Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[Lynda2475]

Allowing 1000+ arrivals for the AO is high risk. Tennis has had many high profile players and suport team test postive at multiple tournaments over the last year.

But my main objection is that one of the reasons Vic hasnt been pulling its weight with overseas arrivals, still accepting less than 50% of what they were prior to the second wave despite supposedly improving their systems is in part because they are reserving hotel capacity for the 1000+ AO arrivals all coming in from high risk locations like UK, Europe and US whilst preventing thousands of Vitcorians who were in NSW regional green zones from returning home.

I do not believe that the economic benefit of holding the AO is more than the long term benefit of letting Victorians return home from NSW/Qld and getting Australians home from overseas.

The focus on extraordinary efforts to host sporting events like the Cricket and AO, just reinforces politial motivations of state govenrment decisions, rather than doing what is best for Australians.

 

[Lynda2475]

Fact Check. Has NSW listed exposure sites from positive cases visiting regional NSW locations while infectious. ie Orange.

Answer = yes.

The exposure was days after the hard border was implemented, so was not a factor in the Vic decison, check your facts. Also no cases have resulted from that one traveller who was camping.

Close contacts listed for Broken Hill on 2nd Jan and Orange on 3rd Jan, casual contact in Nyngan on 2nd and 3rd Jan. Vic border was already hard by then. Also Vic could have added those 3 locations to red whilst leaving rest of regional NSW green.

 

[antycbr]

Allowing 1000+ arrivals for the AO is high risk. Tennis has had many high profile players and suport team test postive at multiple tournaments over the last year.

But my main objection is that on of the reason a Vic hasnt been pulling its weight with oversea arrivals, still accepting less than 50% of what they were prior to the second wave despite supposedly improving their systems is in part because they are reserving hotel capacity for the 1000+ AO arrivals all coming in from high risk locations like UK, Europe and US whilst preventing thousands of Vitcorians who were in NSW regional green zones from returning home.

I do not belive that the economic benefit of holding the AO is more than the long term benefit of letting Victorians return home from NSW/Qld and getting Australians home from overseas.

The focus on extraordinary efforts to host sporting events like the Cricket and AO, just reinforces politial motivations of state govenrment decisions, rather than doing what is best for Australians.

Perhaps the NSW Government can host a tennis tournament at Olympic Park, with the people locked out of their homes as the spectators?

Should make for great global coverage.

 

[Lynda2475]

No mask. Also no mask if travelling with family.

Qld had to wear a mask in private vehicle over the weekend, a friend was pulled over and cautioned to put mask on even though she was alone in her car and had mask ready to put on before leaving her vehicle.

If Queensland have now fixed this crazy rule, then it is about time.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Very similar to how I feel @Lynda2475

But I don't have a problem with the cricket. Total number of players & officials would likely be well below 50, they are here for a long period of time (not just a week or so) and umpires have unusually all been sourced from within Australia to prevent unnecessary travel.

I am a lover of Formula 1 but that is inappropriate in the circumstances too - chiefly because of the volume of people that are required. Victoria continue to pass off risk to other states by taking lower numbers of returned travelers.

 

[jb747]

This really is the perfect opportunity to increase the TV appeal of both cricket and tennis. Just make the balls randomly explosive.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Fact Check.

Has NSW listed exposure sites from positive cases visiting regional NSW locations while infectious. ie Orange.

Answer = yes.

Did the truck driver who started the Shepparton Cluster stay overnight or live there?

Answer = no.

I Think there are 5 places, some after the hard border was in place

Eden
Bermagui
Broken Hill
Nyngan
Orange

How about locking out Albury, Wagga Wagga, Byron, Queanbeyan, Armidale, Goulburn, etc? No expert on geography but perhaps ‘miles’ away.

To be facetious one could say one case/exposure site on Eastern seaboard, lock up Eastern seaboard - oh wait

 

[antycbr]

I Think there are 5 places, some after the hard border was in place

Eden
Bermagui
Broken Hill
Nyngan
Orange

How about locking out Albury, Wagga Wagga, Byron, Quenbeyan, Armidale, Goulburn, etc? No expert on geography but perhaps ‘miles’ away.

Eden and Bermagui were Victorians who travelled from Melbourne to the Sapphire Coast. This is hardly a failure of NSW.

 

[Lynda2475]

Eden and Bermagui was a Victorian bringing the virus into regional NSW, not NSW bringing virus into Vic. Lucklily again, no spread there from those visitors. Those cases reported after the border closure abounced, a few hours before the midnight deadline.

Vic could use its supposed traffic light system correctly, make Bermagui a red zone but dont lock border to Northern Rivers, Broken Hill or Griffith etc.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Eden and Bermagui were Victorians who travelled from Melbourne to the Sapphire Coast. This is hardly a failure of NSW.

I heard that but wasn’t 100% sure because my eye wasn’t on the ball when it was detailed.

So does that mean Victoria made regional NSW a red/orange zone because a positive person travelled from Victoria to regional NSW? Good grief.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I Think there are 5 places, some after the hard border was in place

Eden
Bermagui
Broken Hill
Nyngan
Orange

How about locking out Albury, Wagga Wagga, Byron, Quenbeyan, Armidale, Goulburn, etc? No expert on geography but perhaps ‘miles’ away.

To be facetious one could say one case/exposure site on Eastern seaboard lock up Eastern seaboard - oh wait

I have already mentioned a number of times my view that border crossings from NSW green zone locations should be permitted to Victoria.

But it is simply not a correct that positive and infectious cases have not been in Regional NSW. Whether it be the Victorian teenager that stopped at Gundagai or the recent camper they have been.

One's residential address does not limit the ability to transmit the virus, physical proximity does.

 

[dajop]

Eden and Bermagui was a Victorian bringing the virus into regional NSW, not NSW bringing virus into Vic. Lucklily again, no spread there from those visitors.

Vic could use its supposed traffic light system correctly, make Bermagui a red zone but dont lock border to Northern Rivers, Broken Hill or Griffith etc.

The big trouble with all these zones is that people lie through their teeth.

But I agree there should be zones - look at the Victorian second wave. Ring of Steel between Melbourne and the rest - but no further borders in the rest of Vic and even though the virus easily made its way to the “commute zone” around Melbourne (inc Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong) plus a little further (Shepparton) it did not make it much further than that. And in the places outside the “commute zone” it was shut down very quickly. But admittedly regional VIC was in lockdown - although nowhere near as severe as Greater Melbourne.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Eden and Bermagui were Victorians who travelled from Melbourne to the Sapphire Coast. This is hardly a failure of NSW.

No one has said that it is a failure of NSW. It is just factual that the virus has been at regional NSW locations in recent times. Whether the person is a Victorian, from NSW (including Greater Sydney) or was from anywhere else is irrelevant to exposure risk. What matters is were they infectious? If so, they were a transmission risk if they stopped at any location where other people may have been.

Some sites have now gone past the 14 day time for listing as exposure sites.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

I have already mentioned a number of times my view that border crossings from NSW green zone locations should be permitted to Victoria.

But it is simply not a correct that positive and infectious cases have not been in Regional NSW. Whether it be the Victorian teenager that stopped at Gundagai or the recent camper they have been.

One's residential address does not limit the ability to transmit the virus, physical proximity does.

Well your original post makes it sound that you agree with regional NSW being Orange for Vic purposes. Especially when you use a phrase like Fact Check.

Words matter. Implied meaning whether you intended it or not matter.

As an aside that’s one thing (different implication) that frustrates me with your posts sometimes...but much of your contribution is worthwhile.

 

[Lynda2475]

But it is simply not a correct that positive and infectious cases have not been in Regional NSW.

Except you keep taking things out of context. The comment was about the facts at the time the hard border was implemented, at that time the exposure sites from the camper in Orange had not occurred, therefore could not have informed the Vic decision. And the Victorians who visited Bermagui did so on NYE after the announcement had been made but a few hours the border actually closed.

So unless Prof Cheng had a crystal ball he didnt have these regional facts when he panicked and prematurely pushed for closing the border to all of NSW. He clearly didnt consider the impact to the thousands who are stranded.

And even though there have been some exposures in regional NSW, none have actually resulted in spread at this time.

Regional NSW comprises a land area almost 3 times the size of Victoria. Victoria didnt lock out whole of Queensland because of one case in Brisbane, yet has locked out parts of regional NSW that are 100s of KMs away from any local cases, towns that have never had a single case ever! It is not logical.

 

[RooFlyer]

Great piece in The Australian today by Nick Cater about the shambles that is the Victorian DHHS and their actions at Melbourne Airport earlier this month.

Yes, I saw that too. Even allowing for a bit of hyperbole, either by the victims or the journalist, a dreadful occurrence, bordering on tragic. Sick people stranded without medicines, deprivation of water, bureaucratic automatons barking orders etc.

And yet there are still many in the “I stand with Dan” camp.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I heard that but wasn’t 100% sure because my eye wasn’t on the ball when it was detailed.

So does that mean Victoria made regional NSW a red/orange zone because a positive person travelled from Victoria to regional NSW? Good grief.

Personally I don't get the need to blame people because of where they live.

From memory all of the recent travellers in Regional NSW whether they be from NSW (ie Orange and NSW Camper) or Victoria at the time of their visit did not know they they were infectious or should not have been travelling. That includes the two Victorians who were advised that they were a close contact when they were in NSW and were also actually lining up to get tested.

Indeed the reports are from memory that all once they were aware that they were a transmission risk that all did the right thing.


Which is not to say that some people do the wrong thing.

 

[jakeseven7]

How about when travelling alone in your private vehicle?

Surely this is one of the most rediculous examples of governmental overreach (and there's been a few since March 2020!).

Just keeping Queenslanders safe (from the car exhaust) didn't you see the press conference

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

On to NSW press conference in 2 minutes- time for a breather lol

 

[Lynda2475]

Personally I don't get the need to blame people because of where they live.

It isnt about blame, but where the risk resulted from and shows the lack of logic re locking out a whole state because someone from your own state was positive.