Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[oznflfan]

My god these NSW/VIC cases are blown out of proportion. Media talk like we have 2,000 cases daily from both states. At this stage even end of 2021, even after full vaccination we'll still close borders at a couple of cases.

 

[Hillbilly64]

Someone help me out here.
Had a friend and his family fly NTL-OOL today with JQ, no checks on arrival or border security in sight. Does QLD currently have no restrictions with NSW?

You require a pass to enter QLD from NSW. You need to declare you haven't been in a hotspot or you have to quarantine. Have been through the border a couple of times with the pass on the window and just been waived through (even though 4 people in car and only one pass visible).

No need from anywhere else at this stage.

 

[jase05]

You require a pass to enter QLD from NSW. You need to declare you haven't been in a hotspot or you have to quarantine. Have been through the border a couple of times with the pass on the window and just been waived through (even though 4 people in car and only one pass visible).

No need from anywhere else at this stage.

So Sydney siders could drive to Newcastle and then fly to the Gold Coast without being checked at all?

 

[jb747]

So, as Victoria is planning on turning people back who arrive after midnight tonight, are we going to see refugee camps set up along the NSW side of the border?

 

[I love to travel]

So Sydney siders could drive to Newcastle and then fly to the Gold Coast without being checked at all?

I realise you are asking about NSW to Qld flights but there were no checks yesterday on my ADL to BNE flight even though it was announced on board that there would be checks.

 

[oznflfan]

So, as Victoria is planning on turning people back who arrive after midnight tonight, are we going to see refugee camps set up along the NSW side of the border?

With 50 cal gun turrets every 400m along the fence line.

 

[hydrabyss]

So, as Victoria is planning on turning people back who arrive after midnight tonight, are we going to see refugee camps set up along the NSW side of the border?

Well instead of turning back the boats it will be turning back the cars.

 

[jase05]

Even though SA hasn’t closed the border with Victoria yet there is some talk that arrivals will be scrutinised at the airport and land checkpoints and individuals could be forced to isolate if they are deemed to be from a Melbourne hotspot

 

[lovetravellingoz]

.

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Another update to the Vic exposure site list with multiple sites now in Leongatha.

On the case from Leongatha in today's numbers, but in the news yesterday

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But among the 10 cases, one is in the regional Victorian town of Leongatha in Gippsland.​

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Mr Weimar said that person had only recently travelled to Leongatha to rent a holiday house, but it was likely there would be exposure sites listed today from the area.​

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and​

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He said the case moved to their Leongatha residence fairly recently so they may not have had much exposure in the area during their infectious period, but anyone with symptoms should still go and get tested.​

The worksite may suggest a second case in Leongatha .

 

[love_the_life]

.

​

Another update to the Vic exposure site list with multiple sites now in Leongatha.

On the case from Leongatha in today's numbers, but in the news yesterday

​

But among the 10 cases, one is in the regional Victorian town of Leongatha in Gippsland.​

​

Mr Weimar said that person had only recently travelled to Leongatha to rent a holiday house, but it was likely there would be exposure sites listed today from the area.​

​

and​

​

He said the case moved to their Leongatha residence fairly recently so they may not have had much exposure in the area during their infectious period, but anyone with symptoms should still go and get tested.​

The worksite may suggest a second case in Leongatha .

View attachment 237049

Brother and SIL are in Leongatha to clean out Mum's place. Luckily only arrived yesterday but hope they lay low.

 

[Must...Fly!]

So, as Victoria is planning on turning people back who arrive after midnight tonight, are we going to see refugee camps set up along the NSW side of the border?

If there is, it won't be in the front garden of any state MP, you can be sure of that.

 

[antycbr]

If there is, it won't be in the front garden of any state MP, you can be sure of that.

Waiting for the inevitable Herald Sun articles.

The Victorian Government need to have a cold hard look at what they asked people to do over the last 24 hours. All it would have taken is one minor slip up and a head on could have occurred. I suspect NSW Police must be in shock as to what has happened with driving particularly anecdotally on the Newell, and asking people to drive tired on the Princes through the Sapphire Coast and East Gippsland which isn’t the best road on a normal day.

 

[SydneySwan]

Well instead of turning back the boats it will be turning back the cars.

ABC News reported this evening that if you join the queue in NSW to cross into Victoria tonight but don’t get across before midnight you will still be processed according to the pre-midnight rules.

Tomorrow however it will be 14 days mandatory hotel quarantine at your own expense. So no refugee camps yet but it can only be a matter of time before a UNHCR camp pops up on a state border somewhere.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Ok more on the Bega 2.

This article was updated one hour ago.

• Again the story is different.
• They are now confirmed to Lakes Entrance on Dec 28/29 as speculated by myself earlier.
• This version goes with being notified on Dec 31 as they were queuing at a NSW testing site. (Today there have been different reports on the timeline of the notification).

Two of the latest positive cases are in people who were also at the Black Rock restaurant on December 21, before they travelled into Gippsland, a government spokesperson told the ABC.

They stopped in Lakes Entrance on December 28 and 29 — the latter being the same date coronavirus fragments were detected in Lakes Entrance wastewater.

They then headed to New South Wales, where they attended two hospitality venues in Eden and Bermagui on December 30 and the morning of December 31.

By the time Victorian health authorities contacted them on December 31 to inform them they were close contacts, they were already queuing to be tested at a NSW site.

They are now back in Victoria being supported to isolate.

What we know about Victoria's coronavirus outbreak

There are 10 cases now linked to Victoria's outbreak, which has seen its border with New South Wales slam shut. Here's what we know.

www.abc.net.au

And also:

 

[SydneySwan]

If there is, it won't be in the front garden of any state MP, you can be sure of that.

But it could be on a large piece of land owned by the MPs arms length family trust and rented out lucratively to the state government!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

​

Also this article below might be of interest to those that want to know if Vic DHHS was only looking at NSW as a source for the latest Vic Outbreak, or where also looking for other possible links including to hotel quarantine. However this may evolve of course, and especially when the genomic sequencing becomes known (tomorrow?) for the early cases in this outbreak as that will hopefully provide greater clarity as to where the outbreak actually came from. Whether it is linked to the Avalon Cluster or to an entirely different strain (known or unknown such as an aircrew leakage).

Could the outbreak have come from somewhere other than NSW?​

Mr Weimar said authorities would continue to pursue any fresh leads that were uncovered as a result of contact tracing, but so far the NSW leads appeared to be the most "promising link".

"At this point in time we have found no other connection to any other area of infection … there is no connection at this point in time to any aspect of the hotel quarantine program or to any of the staff members involved in that."

He said authorities had conducted more than 25,000 COVID-19 tests on staff involved in the hotel quarantine program, all of which had been negative, which meant authorities were "very confident" they were not detecting coronavirus in that cohort at this point in time.

What we know about Victoria's coronavirus outbreak

There are 10 cases now linked to Victoria's outbreak, which has seen its border with New South Wales slam shut. Here's what we know.

www.abc.net.au

And on possible links to NSW from the existing contact tracing:

The first lead, a person who had returned from NSW and also dined at the restaurant, has returned a negative result for coronavirus.

But Mr Weimar said they would remain in quarantine until blood test results came back, hopefully before the end of the weekend, to reveal whether they had ever been infected with coronavirus.

"That will determine whether they have already cleared their infection and stopped shedding the virus, whether they have previously had the infection or whether they've been negative all the way through," he said.


Two other people had been in Sydney for around 24 hours "a couple of weeks ago" before coming back to Victoria, and were close contacts of positive cases, Mr Weimar said.

He said health authorities were also running blood tests and genomics testing on those two people.

While December 21 is the earliest date authorities have at the moment for the outbreak, Mr Weimar stressed that it could have begun earlier.

 

[hydrabyss]

Interesting article, not sure if it has been mentioned. Have to love the first photo and shows how many people don't fully understand mask wearing.
Disease expert said Melbourne Covid-19 is more concerning than Sydney

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Interesting article, not sure if it has been mentioned. Have to love the first photo and shows how many people don't fully understand mask.
Disease expert said Melbourne Covid-19 is more concerning than Sydney

Australian National University epidemiologist Peter Collignon said he had been 'more concerned' about the cases reported in the Victorian capital because he was waiting for confirmation of the source of the outbreak.

Authorities have 'presumed' the outbreak is linked to the New South Wales cluster, which began in Sydney's Northern Beaches, and have yet to confirm the connection through genomic testing.

Yes sound logic there as the source of the Avalon Cluster is known including how long it has been an outbreak.......oh wait!

 

[nutwood]

Another poster on one of these threads made a reasonable comment a while back, asking for those whinging to propose a solution. I’m guessing after months of whinging they are just dumbfounded and just keep whinging about having achieved flatten the curve (marketed as point 2) and how stupid/incompetent/etc the government is.

Not sure if I'm a whinger but happy to throw in a few suggestions as I'm firmly of the view that the federal government is missing in action.. They may be limited in what they can compel but there's no limits on how they can help.

1. Massive advertising campaign to get everyone on the same page re COVID. Not recorded messages telling people what to do but well presented, engaging campaigns. The recent NB wedding fiasco is clear proof that the message has not been sold. It was a wedding, not a drug run. If it was felt to be socially inappropriate, no-one would have been there.

2. Clear definition of hotspots and rapid shutdowns of same. SA showed the way to go. Premise may have been found to be false, but the reaction was first class. Stop everything and assess the situation. In the SA case, shutting the whole State was extreme but this is where discussion should happen. Federal compensation should be available to those affected.

3. Engage a large number of skilled persons to deal with exemptions to the rules, compassionate and otherwise. Bottom line is that if people can genuinely show that they do not present a risk, why restrict them? Current situation is everything goes through standard State bureaucracies who just repeat basic policy and have have no authority to do anything apart from repeat basic policy. There's a need for a Federal body to provide consistent assessments

4. Get rid of hotel quarantine. It's fundamentally flawed and has been the basis for too many leaks. Hierarchy of controls, in diminishing order, is elimination, substitution, engineering, administration and PPE. Hotel quarantine is relying on the bottom two. The failures reflect this.

There's a few off the cuff suggestions to hopefully stimulate discussion. The current situation is a mess. What was acceptable in March is looking shabby the following January. Why are emergency powers still being used?

 

[Kendall Roy]

Not sure if he's winding us up, but a great example of where common sense goes out the window!