Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Very much a slow motion virus, although I'm finding it very hard to figure exactly what is happening with this particular outbreak.
Has anyone determined an accurate time line for the SA cluster? From the outside it appears there's a lot of mis-information and there's a good chance that it's still simmering beneath the surface.

Yeah the official information has been vague from the beginning (the third/fourth day when the hard lockdown was announced). It’s making me quite nervous.

 

[jakeseven7]

Yeah the official information has been vague from the beginning (the third/fourth day when the hard lockdown was announced). It’s making me quite nervous.

ABC Radio this morning throwing around whether SA's CHO's days are numbered!

Was just conjecture, but it has been pretty poorly handled given all the time that the other states have had to sit back and prepare watching how NSW and VIC have had to manage outbreaks and clusters...

 

[Pushka]

Very much a slow motion virus, although I'm finding it very hard to figure exactly what is happening with this particular outbreak.
Has anyone determined an accurate time line for the SA cluster? From the outside it appears there's a lot of mis-information and there's a good chance that it's still simmering beneath the surface.

Well, currently our testing rates have been high but it slipped down because 40 degree heat will do that. If it was simmering away then we would expect unwell people to be developing symptoms but that isn't happening. There is no one in hospital with it and I think I heard last night, just 13 active cases. No one developed anything serious enough to require ventilation and we do know a couple of 80 year old people were in the original cluster. Have no idea what this all means.

In terms of disease management I think the CHO has done a good job until the last outbreak. And while she explains the do's and dont's well, I think her communication of the strategy being used has been poor of recent times. But in reality that isn't her job. The Premier has left her out to dry on several occasions, because at the moment he and his advisers don't seem to be running the show. I get that under emergency measures he relinquishes everything to PC and CHO but unfortunately this mess of communication strategy is the result.

Another example. Surgical masks being made mandatory in many settings as of today. In recent times we have been told that quality reusable masks are fine and the Premier has been promoting an SA company that makes them. But reusable masks are now banned from use for both customers and practioners in pharmacies as an example. So those who wear a reusable mask eg on buses and trains, and at work, now have to remove them and put on a surgical mask if they need to go to the chemist. And many people won't be aware of that because I clicked on the information page on today's announcement and the information even for me seems overwhelming. PDF after PDF. It was only someone's FB post on the Health page that alerted me to this. And I ordered reusable masks just last night because no where had I read that these were now not acceptable in many places. I knew it was for practitioners but not for mere customers.

 

[jakeseven7]

32 Days, almost a week past WA's 28 day rule....

Hopefully an announcement from WA today....

 

[oz_mark]

View attachment 234786


32 Days, almost a week past WA's 28 day rule....

Hopefully an announcement from WA today....

There's a press conference scheduled this morning. Let's see what that brings..

 

[Pushka]

6000 tests. High for SA. No positives. Just a comment about one that I saw on the dashboard on Sat that hasn’t been reported due to shifting reporting times but they were in a med hotel and now recovered. Slowly slowly.

 

[Lynda2475]

Interesting re the SA rule on surgical masks. I find surgical masks the least well fittimg, and would only use one for the briefest of store visits. Plus surgical masks only protect other people not you as dont offer any decent filtering unlike N95 or PM2.5.

For flights or theatre the other night i wore a KN95, best seal of any masks and because the duck bill shape sits out from your face its easiest to breathe in. If i needed to go to a medical appointment i would wear that style, as the surgical masks have a coughpier nose wire resulting in foggy glasses and on my big head tend to gap at the sides rendering them pointless at protecting me.

I have several different 3 layer reusable masks all that can take a PM2.5 filter making them 4 layer. All fit better than surgical masks too.

 

[jakeseven7]

Interesting re the SA rule on surgical masks. I find surgical masks the least well fittimg, and would only use one for the briefest of store visits. Plus surgical masks only protect other people not you as dont offer any decent filtering unlike N95 or PM2.5.

For flights or theatre the other night i wore a KN95, best seal of any masks and because the duck bill shape sits out from your face its easiest to breathe in. If i needed to go to a medical appointment i would wear that style, as the surgical masks have a coughpier nose wire resulting in foggy glasses and on my big head tend to gap at the sides rendering them pointless at protecting me.

I have several different 3 layer reusable masks all that can take a PM2.5 filter making them 4 layer. All fit better than surgical masks too.

We are providing our staff N95 for all their travel (though most are choosing to use the QF Fly Well kit ones)...

 

[Pushka]

Interesting re the SA rule on surgical masks. I find surgical masks the least well fittimg, and would only use one for the briefest of store visits. Plus surgical masks only protect other people not you as dont offer any decent filtering unlike N95 or PM2.5.

For flights or theatre the other night i wore a KN95, best seal of any masks and because the duck bill shape sits out from your face its easiest to breathe in. If i needed to go to a medical appointment i would wear that style, as the surgical masks have a coughpier nose wire resulting in foggy glasses and on my big head tend to gap at the sides rendering them pointless at protecting me.

I have several different 3 layer reusable masks all that can take a PM2.5 filter making them 4 layer. All fit better than surgical masks too.

I’ll just use the surgical ones when required then and until the reusable ones arrive. I find the blue plastic lining makes them hot.
MrP works in a clinical setting and a tad concerned as he uses facial expressions of clients as a tool to do his clinical work.

 

[jakeseven7]

I wonder if Tasmania will helicopter those bushwalkers back out to wherever they emergency extracted them from....
Ridiculous reaction to SA's ridiculous mess in handling their outbreak.....!

---
Breaking: Tasmania reopens borders to South Australia

South Australia will be classified as a low-risk area to Tasmania from this Thursday, meaning travellers won't have to quarantine on arrival.

The exception will be people who've been to locations identified by SA Health as posing high risk. These places will be specified by the Tasmanian Director of Public Health later today.

Anyone who is quarantining in Tasmania based on time spent in SA will be able to end their quarantine on Thursday, when Tasmania will be open to all other states and territories for the first time in nine months.

Border restrictions eased across Australia as loved ones are reunited in Queensland

Western Australia and Tasmania announce a further easing of border restrictions, while family and friends are reunited as Queensland opens up to travellers from Sydney and Victoria.

www.abc.net.au

 

[jeza]

From Tuesday 8th Dec people from VIC & NSW will no longer have to quarantine for 14 days on entry into WA.

 

[jakeseven7]

Stuttering, messy announcement from the Premier of WA and 11 days late from when it should be open to VIC but at least finally done.

Importantly : people cannot have been in SA / mingled with SA people in last 14 days though. SA border is still shut. Review next week, like QLD.

He was pressed very hard on why the almost two week delay - again blamed NSW, said Perth airport wasn't ready, our police force is not ready blah blah blah. Made WA look like a third world state....

----
Breaking: WA reopens borders to Victoria and NSW from Dec 8, border to SA remains closed

More to come

Border restrictions eased across Australia as loved ones are reunited in Queensland

Western Australia and Tasmania announce a further easing of border restrictions, while family and friends are reunited as Queensland opens up to travellers from Sydney and Victoria.

www.abc.net.au

 

[jakeseven7]

 

[Lynda2475]

@Pushka not surgical but your hubby might want to look into reusable masks designed for hearing impared which have a clear panel like these: Adult Fashion Plaid Print Face Protective Washable Transparent Visible Lip Fashion Protective for The Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Reusable Polyester Fabric (Purple): Amazon.com.au: Home Improvement so mouth is visible.

 

[Lynda2475]

I was at the hairdressers during WA Premiere's announcement so couldnt hear everything he was saying, and the subutiles were lagging something terrible but pretty sure he said the reopening next week is dependent on there being zero cases between now and then (so by no means a sure thing), sounded like no tolrance for anything not zero.

 

[jakeseven7]

I was at the hairdressers during WA Premiere's announcement so couldnt hear everything he was saying, and the subutiles were lagging something terrible but pretty sure he said the reopening next week is dependent on there being zero cases between now and then (so by no means a sure thing), sounded like no tolrance for anything not zero.

Which will be horrifically unfair to any Victorian resident for whom the border should have opened last Friday....

 

[dajop]

I’ll just use the surgical ones when required then and until the reusable ones arrive. I find the blue plastic lining makes them hot.
MrP works in a clinical setting and a tad concerned as he uses facial expressions of clients as a tool to do his clinical work.

After using masks now for 3 months in 30+ degrees temperatures with high humidity, I've come to the conclusion that surgical masks are more comfortable than re-usable as they are lighter to wear. Although we have several boxes of two different types of masks (that our employers provided), and one is definitely more comfortable than the other. I've noticed most people have gravitated back to surgicals masks too.

In fact the other day I was sitting by the pool, working on my laptop, then decided to go for a swim. It wasn't until I was almost waist deep in the water that I realised I still had my mask on So not terribly intrusive for me anyway. Either that or just used to them by now.

 

[Lynda2475]

Which will be horrifically unfair to any Victorian resident for whom the border should have opened last Friday...

Not sure why he is choosing to link the two states, NSW should have been alllowed into WA way back in June which was when NSW first had 28 days of no local transmission.

It will be equally unfair if NSW is locked out because Vic gets a case in the next week

That said by his logic Qld, SA, NT, ACT and Tas should all be locked out now as all are fully open to NSW.

Post automatically merged: Dec 1, 2020

I've come to the conclusion that surgical masks are more comfortable than re-usable as they are lighter to wear

Maybe it depends on the brand but I find the surgical masks much much hotter and more difficult to breathe through than my fabric masks - that said there is a huge variation in the quality, style and materials used in various fabric masks.

Fabric masks which use tshirt type cotton for the inner most layer are the hottest ones. The nose wire in the surgical masks is also really thin comapred with the metal strip used in KN95 and fabric masks, to get a good seal with surgical mask requires use of surgical tape which isnt great for the skin.

Then again maybe its just my face shape that renders surgical masks mostly useless.

 

[Pushka]

After using masks now for 3 months in 30+ degrees temperatures with high humidity, I've come to the conclusion that surgical masks are more comfortable than re-usable as they are lighter to wear. Although we have several boxes of two different types of masks (that our employers provided), and one is definitely more comfortable than the other. I've noticed most people have gravitated back to surgicals masks too.

In fact the other day I was sitting by the pool, working on my laptop, then decided to go for a swim. It wasn't until I was almost waist deep in the water that I realised I still had my mask on So not terribly intrusive for me anyway. Either that or just used to them by now.

I just wish more would be using them. After the recent comms kerfuffle here I suspect people just aren't listening anymore.
Had to get scripts filled today. Wearing a mask as is required. But people were being served without one. Wasn't even asked to sign the script and not given entrance to the store.

Post automatically merged: Dec 1, 2020

Not sure why he is choosing to link the two states, NSW should have been alllowed into WA way back in June which was when NSW first had 28 days of no local transmission.

It will be equally unfair if NSW is locked out because Vic gets a case in the next week

That said by his logic Qld, SA, NT, ACT and Tas should all be locked out now as all are fully open to NSW.

Post automatically merged: Dec 1, 2020

Maybe it depends on the brand but I find the surgical masks much much hotter and more difficult to breathe through than my fabric masks - that said there is a huge variation in the quality, style and materials used in various fabric masks.

Fabric masks which use tshirt type cotton for the inner most layer are the hottest ones. The nose wire in the surgical masks is also really thin comapred with the metal strip used in KN95 and fabric masks, to get a good seal with surgical mask requires use of surgical tape which isnt great for the skin.

Then again maybe its just my face shape that renders surgical masks mostly useless.

That is my problem too, also SIL issue and she has to wear them all the time at her hospital. She 'failed' the mask test (face is too small) because there were open gaps in the mask, and that's the same with me so thinking material ones would fit better. Bought some of those from Uniqlo with their breathable fabrics.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Sorry to bust your bubble but we have the same ramping, the same increase in acuity and presentations and no closed borders.

Apologies I missed this. It is sad to hear how endemic severe and acute mental health issues have become increasingly prevalent this year. I wonder how many of those who are presenting with such acute conditions have support networks and family interstate, where borders are closed and precluding their visit. Even if where they are living is open & free for people to come, they may not be able to go back.