ie look at this dramatic claim and headline

Coronavirus Australia live news: Contact tracing teams swamped as Melbourne BLM protest numbers worse than feared​

CORONAVIRUS AUSTRALIA LIVE UPDATES: Victoria’s health authorities reveal a growing number of positive tests emanating from the Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne.​

NoCookies | The Australian​

​

www.theaustralian.com.au​

​

The above makes it sound like BLM caused a major problem.

But the reality actually was did someone in the towers know some marchers = yes. That was the link. That was the only factual thing in her story.
She asked inflammatory questions, and then reported the non response as if there was a basis to her questions.

So there was no virus transmission between anyone in the towers and any BLM towers = was not the link..



CH7 report. (As opposed to The Austrlian)

Victorian health officials have refuted claims there is a link between the Black Lives Matter protest and a coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne’s public housing towers.

The Australian reported on Tuesday authorities that two people who attended the protests more than a month ago were part of the cluster.

However, in a statement to 7NEWS.com.au, the Department of Health and Human Services said there was no evidence linking the two.

“We are aware of six confirmed cases who attended the Black Lives Matter protest. Currently there is no evidence to suggest they acquired the virus from the protest,” a spokesperson said.

“None of these cases are known to reside at a major public housing complex.

“Currently, no known nor suspected episodes of transmission occurred at the protest itself.”

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

covid19data.com.au reporting nsw is 13(+11) today...hope that doesn’t mean 2 under investigation

According to news.com.au

Of the 13 new cases announced in NSW today, 10 are associated with the Thai Rock Restaurant in Stockland Wetherill Park, including four who dined at the restaurant and six close contacts.

The two cases reported yesterday at Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral are contacts of a diner at Thai Rock.

Two cases are linked to the Crossroads Hotel cluster and one is an overseas traveller in hotel quarantine.

There are now 50 cases associated with the Crossroads Hotel cluster, 26 cases associated with the Thai Rock restaurant and eight cases associated with the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Covid19data reporting Vic is 374(+347) And 3 deaths

Edit my typo 374(+347)

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Very high cases again today in Vic .

There is a very odd pattern at present of very high cases one day, lower the next, and then very high again, then low, then very high etc.

And it is the positivity rate that it is driving it, and not the test numbers per day.

I have no idea why this would be so with such wild swings. I mean you do not expect a perfectly smooth curve, but this does seem to be an odd pattern. Maybe it is just how batches of tests from different LGA's are being processed.


Vic cases on average are going sideways rather than increasing though.

Post automatically merged: Jul 21, 2020

Covid19data reporting Vic is 274(+247) And 3 deaths

Post automatically merged: Jul 21, 2020

Covid19data reporting Vic is 274(+247) And 3 deaths

It has 374 new #COVID19Aus cases in

Victoria (+347 total) • 62 linked to known outbreaks • 312 under investigation • -27 reclassified

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Sutton in essence saying that unknown community spread is dropping and that new cases are mainly coming from close contacts of existing positive cases.

This may well be why on a trend basis cases are now flat, rather than exponentially growing.

Hospital cases up. But hospital cases always tend to be a lagging indicator following new cases. My comment would be that you would expect hospital cases to keep rising for a while yet. And yes sadly many more deaths.


VIC HOSPITALISED
Cases in Hospital

DATE	HOSP	ICU	VENT
Wed 15 Jul	105	27	21
Thu 16 Jul	109	29	22
Fri 17 Jul	122	31	22
Sat 18 Jul	110	25	18
Sun 19 Jul	130	28	18
Mon 20 Jul	147	31	16
Tue 21 Jul	174	36	16

 

[p--and--t]

Hospital cases up. But hospital cases always tend to be a lagging indicator following new cases. My comment would be that you would expect hospital cases to keep rising for a while yet. And yes sadly many more deaths.

Dr Sutton did say in a presser more than two weeks ago (when the first "suburb" lock-down was proposed) that deaths would rise and as a rough rule of thumb there would be one death per 100 positives or hospitalisations, not sure which.

If positives, there are a LOT of deaths to come.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes that was from a Journo at The Australian

CH7 report. (As opposed to The Austrlian)

But if you read all the story, there is no doubt that there was an infection link between those at the BLM march and the towers cluster; different media will give different spin, especially if part of their story is to have a shot at rival media.

And then you need to ask about the link - so what? Not much, I reckon. Its not surprising at all that some at the thousands at the march were infected and that they later transmitted the disease to others. No-one is saying the march caused the outbreak. If it was a footy celebration march, or a farmers demonstration, I doubt that a link would be so strenuously nay-said. Its bloody obvious that a mass-march, in the middle of a pandemic was a bad idea, no matter what the cause behind it. It was disgraceful that the authorities in some jurisdictions gave a wink and a nudge that the marches would be tolerated, which if nothing else sent the worst possible signal that social distancing wasn't such an important thing after all. We can only speculate how many infections resulted from people thinking 'meh, look at them, can't be that bad', and behaved themselves accordingly.

 

[Gremlin]

There is a very odd pattern at present of very high cases one day, lower the next, and then very high again, then low, then very high etc.

And it is the positivity rate that it is driving it, and not the test numbers per day.

I have no idea why this would be so with such wild swings.

This is purely a wildass guess as I have no knowledge on how this might work otherwise, but...

I wonder if it's a lag thing from finding and testing close contacts? You have a particularly high number of positives one day. You contact them and spend that day chasing close contacts who you 'strongly recommend' be tested. They get tested the next day, but by the time their tests are processed then it is two days after their close contact's result for their results to appear in the numbers.

In the meantime, there's some underlying level of people who are continuing to be tested because they are showing symptoms.

Purely wildass guesswork though...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

But if you read all the story, there is no doubt that there was an infection link between those at the BLM march and the towers cluster; different media will give different spin, especially if part of their story is to have a shot at rival media.

I do not have access to The Australian and so can you therefore please copy and past the exact wording which proves there was an actual infection link, together with the actual source that they quote who proves that link.

As there is no doubt I assume that they must have named their source.

As you do not like CH7.

Then the Guardian. The quotes are from the DHHS. Being quotes they are the same as the CH7 report though.

The department has since clarified the figure after it was revealed two protesters were part of the public housing tower cluster where at least 242 cases have been recorded.

'We are aware of six confirmed cases who attended the Black Lives Matter protest. Currently there is no evidence to suggest they acquired the virus from the protest,' a DHHS statement read.

'None of these cases are known to reside at a major public housing complex. Currently no known nor suspected episodes of transmission occurred at the protest itself.'

Six Melbourne Black Lives Matter protesters test positive to COVID-19

Victoria's health department has denied claims the Black Lives Matter protest is linked to an outbreak cluster in Melbourne's public housing towers.

www.dailymail.co.uk

What are the quotes in The Australian so that I can compare? Who is the Australian's source that there was an actual infection link with the towers?

 

[drron]

Sorry but there is a link between the BLM positive cases and the Towers.That was confirmed by Australia's CMO.Suggested all recent Victorian cases are due to the hotel quarantine fiasco.The Australian journalist in the article you decry has vigorously defended her article on twitter and published all the questions that she asked the Victorian authorities that they wouldn't answer so they left the subject open.

However doing some detective work the original BLM positives were discovered immediately so too early to have been contracted at the protest.However that was just over a week from the second hotel security guard to test positive so a likely source.Were the BLM positives security guards?
Within a few days it was said there were 4 positives from the BLM protest.A month later they now say there were 6 positives and this has led to the way out theories about the protest.Would be better if the authorities actually gave some more details for instance were they all in the same group at the protest and visited each other in the weeks since?Were the 2 extra cases now being reported actually from a known cluster?These are much more likely to be the answer IMHO.

I also become bemused that people are so sure that the protests are not the cause of Covid transmission as they are in the open air.News footage though certainly shows little social distancing and many without masks by the way.But those that are so sure about the protests being an unlikely source of infection are quick to blame crowds at a beach being a source of infection.Around the world the figure is ~ 97% of clusters are from indoor sources.
So I also doubt that the protests are a source of Covid distribution just like the beaches.Just remember the Bondi Beach cluster was actually sourced to a backpacker's hostel.

 

[p--and--t]

Thought I’d post something topical but a bit lighter

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Sorry but there is a link between the BLM positive cases and the Towers.That was confirmed by Australia's CMO. Suggested all recent Victorian cases are due to the hotel quarantine fiasco.The Australian journalist in the article you decry has vigorously defended her article on twitter and published all the questions that she asked the Victorian authorities that they wouldn't answer so they left the subject open.

So the only basis for her article is unanswered questions? It is a very common tactic of some journalists to ask speculative questions.

And why is

'We are aware of six confirmed cases who attended the Black Lives Matter protest. Currently there is no evidence to suggest they acquired the virus from the protest,' a DHHS statement read.

'None of these cases are known to reside at a major public housing complex. Currently no known nor suspected episodes of transmission occurred at the protest itself.'

not considered an answer?

Obviously these Australian articles must have some clear facts in them to be so persuasive that there is a demonstrated infection link. All I am asking is that you copy and paste this to share these facts. That way I and everyone else who does not have access to The Australian will know exactly what this infection link is.

 

[jakeseven7]

Mystery COVID-19 cases linked to inner city Sydney venues as community transmission increases


COVID-19 cases linked to venues in Paddington and Chippendale have not yet been linked to existing Sydney outbreaks. The source of a case in a receptionist from a western Sydney medical centre also remains unknown.

Separate cases have been linked to the Holy Duck restaurant in Chippendale, Paddington's Love Supreme pizzeria and the Village Inn in Paddington. However, NSW Health has not linked these to any existing outbreaks.

When asked whether those cases had been linked to known clusters, a NSW Health spokeswoman said cases who attended those venues, as well as a case who went to Westfield Mount Druitt, were "detected due to members of the community coming forward for testing.

It comes after the licensee of the Village Inn revealed he learnt his venue had been exposed to the coronavirus through media reports and not NSW Health.

Mystery COVID-19 cases linked to inner city venues as NSW confirms 13 new cases

The source of a case in a receptionist from a western Sydney medical centre also remains unknown.

www.smh.com.au

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Sorry but there is a link between the BLM positive cases and the Towers.That was confirmed by Australia's CMO.

Do you have that quote by the CMO that there was an infection link? And just to be clear I mean an infection link , and not just that one of the 3,000 residents knew one of 10,000 protestors.

I have just had another look and nothing like that seems to come up.

I did find though:


QUESTION to Acting Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly's press conference on 1 July 2020

Of the cases that have come out of Victoria over the past week, do you have an indication if any of those cases were linked to the protest? Whether they were [indistinct] the protest, or whether people who went to the protest tested positive? And do you know how people— you're finding out whether people were at the protest, whether they're asked if they, after they were— after they test positive, when they're being tested, what's the— is there a protocol around that?

PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY:

So, there is no evidence that there was— has been any spread from the Black Lives Matter protest. That doesn't preclude the important message: this is not a time to be having mass protests, particularly in Melbourne. The risk of— the fact that we haven't found any more cases from those protests doesn't prove that the protests are safe. And just to be clear, it's not just protests, it's any mass gathering. And so there are very clear and strong restrictions on mass gatherings that are part of this process that's being worked through for those hotspots.