Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[lovetravellingoz]

So they weren't isolating then.

No precise details have really yet been given except that they are close contacts of the likely source/s.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

It’s very odd.

NSW Health must be very very confident they have these clusters under control to still let this proceed and we just have to hope they are right.

I can admit they seemed to get the Muslim festival exemption right a few months ago.....so fingers crossed

 

[lovetravellingoz]

With a minimum of 43 people already being contact traced by the morning we will no doubt be told more detail.

Based on EPIC etc close contacts of the close contacts will also be told to isolate till a negative test has been achieved. So the 43 in isolation will probably rapidly grow in number due to the social nature of this time of year.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

No precise details have really yet been given except that they are close contacts of the likely source/s.

So people returning from NSW are required to self isolate for 14 days, at home. But people living with them at home are free to go out and about? That doesn't seem right!?

 

[jase05]

Speculation that a woman from a NSW hot zone dodged a Vic border checkpoint

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

In normal years Sydney gets well over 1m into the CBD to watch the fireworks.
No allocated seating, lots of alcohol and mixing.

And plenty of suburban shopping centres would have had way more than 20,000 through their doors every day since Boxing Day - indoors, mulling around, trying on clothes.
Far more risky than an outdoor seated event at limited capacity.

Also with the Test, they still have a number of extra days to pull the plug and say no spectators.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

I think a large concern for large outdoor gatherings is the public transport to and from which tends to be sardine like.

After the Bronte Christmas ‘disaster’, I think that incident might have significantly contributed to NYE changes. It was surprising to see police walking through effectively doing nothing for a substantial period before the riot squad was called.

 

[Kendall Roy]

Speculation that a woman from a NSW hot zone dodged a Vic border checkpoint

 

[N860CR]

What a waste this year has been. Australia had a chance to showcase its world class health system, instead we wasted billions and billions of dollars on pointless “border closures” rather than finding a way to manage this virus.

We seem to have gone from March to December without producing a single plan for dealing with this virus. That’s the real crime.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

So people returning from NSW are required to self isolate for 14 days, at home. But people living with them at home are free to go out and about? That doesn't seem right!?

I do not think your statement is correct.

Who should quarantine (stay at home)?​

You should quarantine at home if:

1. you may have spent time or live with some who has tested positive for coronavirus
2. you may have spent time or live with someone who may have been exposed to the virus at work, school or somewhere else
3. you yourself may have been exposed to the virus at work, school or somewhere else
4. you may have symptoms of the virus and are waiting for your test result. After your test you must go home immediately. You cannot go anywhere else after your test
5. you have been directed to do so by the Department of Health and Human Services
6. you have been identified as needing to quarantine by authorised officers because you have visited an interstate high risk location

However what people do, and what they should do can be quite different.


However at present nothing has been stated on the likely index case/s. The index case/s may well of even travelled before isolation was required.

We do not yet know if the 3 cases are linked to each other.

 

[nutwood]

So people returning from NSW are required to self isolate for 14 days, at home. But people living with them at home are free to go out and about? That doesn't seem right!?

This is a probability game that I'm very familiar with. Every trip I've undertaken the last year has had this consideration, regardless of whatever the official process was. The logic is, you've visited somewhere with a COVID risk factor. Consider what that risk factor actually is, then calculate the probability of being asymptomatic and contagious, then calculate the probability of household members catching the virus and also being asymptomatic and contagious....
Providing the initial risk factor is low (visited a risk area, not slept with a carrier!), the break caused by the primary person not circulating drops the risk dramatically.

 

[hydrabyss]

Certainly doing damage, but we don't have the "28 day" rule. The govt can switch restrictions off (or on!) at short notice. Most of our tourists are from Victoria.

From what I could find Victorians account for around 45% of interstate travellers into Tas. and NSW around 25%.But international although less visitors compared to Aust. visitors almost matched the amount of nights stayed.
Will be interesting to see next years figures as my guess will be NSW in single digits.

 

[jakeseven7]

With a minimum of 43 people already being contact traced by the morning we will no doubt be told more detail.

Based on EPIC etc close contacts of the close contacts will also be told to isolate till a negative test has been achieved. So the 43 in isolation will probably rapidly grow in number due to the social nature of this time of year.

Yup they’ve already said they will do the 3 rings of steel and contact tracing throughout the night.
Expectation is VIC’s rapid response units will be deployed in the SE as well.

Hopefully VIC can contain the leakage from the Sydney outbreak quickly.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

I guess essentially the places visited by theCroydon 6 cases

News - Public health alert - further venues

NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues that have been visited by confirmed cases of COVID-19.

www.health.nsw.gov.au

 

[kamchatsky]

I guess essentially the places visited by theCroydon 6 cases

News - Public health alert - further venues

NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues that have been visited by confirmed cases of COVID-19.

www.health.nsw.gov.au

Ouch! Costco Lidcombe ..... That won't be good ...

 

[Pushka]

Ouch! Costco Lidcombe ..... That won't be good ...

Most seem to wear masks at Costco which might help.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I do not think your statement is correct.

Who should quarantine (stay at home)?​

You should quarantine at home if:

1. you may have spent time or live with some who has tested positive for coronavirus
2. you may have spent time or live with someone who may have been exposed to the virus at work, school or somewhere else
3. you yourself may have been exposed to the virus at work, school or somewhere else
4. you may have symptoms of the virus and are waiting for your test result. After your test you must go home immediately. You cannot go anywhere else after your test
5. you have been directed to do so by the Department of Health and Human Services
6. you have been identified as needing to quarantine by authorised officers because you have visited an interstate high risk location

However what people do, and what they should do can be quite different.


However at present nothing has been stated on the likely index case/s. The index case/s may well of even travelled before isolation was required.

We do not yet know if the 3 cases are linked to each other.

It would be great if that was true! I guess the question is how is that requirement communicated to other members of the household? Is the onus on the returning traveller to tell everyone else they live with they must isolate as well?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

What a waste this year has been. Australia had a chance to showcase its world class health system, instead we wasted billions and billions of dollars on pointless “border closures” rather than finding a way to manage this virus.

We seem to have gone from March to December without producing a single plan for dealing with this virus. That’s the real crime.

Lots of people have been very critical of government action... but none have come up with a viable alternative.

 

[N860CR]

Lots of people have been very critical of government action... but none have come up with a viable alternative.

The best alternative was not really an alternative. It was the federal government policy - “flattern the curve”. Spend money on hospitals, not billions on borders. Allow our highly funded and highly skilled health professionals to do their job. Half the task was complete, plenty of “COVID wards” were built. But they were never used. One of Sydney’s largest wards that was renovated to be dedicated to COVID patients was actually closed for Christmas. The good news is it’s been reopened, however from the whole northern beaches outbreak saw a total of two patients (neither subsequently had COVID).

Australia would have absolutely no problem dealing with a “flat curve” (and health professional would prefer this to their current stand downs), however we’ve never bothered to give it a chance. Now, nearly a year later, we are back where we started.

 

[trevella]

Lots of people have been very critical of government action... but none have come up with a viable alternative

Some of us actually work in the space. We just realize that it's a tad more complicated than you seem to allow for in your little amateur ethical interludes.