Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[lovetravellingoz]

Graphs of new cases and growth in Vic based on 7 day means, including today's new cases.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Qld has zero new cases reported today

Early genome sequencing shows possible link between two women who visited Melbourne

Dr Jeanette Young said there could have been a link between the two women who returned to Logan from Victoria and tested positive.

"It looks like this cluster has the same viral strain as one of the young women who went down to Melbourne. Now, that doesn't prove it. I need more information, which is being done over the next 24-48 hours to be able to prove it. But at this estimate, it does look like they could be linked," Dr Young said.

"We had the cluster related to that Melbourne/Logan group, those five people, and the cluster related to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, 10 people.

"There is a missing link between the two. There is a missing link between the two. That is why we do our absolute best to find every single case because the cases that with don't find are the ones that can lead to changes of transmission."

courtesy of ABC covid live blog

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Particularly the issue with dancing. Under studio lights in small studios means sweating and breathing heavily. Dont know what happened interstate but dance classes weren't permitted here at all until long after gyms were able to re-open. And dancing at weddings, even for the poor old husband and bride, still isnt permitted here. It isnt just Victoria that has stupidity. Except ours is at the other end of the risk scale. However clearly in pandemic times I know which end of the scale I'd prefer.

Post automatically merged: Aug 25, 2020

RooFlyer answered it for me. While it is enjoyment it is not essential and involves high risk behavior.

Thank you for the answer.

So the things that Dan is doing at present is the one TV show? Rather than other matters?

Though in terms of the stated reply by Rooflyer, large gatherings for entertainment are not currently allowed in Victoria. Indeed large gatherings are not allowed. Nor are activities such as dance classes etc.



So instead of large gatherings of which that TV Show was not, I guess instead that you are more concerned about what on-site work activities are still permitted (as working at home is 100% allowed) in Victoria, and what should be a permitted type of work in such workplaces.

Also since you mention Dan specifically (though perhaps you meant the Vic Gov) should he be across each workplace, or should it be the CHO? Dan would have been across I am sure that the media including tv was still allowed to work, but I doubt he was across the granularity of a particular show.

As you are probably aware Victoria is not in total lockdown with no work permitted at all places of employment. Some sectors are considered essential and are permitted to keep working (media is one such), whereas others such as construction, but not only construction can keep working under particular conditions. A number of businesses in the private sector are still operating provided that they are in certain categories, and also meet strict Covid 19 requirements. These requirements normally limit the number of workers and how they can work. This includes workplaces where the work is physical.

The media is one of these. The TV show in question is just a small slice of the media that is still operating. They from reports were following Covid plans including segregation of workforce which contained the transmission to just that team (the dancers). So do you want all media closed down in Vic?

One can certainly argue that what media could operate could have been stricter.

One of our friends works in an office that is involved with petrol distribution. To continue to operate they had to split up into smaller teams and also create new offices. Petrol is still required, and so they needed to keep operating.

My BIL and nephew work at a company that manufacturers heaters. They are still operating, but again under Covid plans. I suspect that heating manufacturing could have been halted for 6 weeks.

The Vic Gov has allowed some work to continue. The workplaces that have been closed in particular are ones that would have fostered mixing of different groups. ie Retail. Bunnings had to close to the public, but has been allowed to still have trades people shop their in person.

So the bigger question is perhaps how fully all work should have been shutdown as the state and Melbourne in particular are not in total lockdown, and for those allowed to operate how tight should their workplace requirements be.

The stated goal was going into Stage 4 that they would tailor the lockdown to balance risk and reward and while strict that it would not be as strict as the NZ lockdown. ie House construction has stayed as longer as no more than 5 person's at once at are on site. Note houses are small working sites. Other larger working sites have larger limits. All such construction could have been shut down, but has instead been allowed to operate under strict conditions.

At present the combined measures seem to be working quite well, and so the current balance seems to be quite good. Did they expect no cases in all permitted workplaces? The answer would be clearly that while they may have hoped so, that they would have know that some workplaces would still happen as community spread was still rampant.

The Vic Government could have closed down more workplaces than they did, but chose not to. If the measures did not work then most likely they would have pulled some more levers.


PS> My purely speculatively guess on the dancers is that they probably infected each other not when dancing.

 

[Pushka]

The stated goal was going into Stage 4 that they would tailor the lockdown to balance risk and reward and while strict that it would not be as strict as the NZ lockdown. ie House construction has stayed as longer as no more than 5 person's at once at are on site. Note houses are small working sites. Other larger working sites have larger limits.

And the judgement of risk particularly in terms of television productions like Masked Singer is the issue. There is a lot of physical exertion and certainly higher numbers of people working extremely closely together. So much higher risk than a panel discussion or news presentation. Gosh, many times of the year all we see are repeats. And maybe this is just one time.

The only reason this is programmed right now is because it is ratings time. If it was essential to have it then it needed to be filmed elsewhere. And at least Dani could stay in her own home if on the GC

 

[Pushka]

The Logan cluster in Qld has been confirmed as the same strain as the three female Covidiots. So a possible link. There is concern there is a positive person who has linked those with the current batch.

But no new cases in Qld in the last 24 hours.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

And the judgement of risk particularly in terms of television productions like Masked Singer is the issue. There is a lot of physical exertion and certainly higher numbers of people working extremely closely together. So much higher risk than a panel discussion or news presentation. Gosh, many times of the year all we see are repeats. And maybe this is just one time.

The only reason this is programmed right now is because it is ratings time. If it was essential to have it then it needed to be filmed elsewhere. And at least Dani could stay in her own home if on the GC

Yes where one draws the line is certainly an issue.


I don't have a problem if the line has been drawn to exclude it. But in the scheme of all workplace clusters I doubt that this is a significant one. Also with the dancers their routines were not like in pre-stage 4 times, and so my guess is that they infected one another not while dancing.

If this is Dan's only real mistake at present (and I doubt that he personally would have been across each and every permitted TV show), then it is one that probably matters little. The stage 4 restrictions it operated under have at least contained the cases there.



The Masked Singer host Osher Gunsberg said the lockdown began two hours before filming started on the grand final.

“We were literally two hours away from hitting record on our grand finale,’’ he told The Project.

“This person was so brave, this young person put their hand up and said, ‘hang on guys, I’m not feeling so great, I should probably let you know this’.

“And they were brave enough to pull the emergency brake on this freight train.

“It stopped everything, everything shut down because nothing is ever as important as everyone’s safety and I really hope we can see that as an example. If you don’t feel great, this is not worth it.”


Gunsberg said the show’s producers had been working “hand in glove” with the Department of Health and Human Services to prove production was safe.

“I’m really militant about this stuff (COVID-19),” he said.

“I’ve never been on a stricter set, on a more segregated set.

“Everyone was working in little pods. No people crossed over.”

 

[Pushka]

Yes where one draws the line is certainly an issue.


I don't have a problem if the line has been drawn to exclude it. But in the scheme of all workplace clusters I doubt that this is a significant one. Also with the dancers their routines were not like in pre-stage 4 times, and so my guess is that they infected one another not while dancing.

If this is Dan's only real mistake at present (and I doubt that he personally would have been across each and every permitted TV show), then it is one that probably matters little. The stage 4 restrictions it operated under have at least contained the cases there.



The Masked Singer host Osher Gunsberg said the lockdown began two hours before filming started on the grand final.

“We were literally two hours away from hitting record on our grand finale,’’ he told The Project.

“This person was so brave, this young person put their hand up and said, ‘hang on guys, I’m not feeling so great, I should probably let you know this’.

“And they were brave enough to pull the emergency brake on this freight train.

“It stopped everything, everything shut down because nothing is ever as important as everyone’s safety and I really hope we can see that as an example. If you don’t feel great, this is not worth it.”


Gunsberg said the show’s producers had been working “hand in glove” with the Department of Health and Human Services to prove production was safe.

“I’m really militant about this stuff (COVID-19),” he said.

“I’ve never been on a stricter set, on a more segregated set.

“Everyone was working in little pods. No people crossed over.”

Kudos to that brave dancer. I can imagine the thoughts going through his/her mind but he/she likely saved many from getting very unwell.

 

[dajop]

I have thought about the whole Masked Singer thing. Initially being a bit outraged and thinking why was that allowed, upon reflection the government is on a hiding to nothing whatever they do. They rightly classified media as essential, to do anything else would only exacerbate the “Chairman Dan” rhetoric. If they had decided to pick and choose which media to allow there would have been a lot of criticism about censorship of the media. Difficult to pick and choose which shows are essential and which are not.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Kudos to that brave dancer. I can imagine the thoughts going through his/her mind but he/she likely saved many from getting very unwell.

As applies to every workplace. Most people do what is required. Some do not.

However also remember that the show was operating under a Covid safe plan, and so how many others could possibly be infected is unknown. So perhaps also credit to the Covid safe plan and the show and the staff in each of the segregated teams to adhering to that plan to limit any possible transmission.

Personally I see this situation as little different to our friend in the petrol indstry, or my BIL. Someone in their team could become infected and infect them despite the measures in place. The splitting into smaller teams though limits the mixing and further transmission. This to me is the bigger issue than whether any one workplace still operates.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Nsw today reports 3 cases

- 1 is in hotel quarantine
- 2 are linked to known cases - one linked to Liverpool Hospital, one linked to Lady of Mercy College Parramatta.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

26 total community transmission (unknown source) since before Crossroads.

- 10 in the past two weeks
- 8 in the period 15-28 days ago
- 8 longer than 28 days.

Hopefully tomorrow the weekly surveillance report will published and more info provided on which major cluster have been linked.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Posted in the international flight thread but this is going to be a cause of much angst.Hong Kong IT worker confirmed to have a different strain of Covid than first infection in April.142 days in between infections.

Researchers announce 'world's first' confirmed case of coronavirus reinfection

Researchers analysed the genome sequence to confirm that the 33-year-old IT worker had been infected by two different strains of coronavirus.

www.brisbanetimes.com.au

I saw that, but trying to be optimistic. . You are not supposed to get Chickenpox twice, but I know someone who did - very light infection the first time.

 

[Pushka]

I saw that, but trying to be optimistic. . You are not supposed to get Chickenpox twice, but I know someone who did - very light infection the first time.

I’m not sure who he was, so many experts these days but heard on the radio that Covid 19 doesn’t mutate the way the flu does, and flu does require different modelling to be effective but he was confident that the current trials suggest while an annual jab may be needed it will be the same formula so effective regardless. Well, that’s the gist of it.

 

[Pushka]

They rightly classified media as essential, to do anything else would only exacerbate the “Chairman Dan” rhetoric. If they had decided to pick and choose which media to allow there would have been a lot of criticism about censorship of the media. Difficult to pick and choose which shows are essential and which are not

It can be difficult or not. In this case dancing is a high octane sweat inducing behaviour; put multiple people on a hot enclosed space dancing and there’s the risk.

On the other hand if it was just the masked singer on the stage - risk significantly reduced. If you can’t have the latter without the former then the show doesn’t happen.

I don’t see the issue stopping this kind of media production.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Courtesy of abc COVID live blog......not before time.......light at the end of the tunnel.....Vic 100s, NSW and Qld single digits.

Some NSW-Victorian border restrictions eased

Some travel restrictions on the NSW-Victorian border will be eased within the next 10 days.

The 2.5 km zone for border residents with a permit to enter NSW will be moved to a 50 km radius, with a 100 km exemption for agriculture workers.

Border zone residents are eligible for a permit if they are entering NSW for work, education, medical care/supplies, or to provide/receive care to/as a vulnerable person.

The announcement was made by the NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro.

“I understand the uniqueness, the anomolies, that often in normal circumstances make it difficult to live in these communities. you put a layer of covid over the top of this community and restrictions, it really makes it difficult,” Mr Barilaro said.

 

[dajop]

It can be difficult or not. In this case dancing is a high octane sweat inducing behaviour; put multiple people on a hot enclosed space dancing and there’s the risk.

On the other hand if it was just the masked singer on the stage - risk significantly reduced. If you can’t have the latter without the former then the show doesn’t happen.

I don’t see the issue stopping this kind of media production.

My point is that's probably a level of granularity that's difficult to get into, when it comes to media "censorship" (you should see the anti-Dan stuff that's going around, commenting on the police state he's running... irony really, as if had been then Vic probably wouldn't have got into the mess it's in). That's why workplaces need to take some of their own responsibility, and implement COVID safe plans.

 

[RooFlyer]

So instead of large gatherings of which that TV Show was not,

Weren’t 200 ( or thereabouts) sent into isolation as a result? To me that’s a large number and unnecessary to have gathered in the first place, under ‘stage 4’ environment.

You have challenged many criticisms and passionately defended Victoria’s response, ‘Dan‘ in particular, and passion and loyalty are to be respected. But I suggest that those in the eye of the storm do not have the full perspective. I have been criticising my own state and Premier’s handling of the situation here,albeit because of their over caution. None of our governments are without fault and we give them latitude as the whole situation is almost unprecedented. But not carte blanche ( not that you have suggested that). Unfortunately for Victoria, the microscope is on it and faults are being exposed. It would probably be the same in any jurisdiction with the same scrutiny with a large outbreak. Here’s hoping the numbers keep coming down and the pressure will soon be off.

 

[Pushka]

Borders are being relaxed for communities near the Victorian /SA border. Which is an excellent thing and shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Only implemented last Friday. So much unnecessary stress on them.

Another update. The soft border with NSW and ACT is possibly going to be removed in a fortnight so no need for self iso and Covid tests on arrival into SA.

 

[p--and--t]

My point is that's probably a level of granularity that's difficult to get into, when it comes to media "censorship" (you should see the anti-Dan stuff that's going around, commenting on the police state he's running... irony really, as if had been then Vic probably wouldn't have got into the mess it's in). That's why workplaces need to take some of their own responsibility, and implement COVID safe plans.

Sure there have been mistakes made in the public service and I'm sure those who made them will suffer the consequences as a result of the judicial enquiry. But its a bit ironic that Dan is also personally responsible for errors made in one of the departments and total lack of responsibility and inappropriate/negligent behaviour by private enterprise (contracted security firms, private operators of nursing homes, legal firm requiring their staff to work in the office et al). Its also a bit ironic he's constantly being accused of cover-ups when in less than 1/2 day from finding out there was a problem, he appointed an independent judge with a very wide brief to probe and investigate totally separate to gov.

 

[dajop]

Weren’t 200 ( or thereabouts) sent into isolation as a result? To me that’s a large number and unnecessary to have gathered in the first place, under ‘stage 4’ environment.

250 staff were tested, all of which would have been required to isolate until test results are available. That doesn't necessarily mean all staff were in the same place at the same time, and that there was a "gathering" of 250 people. It means that all people in the workplace need to be tested. After that, like with all positive cases, those who are close contacts of those testing positive will be required to isolate (including presumably whose only link is that they live with a cast member).