Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[antycbr]

Won't be a long time, as Vic and NSW not hamstrung by WA and QLD 28 days no community transmission requirement.

If that’s the position shouldn’t Queensland be closed to Vic already?

 

[jakeseven7]

If that’s the position shouldn’t Queensland be closed to Vic already?

Expected any second but they are showing restraint and VIC has been linking almost all cases as well. VIC also has better relationships with the other states clearly without all the public sniping that occurred between NSW and QLD/WA.

QLD let NSW run for a bit as well, but their mystery cases started building up which was the ultimate trigger (so they say... that plus the fact it started spreading outside the original cluster area).

 

[lovetravellingoz]

If that’s the position shouldn’t Queensland be closed to Vic already?

Qld is not closed to all of NSW where there are more active cases.

Though note:

Hundreds waiting for COVID-19 tests in Brisbane turned away after 'test and isolate' direction issued

Lines wrapped around the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital on Saturday evening, after Queensland authorities issued a "test and isolate" direction for anyone who has been in Victoria since December 21.

www.abc.net.au

 

[lovetravellingoz]

13 positive cases have were at the Smile Buffalo on the 21st now.

So 13 out of the 21 positive cases to date.


Most close contacts and their close contacts in isolation from about Dec 30 to Dec 31. More by now.

So about 10 days of mixing for these infectious people. Though of that 13 they will not have been infectious the whole time.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

NSW 8 new local cases

5 in western and southern Sydney.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

NSW 8 new local cases

5 in western and southern Sydney.

Berala cluster genomically linked to transport worker, and closer link than to its cousin the Avalon Cluster..

ie Transmission linked to transport worker and not to Avalon or Woolongong.

 

[jase05]

Genomic tracing shows Berala connected to patient transport, not to Avalon. It’s an overseas strain. Massive problem due to brief contact required.

Woolongong genomicly connected to Avalon but physical link missing. One case from yesterday not yet linked to existing outbreak.

To me I think this explains the sudden change to mask wearing in NSW as I think they are worried the UK strain is loose in Berala/Auburn

 

[jakeseven7]

Genomic tracing shows Berala connected to patient transport, not to Avalon. It’s an overseas strain. Massive problem due to brief contact required.

Woolongong genomicly connected to Avalon but physical link missing. One case from yesterday not yet linked to existing outbreak.

To me I think this explains the sudden change to mask wearing in NSW as I think they are worried the UK strain is loose in Berala/Auburn

Hope not because W and SW Sydney was already a problem spot for NSW before all of this...

 

[Must...Fly!]

Won't be a long time, as Vic and NSW not hamstrung by WA and QLD 28 days no community transmission requirement.

I'm not so sure? Things have not spiralled out of control in NSW, certainly not in the regions, but no one may enter VIC without an essential worker permit or in extreme circumstances, along with 14 days in a hotel and $2500 lighter in the hip pocket.

I can't see how they close the entire state off, but then in say two or three weeks open things again. Of course, that would be consistently inconsistent as we have come to expect, but I still think it's very unlikely.

 

[Lynda2475]

Im currently in T3 at SYD, the check in area was dead but airport itself is busier than I thought. As no QF lounge had to buy a coffee at a coffee shop in food court.

One guy and his kids were coughing gave them a wide berth and am now checking they aren't on my flight ( or will have to report them for travelling with symptoms).

Looks to be a full flight JQ (as a classic reward for me),I'm guessing QF status got me a front seat I definitely didn't pay for seat selection.

No temperature screening, no fly safe packs you could help yourself to (wearing an N95 mask anyway) but a guy deciding who can have one.

Gloomy raining day and looks to be the same up north.

Now to download GBs presser to listen to on the flight.

 

[antycbr]

Hope not because W and SW Sydney was already a problem spot for NSW before all of this...

Chant didn’t think so. If linked to the transport driver we would have known already if a UK/ZA variant

 

[RooFlyer]

Why are emergency powers still being used?

if 'emergency powers' emanate from a 'state of emergency', I'm not sure many are. Tas was finally released from its SoE a month or so ago and several other states as well I think.

I flew back into Perth Wednesday morning (30th) from Hobart via MEL. Had my G2G ready to scan. I received an email the next day at 2:30pm from WA Police advising me to self-isolate and to reply with my address.

Did you stopover in Melbourne, or just transit the airport? If the latter - they are enforcing quarantine for transits?
_____________

Given its very conservative approach before, I'm very surprised Tasmania hasn't instigated greater controls against NSW and Vic. They have declared a number of localities in those 2 states 'high risk' (cannot enter the state) and 'medium risk' (can enter, with quarantine).
Coming to Tasmania | Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Tasmania has a pretty low level of testing (200-600/day over past week) and society is all but back to normal except for social distancing - still pretty well observed in queues - capacity constraints and entry ID for venues and hospitals etc.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

There seems to be much concern about the number of test swabs being taken in Vic at present. But what really is the situation? And do people really believe that significant wait times are not going to happen when sudden test surges happen? Especially with Xmas NYE's being a period when a large proportion of the population is on holiday's and staying away from home and when local cases had been zero for two months, even if NSW had been bubbling away.

Obviously the returnees due to NSW border closure has caused a sudden surge that has helped to push demand, though demand was also growing from just having had positive cases.


Staff are being brought early back progressively. But remember they may have been holiday many hours drive away in paid accommodation with their kids for whom they may have no alternative childminding arrangements in place for the simple reason that they were off on holiday. Note many childminding centres are all closed this week, as is normal at Xmas /New Years.

This morning it was announced that capacity was again expanded today, after having been expanded yesterday and that at the main Melbourne sites there would be 30% more capacity tomorrow as more staff return from leave early from leave.

A little context:
Vic. First positive test result late on Dec 30 (published on Dec 31). Three days later Test swabs taken on Jan 2 = 30,000 (Pro rata to NSW that would be 38,000 samples).

NSW. First positive test result on Dec 16 (published on Dec 17). Three days later Test swabs taken on Dec 19 = 12,374 Note that local active cases were double that in Vic by same days afterwards.

(Note NSW reports test taken (swabs) whereas Vic reports test results (ie positive/negative) and so one has to bare this in mind)


Not sure Vic will be able to hit the NSW high of 70k swabs in a day (55 k pro-rata), but in Vic despite the hype test numbers since the outbreak arrived has actually been quite ok .


Current wait times:

Health.vic

At the Department of Health, we're focused on supporting Victorians to be as healthy as they can by delivering a world-class health system that focuses on improving patient outcomes and experiences.

www.dhhs.vic.gov.au

Some sites are full, others are about 2 to 4 hours. Rye is 10 minutes. Frankston 80 minutes. Keysborough 150 minutes.

 

[drron]

The problem in Tasmania is not just the low level of testing but over the days from Christmas tests are not processed on Sundays or public holidays.So no processing on 5 of the 10 days.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

There seems to be much concern about the number of test swabs being taken in Vic at present. But what really is the situation? And do people really believe that significant wait times are not going to happen when sudden test surges happen? Especially with Xmas NYE's being a period when a large proportion of the population is on holiday's and staying away from home and when local cases had been zero for two months, even if NSW had been bubbling away.

Obviously the returnees due to NSW border closure has caused a sudden surge that has helped to push demand, though demand was also growing from just having had positive cases.


Staff are being brought early back progressively. But remember they may have been holiday many hours drive away in paid accommodation with their kids for whom they may have no alternative childminding arrangements in place for the simple reason that they were off on holiday. Note many childminding centres are all closed this week, as is normal at Xmas /New Years.

This morning it was announced that capacity was again expanded today, after having been expanded yesterday and that at the main Melbourne sites there would be 30% more capacity tomorrow as more staff return from leave early from leave.

A little context:
Vic. First positive test result late on Dec 30 (published on Dec 31). Three days later Test swabs taken on Jan 2 = 30,000 (Pro rata to NSW that would be 38,000 samples).

NSW. First positive test result on Dec 16 (published on Dec 17). Three days later Test swabs taken on Dec 19 = 12,374 Note that local active cases were double that in Vic by same days afterwards.

(Note NSW reports test taken (swabs) whereas Vic reports test results (ie positive/negative) and so one has to bare this in mind)


Not sure Vic will be able to hit the NSW high of 70k swabs in a day (55 k pro-rata), but in Vic despite the hype test numbers since the outbreak arrived has actually been quite ok .


Current wait times:

Health.vic

At the Department of Health, we're focused on supporting Victorians to be as healthy as they can by delivering a world-class health system that focuses on improving patient outcomes and experiences.

www.dhhs.vic.gov.au

Some sites are full, others are about 2 to 4 hours. Rye is 10 minutes. Frankston 80 minutes. Keysborough 150 minutes.

I saw a brief mention during the vic press conference that about 8000 not processed so it was about 30k (I guess swabbed)

 

[Must...Fly!]

If the government wants to threaten private industry with closure and individuals with the destruction of their business through no fault of their own then said government better be capable of quickly scaling up it's response to deal with the problem and provide adequate resources. What else do we pay taxes for?

Again another state government found wanting. Tracing is now up to standard in Victoria it seems. Though they clearly have no confidence, given the complete cutting off of NSW.

On another note, Dad walked past major hospital in Perth this morning - approx 50 in line, ten minutes after opening.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I saw a brief mention during the vic press conference that about 8000 not processed so it was about 30k (I guess swabbed)

Yes 30K odd swabbed.

22,477 test results back by midnight last night. (Labs work 24 hours and so some extra would have been processed by the Vic Presser this morning). Jeroen said 88% of swabs were processed within 24hrs (I presume that this is from when swab is taken).

Presumably the various labs would also have had staff away on Xmas/NYE leave.




PS. I got tested on Dec 28 at Chadstone which is a large multi level testing site. They had many testing stations, but on that day only the one testing station was open as it was quiet, low demand, and evidently with most staff on leave. Quite quick. About 30 minutes all up including queing, answering all the questions, and then these all being double checked by a second person, ID and Medicare details taken.

So the physical capacity was there at that site, just not the staff capacity.

PS. My swab taken minutes before the confirming SMS received at 10.29AM. Negative test SMS received at 8.12 PM same day.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

It’s about 2.5 weeks since the first mention of Avalon cluster.

135,546 tests in the last 4 weeks in the Northern Beaches LGA.

The main NSW attention will now go to Berala

Edit : stat as at 8pm 1/1.

 

[N860CR]

If the government wants to threaten private industry with closure and individuals with the destruction of their business through no fault of their own then said government better be capable of quickly scaling up it's response to deal with the problem and provide adequate resources. What else do we pay taxes for?

Exactly. And a lot of tax at that. We also pay massive Medicare levies, yet for some reason we’re not prepared to let our hospitals do their work. It’s a very bizarre situation.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Exactly. And a lot of tax at that. We also pay massive Medicare levies, yet for some reason we’re not prepared to let our hospitals do their work. It’s a very bizarre situation.

Here's a question to anyone who has had a test.

What information were you required to give? And if you went back for another test, would it be the same procedure? Or do they then have you "on file" so to speak?