Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[dajop]

Victorian LGA details out.

Noticed still getting significant increases in numbers in outer suburban hotspot areas - such as Wyndham, Hume, Brimbank, and Whittlesea, whilst the net increases in places like Moonee Valley and Melbourne seems to have slowed somewhat.

There were new active cases in regional Victoria (outside the locked down area), but some cases must have become inactive or been reallocated, so in terms of net increase, no net increase in regional Victoria today, and net increase south of the Yarra seems to be only in the order of 25-30.

Horrible figures, but must be some comfort that it is not spreading like wildfire outside of the northern and western suburbs. Tends to suggest that socio-economic factors very much still at play. Not dissimilar (thankfully at a much smaller scale) to New York City where case rate in the economically poorer Bronx (with Queens and Staten Island close to the Bronx) double that of the more affluent Manhattan borough.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Daily Vic DHHS Update:

Media release
22 July 2020

Victoria has recorded 484 new cases of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 6739.
The overall total has increased by 450, after 34 cases were reclassified – largely due to duplication.

Within Victoria, 97 of the new cases are linked to outbreaks or complex cases and 387 are under investigation.
Two new deaths have been reported since yesterday. They are both men aged in their 90s that are linked to known outbreaks. To date, 44 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

In Victoria at the current time:

• 1116 cases may indicate community transmission
• 3408 cases are currently active in Victoria
• 205 cases of coronavirus are in hospital, including 40 in intensive care
• 3184 people have recovered from the virus
• Of the total cases, 6204 cases are from metropolitan Melbourne, while 384 are from regional Victoria
• Total cases include 3432 men and 3222 women
• More than 1,385,900 tests have been processed
• Total number of healthcare workers: 469, active cases: 187
• There are currently 383 cases in 45 aged care settings

Cases currently linked to public housing in North Melbourne, Flemington and Carlton are as follows:

• 291 cases are residents of various public housing towers in North Melbourne and Flemington. Investigations are continuing into how these cases are linked.
• 57 cases are residents of various public housing towers in Carlton. Investigations are continuing into if and/or how these cases are linked.

Cases currently linked to key outbreaks are as follows:

• 69 cases have been linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner
• 54 cases have been linked to Estia Health in Ardeer
• 37 cases have been linked to Glendale Aged Care facility in Werribee
• 30 cases have been linked to Arcare Aged Care in Craigieburn
• 26 cases have been linked to Estia Health in Heidelberg
• 20 cases have been linked to Baptcare Wyndham Lodge in Werribee
• 18 cases have been linked to Embracia Aged Care Moonee Valley in Avondale Heights
• 61 cases have been linked to Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham
• 47 cases have been linked to JBS in Brooklyn
• 24 cases have been linked to LaManna in Essendon
• 17 cases have been linked to Australian Lamb Company in Colac

There has also been a new outbreak identified in aged care at Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth with two cases in staff and one case in a resident.

 

[RooFlyer]

Isn't this chap just a hero for the cause:

Organisers of a 1000-strong Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney are resisting calls from Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the city’s MP Tanya Plibersek to abandon the protest, while protest leader Paul Silva says he is willing to risk catching COVID-19 for his cause.
...
While last month’s BLM protests did not result in major outbreaks themselves, there are concerns mass rallies will prompt others to further ignore social distancing rules and ultimately spread the virus.
...
Ms Plibersek, the opposition education spokeswoman and the one of the most well-known leaders of the progressive movement, said she would be marching herself it were not for the pandemic. ... “But COVID-19 changes everything. The medical advice is clear: large physical gatherings are a serious health risk."

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told The Australian on Monday he is prepared to fine anyone who attends the BLM rally next Tuesday and will go to court to stop it, despite the state government’s failed attempts to stop protests last month.

Good.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Victorian LGA details out.

Noticed still getting significant increases in numbers in outer suburban hotspot areas - such as Wyndham, Hume, Brimbank, and Whittlesea, whilst the net increases in places like Moonee Valley and Melbourne seems to have slowed somewhat.

There were new active cases in regional Victoria (outside the locked down area), but some cases must have become inactive or been reallocated, so in terms of net increase, no net increase in regional Victoria today, and net increase south of the Yarra seems to be only in the order of 25-30.

Horrible figures, but must be some comfort that it is not spreading like wildfire outside of the northern and western suburbs. Tends to suggest that socio-economic factors very much still at play. Not dissimilar (thankfully at a much smaller scale) to New York City where case rate in the economically poorer Bronx (with Queens and Staten Island close to the Bronx) double that of the more affluent Manhattan borough.

In terms of non restricted regional ( LGA's)., new cases today were.

Greater Geelong 1
Ballarat 1
Latrobe 1
Baw Baw 1
Swan Hill 1


Colac Otway = minus1 (ie will have corrected a previous false positive most likely) Note this is an abattoir outbreak and will be having its own testing. So it could bea good sign, or it may just mean that they will show up later when the batch gets added up by the statisticians.

 

[Lynda2475]

despite the state government’s failed attempts to stop protests last month

You would hope given the different circumstane wrt community transmission in play, that the courts would be sensible enough to uphold a ban. FInes are not much of a deterrant, particularly if many of those attending do not currently have jobs, as they know they wont have to pay them. They need to be threatening prison time for breach of public health order.

This lack of common sense is depressing. The protest planner should be charged for inciting people to break public health orders,

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Daughter's ward which has been re-organised many times since the pandemic started with Covid patients off and on, is now to become a dedicated overflow ICU Ward. It also means a higher level of PPE at all times in the ward. This will now make 4 dedicated Covid Wards at the hospital, all with various functions, at the hospital.

Hospital is very well run and this is just all part of their normal thorough planning and preparation and adjustments made to whatever the current medical needs are. It is all about staying front of possible demand.

They also have had no staff cases in the current wave.

 

[kyle]

Another day, another big increase in VIC.

So many things that can be blamed. In no particular order:
1. Border closing too late
2. Security guards having sexual relations with returned travellers
3. Returned travellers not tested before release
4. Large families
5. Large families having large gatherings
6. Masks not used earlier
7. Employers such as hospitals not allowing medical staff to wear masks in the early days
8. People not social distancing and not adhering to directives
9. Inconsistent health advice
10. People lacking common sense...
11. Etc etc etc

And while my rant mode is on, I have come to realise that there's a number of people at work really do lack common sense. Imagine that percentage being representative of the general population...

I just hope this is over sooner rather than later as I really don't like the look of wearing a mask.

 

[tgh]

Where is your daughter Lto ?.... my Dil is at St. Vincents.. thankfully not at the coal face last time we spoke , but I guess if it all turns to manure it will be all hands to the wheel

 

[jakeseven7]

People are just unbelievably selfish. Hope they catch them all and give them huge fines

Damage is already done though which is the cough part right.... But yes, tell me about it and people laugh at me because I sanitise my hands at the cafe before I eat in Brisbane....!

Its because this virus is here/coming to all of us at some point, probably because of people like this.

 

[tgh]

Shopping today and had a haircut.
Salon is very laisse faire , but after my touchless payment I was required to use their pen to fill in my name and phone # , not a hand sanitiser bottle in sight.
Same at the produce merchant, their pen, no sanitiser.
So I assume they have all had a tracing touch up by Qld gov't.. and in the process created another avenue for Corona spread.
Mea Culpa me also , had the wheels serviced and have not reloaded the sanitiser and masks...
It all adds up….

 

[Flying mermaid]

Damage is already done though which is the cough part right.... But yes, tell me about it and people laugh at me because I sanitise my hands at the cafe before I eat in Brisbane....!

Its because this virus is here/coming to all of us at some point, probably because of people like this.

We are pretty paranoid too. Don’t go out anywhere, except shopping, doctor and hairdresser, only allow one friend to visit, sanitise hands before getting in the car after shopping and then wash again at home. How hard is it to take simple precautions to safe guard yourself and others.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Shopping today and had a haircut.
Salon is very laisse faire , but after my touchless payment I was required to use their pen to fill in my name and phone # , not a hand sanitiser bottle in sight.
Same at the produce merchant, their pen, no sanitiser.
So I assume they have all had a tracing touch up by Qld gov't.. and in the process created another avenue for Corona spread.
Mea Culpa me also , had the wheels serviced and have not reloaded the sanitiser and masks...
It all adds up….

My hairdresser is really good. The apprentice goes around sanitising everything after each client. They are only using two wash basins so no one sits near anyone else and the cutting stations are very far apart. The staff were all wearing masks, although the last time I went my hairdresser asked if I wanted her to wear one, so it’s at the client’s discretion now. Sanitiser on the desk and they sanitise the eft terminal after I have used the keys. I am pretty happy with them.

 

[drron]

Oh, are you lucky enough not to switch to NBN yet?

[worst thing to happen to my internet access in years, more expensive, repetitive dropouts, loss of service for several seconds in a row, not perceptibly faster than ADSL2 before (sometimes slower), my mobile on 4G is often faster ]

Another who uses Aussie Broadband.To us the NBN is a success.ABB told us connection would be automatic and gave us a time off 0900-1000 for the change to occur.At 0905 we were on the NBN.We only signed up to 25/5 and consistently tested 24.5/4.9 until Covid and now 22.5/4.75 with a lot at home.

 

[dajop]

In terms of non restricted regional ( LGA's)., new cases today were.

Greater Geelong 1
Ballarat 1
Latrobe 1
Baw Baw 1
Swan Hill 1


Colac Otway = minus1 (ie will have corrected a previous false positive most likely) Note this is an abattoir outbreak and will be having its own testing. So it could bea good sign, or it may just mean that they will show up later when the batch gets added up by the statisticians.

In Covidlive, it was showing no net increase in Greater Geelong, was the 1 extra case offset by one coming off the active list? Also noticed -2 in Surf Coast Shire (which is where I am) presumably reclassification or duplication being corrected from the +3 yesterday, and-1 in Corangamite.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

In Covidlive, it was showing no net increase in Greater Geelong, was the 1 extra case offset by one coming off the active list? Also noticed -2 in Surf Coast Shire (which is where I am) presumably reclassification or duplication being corrected from the +3 yesterday, and-1 in Corangamite.

There is a difference between news cases today (cases in last 24 hrs) vs change in net active cases ( change in total). My cases were as I mentioned new cases.

I personally focus on new cases as the virus is more contagious in the first few days, and I like to see where new cases are.

As net active cases is both in and out, you could have 20 new cases and 20 resolved and so it would show as zero change in active cases.

So I was using this table.
VIC CASES LGA
Wed 22 Jul


You were using this table

VIC ACTIVE CASES LGA
Wed 22 Jul


So it all depends on what data you want to look at, and focus on.

 

[dajop]

So it all depends on what data you want to look at, and focus on.

I guess a combination of the two tables give the overall picture, the increase in cases column on the the total cases table helps understand where the disease is spreading, whilst the total active cases table provides a snapshot of what is present in an LGA at a point in time.

 

[JohnM]

An interesting piece on mask-wearing:

Weapons of mask distraction | Daniel Reeders

With masks shown to be useful only in certain settings, the debate about compulsion is drawing attention away from real pathways of infection

insidestory.org.au

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Another day, another big increase in VIC.

7. Employers such as hospitals not allowing medical staff to wear masks in the early days

Are you talking second wave?

However even in the first wave it was not the case of hospitals not allowing medical staff to wear masks. Adequate PPE was in limited supply and so yes care and rationing had to be taken at the extremely early stages as supply was limited. Particularly as some patients were stealing both masks and hand sanitiser. however community spread was very low and so risk was also fortunately low.

Availability rapidly improved.

With the second wave mask wearing protocols have varied with the risk. with rising numbers and community spread the major hospitals tightened those protocols before the Vic Gov brought in the current restrictions. ie To wear masks at all times and treat all staff and patients as being possibly positive.

Most of the healthworkers at hospitals have been infected outside of the hospital.

However as the hospitals are cautious they have staff staff who are close contacts of positive cases go into self-isolation or hotel quarantine if home is not practical.

PPE is however no foolproof. Mistakes can happen and patients can do things that breach the PPE.

However all the hospitals have ample PPE, and it is available for staff to wear. The type of PPE will vary depending on the risk.

Some staff have exposed themselves to other staff in non clinical settings. ie One doctor interviewed a healtchare worker who later tested positive. The doctor went into isolation, but tested negative.

The hospital cancelled subsequent interviews for the role once it was revealed the job applicant had tested positive. It said strict social distancing protocols were upheld at all times during the interview process. All interviews for the job are now being conducted via video link.


Now if you really mean age care then that is another story. Practice has varied enormously. The aged care where my MIL is went into lockdown on 27 June, whereas some aged care facilities were still allowing visitors within the last week almost 4 weeks later.

 

[Princess Fiona]

An interesting piece on mask-wearing:

Weapons of mask distraction | Daniel Reeders

With masks shown to be useful only in certain settings, the debate about compulsion is drawing attention away from real pathways of infection

insidestory.org.au

I posted this before on another thread but the advice from an EBM expert Dr (Daniel Reeder is not) is very much on the side of public mask wearing
Public Mask Wearing British Medical Journal

 

[lovetravellingoz]

An interesting piece on mask-wearing:

Weapons of mask distraction | Daniel Reeders

With masks shown to be useful only in certain settings, the debate about compulsion is drawing attention away from real pathways of infection

insidestory.org.au

Though Dan seems to have missed that a key problem in Vic at present is :

• People waiting after a symptom occurs before eventually getting tested - That is they are out and about spreading the virus when they are at their most infectious
• 53 % People who have have been tested still go about their normal business while waiting for their result, rather than self-isolate - Again when they are at there most infectious

With mask wearing now becoming mandatory in Victoria both of these risky behaviours will now be less risky to others.

Plus for those who cannot work at home face masks must now be worn as well.

Dan seems to be arguing that mask will distract from other measures. But why? At least in Victoria family gatherings etc are already all banned, as are social events etc. So mandatory facemask wearing is not a distraction for these at all, as they are not currently allowed.

Is facemask wearing perfect? No, but no one is claiming that it is. The consensus is that as a public heath measure that it can help, along with physical distancing etc, to limit transmission when community spread is significant.