Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[Pushka]

I hope Pushka is not a 'consultant' for Gladys!

Just look what happened when Pushka tempted fate with a similar statement last week!

Songs I am currently humming

If I could turn back time....

On wearing a mask today in our humid heat, with glasses on

“every breathe I take” (I fog up more)

Seriously. Did Victoria get the same idiots (not Karens, just idiots) that I’ve seen with mask use today in the supermarket.
Wearing it only over one’s chin
Having it dangling from an ear
Dangling from the handbag handle.
Hanging from the trolley.
In ones hand

Sigh.

 

[RooFlyer]

Hadn't seen this before, reported in the Oz on-line. In part:

Doctor who ‘saved’ SA from mass outbreak

The president of the Australian Medical Association in South Australia says the actions of one doctor “saved” the state from a mass outbreak of COVID-19 cases.

Speaking on ABC Breakfast, Dr Chris Moy said the situation in South Australia was a lesson for all of Australia and a “sliding doors moment” in the state’s response to fighting the virus.

“The thing that saved us is actually the actions of one particular doctor in a hospital who had individual responsibility and follow-through despite the fact we had not seen a case of COVID-19 for so long in South Australia and that probably is a lesson for all of us in Australia but it turns on a dime, in terms of what people decide,” he said.

Dr Moy said had the doctor not insisted an elderly lady who had symptoms that were not clearly associated with coronavirus be tested “we might be two weeks down the line without knowing that this cluster existed”.

“It would have spread through the community and the contact tracing would have been probably five or six generations down with nobody knowing so really it turned out it was a sliding doors moment for South Australia and probably a lesson for all of Australia that we as individuals need to be on guard and not complacent because our individual actions make a big different but also as a community we do need to be on a war footing until we find a solution,” he said.

 

[Pushka]

We knew it was a persistent Dr who was determined to test after the lady presented with other symptoms. Then she coughed. We were told it was a female Dr yesterday.

Today, At last they have released her identity.

 

[jakeseven7]

I think Tas have deferred international arrivals until the new year. I've always supported us taking internationals, to do our bit, but if our government is going to react in such over-the-top ways to outbreaks in other states# then its probably better that we don't have international arrivals.


# As I mentioned up-thread, I cut them some slack when it was thought, initially, that it was a very contagious strain - something some here are ignoring - now that's been debunked and the cluster is evidently under control, no more slack! Its ridiculous that the quarantine requirement is still on foot.

Oh there will be a domestic cross border case soon enough as well, TAS has been open to people from SW and W Sydney after all and we know there is still rumbling transmission happening there... it is only a matter of time!

Yes I agree, I’m amazed TAS hasn’t announced their reopening to SA yet.... weird. Don’t they work Sundays like all the other states?

Weird also we haven’t heard from WA or QLD haven’t wheeled out their CHO to pass comment yet either.

 

[RAM]

Seriously. Did Victoria get the same idiots (not Karens, just idiots) that I’ve seen with mask use today in the supermarket.
Wearing it only over one’s chin
Having it dangling from an ear
Dangling from the handbag handle.
Hanging from the trolley.
In ones hand

Sigh.

...and some people wonder why they don't allow home quarantine for International Arrivals....

Just like the cyclists I see with their helmets clipped over the front of their bike whilst cycling - no, in this case IT IS NOT the thought that counts!

Reminds me of what a teacher told me a few years ago...

Spoiler: Apocryphal tale

Backpacking in the UK in the early 1950s he got a job with whatever their public health was called in those days. Seems that there were too many babies being born for some reason . So he was part of a national campaign to lower the birth rate. He worked for 7 months doing this.

Each day they set out from London in an 'official vehicle' - an ex-army truck with 20 people in the back. Every day a different village assaulted by around 20 'educators'. The larger villages may take up to a week to be covered. There were around a dozen trucks in all.

Every house, business, school (for the staff only), hospital, convalescence facility & churches got door knocked. Most of these workers were backpacker-like (before the term came about) and mostly from Australia, NZ or Canada. And this was the 1950s - sex education from Colonials!

The 'encounters' consisted of handing every woman aged under 60 a large supply of 'preventative' coverings (official name!).

Inevitably they asked what do we do with them. Apparently none of the 20 somethings could actually come right out and describe what should be done with them - so after going beetroot in colour they'd ask for a broom. Then use the broom handle to demonstrate, carefully saying now before you get cosy with your husband do this....

For some reason this education campaign did not seem to be having the desired effect, so at month 5 they went back to start over.

I kid you not. Most places they visited had the cleanest & most protected broom handles you'd ever see - with dozens of layers protecting the broom handle!

Never assume! BTW The teacher was a very black & white character - he never embellished a story, some thought that the 'Dragnet' conversation was based on him.

Time for half-hourly demonstrations on how to properly put on, wear & take off a mask - think of all the jobs it will create!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

We knew it was a persistent Dr who was determined to test after the lady presented with other symptoms. Then she coughed. We were told it was a female Dr yesterday.

Today, At last they have released her identity.


View attachment 234219

Back on 18 Nov Paul Kelly gave the following detail:
And I would say that actually, there was a young doctor in the hospital in northern Adelaide who was absolutely essential in picking up that first case. The family member that went to that hospital and went to the Emergency Department with something else completely different, no respiratory symptoms, one of the doctors heard that person coughing and did the test and that is how we know that there's something going on in South Australia very early. And they’re getting on top of very early, I am confident they will get on top of it.

Acting Chief Medical Officer’s press conference about COVID-19 on 18 November 2020

Read the transcript of Acting Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly's press conference about COVID-19 on 18 November 2020.

www.health.gov.au

 

[Princess Fiona]

...and some people wonder why they don't allow home quarantine for International Arrivals....

Just like the cyclists I see with their helmets clipped over the front of their bike whilst cycling - no, in this case IT IS NOT the thought that counts!

Reminds me of what a teacher told me a few years ago...

Backpacking in the UK in the early 1950s he got a job with whatever their public health was called in those days. Seems that there were too many babies being born for some reason . So he was part of a national campaign to lower the birth rate. He worked for 7 months doing this.

Each day they set out from London in an 'official vehicle' - an ex-army truck with 20 people in the back. Every day a different village assaulted by around 20 'educators'. The larger villages may take up to a week to be covered. There were around a dozen trucks in all.

Every house, business, school (for the staff only), hospital, convalescence facility & churches got door knocked. Most of these workers were backpacker-like (before the term came about) and mostly from Australia, NZ or Canada. And this was the 1950s - sex education from Colonials!

The 'encounters' consisted of handing every woman aged under 60 a large supply of 'preventative' coverings (official name!).

Inevitably they asked what do we do with them. Apparently none of the 20 somethings could actually come right out and describe what should be done with them - so after going beetroot in colour they'd ask for a broom. Then use the broom handle to demonstrate, carefully saying now before you get cosy with your husband do this....

For some reason this education campaign did not seem to be having the desired effect, so at month 5 they went back to start over.

I kid you not. Most places they visited had the cleanest & most protected broom handles you'd ever see - with dozens of layers protecting the broom handle!

Never assume! BTW The teacher was a very black & white character - he never embellished a story, some thought that the 'Dragnet' conversation was based on him.

Time for half-hourly demonstrations on how to properly put on, wear & take off a mask - think of all the jobs it will create!

This apocryphal tale of the broom handles is widely found on the internet. It is set in various places throughout the world, most recent iteration would have been during the HIV education campaigns.
The teacher must have been a very good storyteller indeed.

 

[Pushka]

Back on 18 Nov Paul Kelly gave the following detail:
And I would say that actually, there was a young doctor in the hospital in northern Adelaide who was absolutely essential in picking up that first case. The family member that went to that hospital and went to the Emergency Department with something else completely different, no respiratory symptoms, one of the doctors heard that person coughing and did the test and that is how we know that there's something going on in South Australia very early. And they’re getting on top of very early, I am confident they will get on top of it.

Acting Chief Medical Officer’s press conference about COVID-19 on 18 November 2020

Read the transcript of Acting Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly's press conference about COVID-19 on 18 November 2020.

www.health.gov.au

SA media reported it on Sunday when the first positive was announced, on 15th November.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I was hoping that some explanatory material would be released on the SA modelling which was put up as justifying the total lockdown. But so far all that really has been shown is the graph of what was likely to occur with no action. And of course no one was proposing no action, and no one was saying to not act swiftly. Control measures and some level of restrictions would always be deployed whenever a new community case is found.

Much was made of the high Ro. But with a single new cluster with a large family involved, you would expect a high Ro. Statistically too with so few cases a Ro has less meaning. No "smoking guns" were raised apart from Pizza Guy.

So what was the modelling for the total lockdown approach versus say the now commonly used two rings of containment method that has been working so well, and say a scenario or two in between?

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

An article from one of the mass media

SA lockdown decision embarrasses Premier

South Australia’s Premier Steven Marshall is facing criticism over the state’s harsh lockdown with the situation being described as a “farce”.

www.news.com.au

 

[VPS]

An article from one of the mass media

SA lockdown decision embarrasses Premier

South Australia’s Premier Steven Marshall is facing criticism over the state’s harsh lockdown with the situation being described as a “farce”.

www.news.com.au

Murdoch press. I'm in SA and I'm fine with what happened.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Murdoch press. I'm in SA and I'm fine with what happened.

I too am ok with speed and depth of lockdown.

I actually thought the article was a bit more balanced - raising the point about a potential Ro above 2, NSW Premier noting getting COVID from a pizza box was believable (as well as known cases from surfaces), Dr Norman Swan noting that SA was not physically distancing hence potential to be a Covid tinderbox once it’s in the community (which in my view makes the potential Ro higher).

So not completely anti-SA Government as the headline suggests.

 

[Pushka]

I was hoping that some explanatory material would be released on the SA modelling which was put up as justifying the total lockdown. But so far all that really has been shown is the graph of what was likely to occur with no action. And of course no one was proposing no action, and no one was saying to not act swiftly. Control measures and some level of restrictions would always be deployed whenever a new community case is found.

Much was made of the high Ro. But with a single new cluster with a large family involved, you would expect a high Ro. Statistically too with so few cases a Ro has less meaning. No "smoking guns" were raised apart from Pizza Guy.

So what was the modelling for the total lockdown approach versus say the now commonly used two rings of containment method that has been working so well, and say a scenario or two in between?



View attachment 234222

Understand what you are saying. The modelling is only as good as what is fed into it and the parameters used. At the beginning of COVID there was predicted to be thousands - hundreds of thousands - of deaths in Australia but as soon as a simple action was implemented - eg masks, social distancing then the prediction was no longer relevant.

How much is the Ro influenced by the fact that 15? close family members were positive very quickly?

Whatever. What is done is done. Let’s hope SA joins the rest of Australia ASAP.

 

[RooFlyer]

We can nit pick and quiz the detail ( meaning - the detail that has been publicly released) as much as we like but I think it’s obvious that the SA authorities have averted a disaster. It has come at cost to businesses, and many personal sacrifices, and maybe some dumb luck, but in a week SA appears to have gotten itself in the clear ( touch wood).

I say well done.

This who want to quibble at technical level, knock yourself out. SA got through it well, compared with an alternative.

 

[jakeseven7]

Understand what you are saying. The modelling is only as good as what is fed into it and the parameters used. At the beginning of COVID there was predicted to be thousands - hundreds of thousands - of deaths in Australia but as soon as a simple action was implemented - eg masks, social distancing then the prediction was no longer relevant.

How much is the Ro influenced by the fact that 15? close family members were positive very quickly?

Whatever. What is done is done. Let’s hope SA joins the rest of Australia ASAP.

No announcement from QLD and WA yet on SA rejoining the rest of Australia but on the news they said there were rumours that TAS would make an announcement this week.

 

[Pushka]

We can nit pick and quiz the detail ( meaning - the detail that has been publicly released) as much as we like but I think it’s obvious that the SA authorities have averted a disaster. It has come at cost to businesses, and many personal sacrifices, and maybe some dumb luck, but in a week SA appears to have gotten itself in the clear ( touch wood).

I say well done.

This who want to quibble at technical level, knock yourself out. SA got through it well, compared with an alternative.

Well, I would say the jury is still out as to whether the leakage from the hotel quarantine has been fully tested. If we are in this position in a weeks time then yes, we dodged a bullet. But honestly, by luck, given people working there weren't tested as I had thought they would be given that truckies from interstate are required to be tested every 7 days. And the excellent observations of a newly arrived Doctor. The shut down of those close contacts did quarantine SA hopefully from the spread from the family cohort. And that lockdown occurred almost a week ago.

But I'm curious as to why you appear somewhat angry with your government for locking us out - hell, given what happened on SA on Wednesday I would lock us out too - yet agreeable with what the State Government in SA did. Aren't those two positions at odds with each other?

 

[Bundy Bear]

Hopefully at the end of this week Anna opens the border to Sydney Metro, SA and all of Victoria on the 1 December.

And maybe the states need to move the panic button further away from the state premiers.

 

[N860CR]

And maybe the states need to move the panic button further away from the state premiers.

Confidence in stability will be destroyed by this incident in SA. Queensland already opened the borders once in July. They then closed them again and, despite NSW proving that they’ve been the best state in the country to deal with the pandemic, added even more bizarre conditions for reopening.

We’ve now had the country go into panic because of the “Brighton Le Sands Girls” in Queensland (and still not recovered) and now it’s “Gomez the Pizza Boy” who managed to literally shut the Commonwealth down again! How could anyone even contemplate doing interstate business right now? The best hope we’ve got is a few desperate rushes for people to see family who they’ve been separated from (and will wear the risk), but I can’t see a mass recovery of domestic travel.

Funnily enough, I suspect we’ll have an announcement about international borders (and given they’re federal, I’d find that to be more reliable) before it’s safe to book anything domestically.

 

[RooFlyer]

But I'm curious as to why you appear somewhat angry with your government for locking us out - hell, given what happened on SA on Wednesday I would lock us out too - yet agreeable with what the State Government in SA did. Aren't those two positions at odds with each other?

I was Ok with - or rationalised - the initial Tas reaction, as it was based on the erroneous info indicating a virulent, quickly transmissible strain in SA.

But once it turned into a ‘regular’ cluster and, due to the quick and hard lockdown, seemingly quickly suppressed, the reason to quarantine SA arrivals disappeared. Yet, no matter where the SA arrivals came from, and, for a week before remember, they get locked up for 2 weeks, continuing even after the true SA situation emerged.

The Tas authorities have always said there will be new cases in Tas, they said that opening the borders will bring risk. said we can operate with that.

But in reality what we have is all bets off. We can’t plan to travel interstate, and tourists can’t plan to visit, because it is likely, in the event ( high probability) of a new outbreak interstate, quarantine on arrival here will be implemented.

Our Chief Health Guy is selfishly preserving his own perfect ( post NW Coast outbreak) record. That’s what pi^^es me off. I’m in a risk group ( age, health) but I’m not one to keep the drawbridge up to sacrifice the states economy.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

But I'm curious as to why you appear somewhat angry with your government for locking us out - hell, given what happened on SA on Wednesday I would lock us out too - yet agreeable with what the State Government in SA did. Aren't those two positions at odds with each other?

I think it’s because Tas seems to be in the Qld/WA bucket- moving to close border before SA went to hard lockdown and now not reopening as soon as SA removes lockdown.

PS in case you missed it @nutwood confirmed hard lockdownwas announced on Wednesday