Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[antycbr]

Just occurred to me that we've now gone past the incubation period from the New Years Fireworks in Sydney.

“New Year’s Eve is going to be the mother of all super-spreading events because the people who get infected on Christmas Day are going to be at their absolute maximum infectiousness on New Year’s Eve,” said UNSW Professor Raina MacIntyre.

Shortly the Sydney Test Cricket will pass the same barrier... I guess the next superspreading event is Australia Day. We need to schedule some more events to keep our epidemiologists in work... and where are the opinion articles on the Australian Open from Rania et al?

Next thing she'll be having a go at the Sydney Festival...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Melbourne hotel quarantine staff return preliminary positive COVID 19​

Though the report below is more positive than the headline...which initially gave me a heart attack!




A nurse and a police officer working at a Melbourne quarantine hotel have tested negative to coronavirus after initially returning positive preliminary COVID-19 tests.

The positive preliminary saliva swabs led to 41 other workers at the Holiday Inn hotel on Flinders Street being stood down while they awaited their own test results.

Ok..

Headline and original body text has now changed by The Age within minutes of its first posting.

All-clear for quarantine staff who returned early positive COVID swabs​

This was a breaking news story....
That within 5 minutes went from one extreme to the other.

Story completely reversed.

Bad to good news.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Sorry Flashback but it's rather timely here right now in Australia.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2021

Boxing Day being well over 14 days ago...

Yes sorry Pushka.

I was caught out. I was copy and pasting on my mobile..
And was caught out by the article changing as I went back to copy parts.


Original article withdrawn in minutes of it being posted. It meant that body text I posted briefly was from the wrong article.

Plus the headline changed.

 

[Pushka]

Yes sorry Pushka.

I was caught out. I was copy and pasting on my mobile..
And was caught out by the article changing as I went back to copy parts.


Original article withdrawn in minutes of it being posted. It meant that body text I posted briefly was from the wrong article.

Plus the headline changed.

Well it's great news anyway! We could both delete?

 

[antycbr]

This whole 'city quarantine' thing is becoming a bit silly. Time to mobilise the armed forces and set up quarantine stations in remote areas. The armed services should be fully self supporting with catering and medical so they don't need to return home frequently.

Agreed... We're going to need HQ of some sort for the rest of this year so we might as well get on with it.

 

[tomlee1986]

at least its still clear in the hotels so far.. but wont be surprised if it happens sooner or later

 

[blackcat20]

Melbourne hotel quarantine staff return preliminary positive COVID 19​

Though the report below is more positive than the headline...which initially gave me a heart attack!




A nurse and a police officer working at a Melbourne quarantine hotel have tested negative to coronavirus after initially returning positive preliminary COVID-19 tests.

The positive preliminary saliva swabs led to 41 other workers at the Holiday Inn hotel on Flinders Street being stood down while they awaited their own test results.

Never mind, article updated.

 

[jakeseven7]

I'm just sick of reading all the AO political chat in this thread.

Agree but people seem to be very interested in the AO even though it has minor relation to the topic of virus spread (and long may that continue)

Perhaps the amazing @Admin team could split off the AO into another covid thread for itself??

Like the AFL football player thread.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2021

Sorry Flashback but it's rather timely here right now in Australia.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2021

Agree but in a standalone thread I think would be better

 

[jakeseven7]

NSW Health still trying to find the cause of the outbreak​

​

​

——​

Inside the hunt for the northern beaches' elusive patient zero​

Three mystery cases of the same strain of COVID-19 that erupted within hours of each other at opposite ends of Sydney’s northern beaches are at the centre of the hunt for the outbreak’s patient zero.

However, the popular theory that Sydney’s latest wave of cases was spawned by a celebrity or a business identity self-isolating on the beaches’ affluent northern peninsula appears to have been debunked by authorities.

Authorities remain at a loss as to where the quarantine system broke down, allowing the virus to seed across the northern beaches, trigger devastating Christmas lockdowns and jumping borders into other states.

“The source of the Avalon cluster remains under investigation,” a NSW Health spokeswoman said.

There are still 13 mystery cases that have not been linked to a transmission source in NSW.

Inside the hunt for the northern beaches' elusive patient zero

A month after the northern beaches cluster plunged Sydney back into lockdown, here's everything we know about patient zero.

www.watoday.com.au

 

[Flying mermaid]

I'm just sick of reading all the AO political chat in this thread.

Sorry! It’s just there is so little virus spread there is not much else to talk about.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

NSW Health still trying to find the cause of the outbreak​

​

​

——​

Inside the hunt for the northern beaches' elusive patient zero​

Three mystery cases of the same strain of COVID-19 that erupted within hours of each other at opposite ends of Sydney’s northern beaches are at the centre of the hunt for the outbreak’s patient zero.

However, the popular theory that Sydney’s latest wave of cases was spawned by a celebrity or a business identity self-isolating on the beaches’ affluent northern peninsula appears to have been debunked by authorities.

Authorities remain at a loss as to where the quarantine system broke down, allowing the virus to seed across the northern beaches, trigger devastating Christmas lockdowns and jumping borders into other states.

“The source of the Avalon cluster remains under investigation,” a NSW Health spokeswoman said.

There are still 13 mystery cases that have not been linked to a transmission source in NSW.

Inside the hunt for the northern beaches' elusive patient zero

A month after the northern beaches cluster plunged Sydney back into lockdown, here's everything we know about patient zero.

www.watoday.com.au

It is one good reason to have all aircrew tested. As without it it means that genomic links may not be found if an outbreak is started by such a person.

If embassy staff are not tested that would remain a problem.

Desirably everyone arriving in Australia should be tested for this reason, as well as to find all infectious people. without the swab, later detective work cannot be complete.

Note: As not all swabs from positive cases can later grow live virus there is always the possibility that some outbreaks can never be genomically linked.

 

[antycbr]

Sorry! It’s just there is so little virus spread there is not much else to talk about.

I agree. It's like the moderators valiant attempts to keep politics out of the thread. Ultimately there is a direct connection between politicial actions and the virus spread (or lack thereof).

Imagine this thread if we were the UK or US...

 

[Flashback]

If there is so little spread to talk of then the thread activity should reflect that. Conversations around the merit (or lack there of) of certain events should be had outside of here.

 

[antycbr]

If there is so little spread to talk of then the thread activity should reflect that. Conversations around the merit (or lack there of) of certain events should be had outside of here.

I think people have coalesced into this thread from a variety of other threads such as the State Borders thread which was pretty big but dormant now.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Over an hour after DHHS usually release their results, I started wondering if something was up.

Thankfully not.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1350938786365120517

 

[Lynda2475]

Even if 9/10 people comply it’s better than 0/10 which is where NSW was before they made it mandatory.

So obvious you are not from Sydney, as this is so far from true it is laughable. In regional NSW (like most of Qld) its true you dont see many masks, but in Greater Sydney masks have been visibly in use since last April.

It does vary by area (friends and colleagues tell me South West and Western Sydney were less inlcined to wear a mask), but in the inner west where I live most adults have been wearing masks to the supermarket for most of last year. Prior to it becoming compulsory Id say about 60-70% (usage always went up by an additional 10% if there was a new custer) of the staff and customers were wearing them every trip I made to Coles. Obviously thats up to 99% now.

Every Uber Ive taken in since last April, the drivers have all been masked. My fav coffee spot has a bus stop out front, every elderly person you see catch the bus has been masked, Id say high school kids were the biggest offenders for not wearing a mask on PT. That said, even prior to covid it was very common to see a handful of asians on the train or bus wearing a mask during flu season.

The couple of times I flew out of SYD last year, 90% of the people in the airport and 98% of people of the flighst were masked.

 

[serfty]

I'm just sick of reading all the AO political chat in this thread.

Sorry Flashback but it's rather timely here right now in Australia.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2021

Agree but people seem to be very interested in the AO even though it has minor relation to the topic of virus spread (and long may that continue)Perhaps the amazing @Admin team could split off the AO into another covid thread for itself??Like the AFL football player thread.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2021

Agree but in a standalone thread I think would be better

Sorry! It’s just there is so little virus spread there is not much else to talk about.

If there is so little spread to talk of then the thread activity should reflect that. Conversations around the merit (or lack there of) of certain events should be had outside of here.

I think people have coalesced into this thread from a variety of other threads such as the State Borders thread which was pretty big but dormant now.

[moderator hat]

180 or so messages/post have been moved to a dedicated thread:​

​

Australian (Open) Tennis and COVID-19

However Victoria is not open to the many Victorians who cant return from NSW and Qld but is open to Tennis players travelling from UK and USA where thousands are dying from Covid everyday? If its safe for sports people from genuine hotspots to enter Vic and quarantine, why isnt it safe for...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

​

Please converse on Australian Open Tennis and COVID-19 there.​

[/moderator hat]

 

[jakeseven7]

So obvious you are not from Sydney, as this is so far from true it is laughable. In regional NSW (like most of Qld) its true you dont see many masks, but in Greater Sydney masks have been visibly in use since last April..

Sorry to hear the mask compliance is low in Sydney, I was making a point, was not trying to guess the exact level of mask wearing in Sydney! Clearly wishful thinking

The last time I was in Sydney (just prior to the NB outbreak) I saw almost zero mask wearing - but it was before the outbreak and I didn't catch PT. No one was wearing them in supermarkets in inner east or west Sydney (where you say the most issues are - that is where our warehouse is).... but again it was prior to the outbreak so people didn't see the need I guess.

 

[antycbr]

So obvious you are not from Sydney, as this is so far from true it is laughable. In regional NSW (like most of Qld) its true you dont see many masks, but in Greater Sydney masks have been visibly in use since last April..

It does vary by area, but in the inner west where I live most adults have been wearing masks to the supermarket for most of last year. Prior to it becoming compulsory Id say about 60-70% (usage always went up about 10% if there was a new custer) of the staff and customers were wearing them every trip I made to Coles. Obviously thats up to 99% now.

Every Uber Ive taken in since last April, the drivers have all been masked. My fav coffee spot has a bus stop out front, every elderly person you see catch the bus has been masked, Id say high school kids were the biggest offenders for not wearing a mask on PT. Even prior to covid it was very common to see a handful of asians on the train or bus wearing a mask during flu season.

The couple of times I flew out of SYD last year, 90% of the people in the airport and 98% of people of the flighst were masked.

I do think that the mask mandate on public transport has helped people feel more confident to use PT again as it removes the discretion. The small number of non-compliant people are often not compliant with other rules such as fares and not eating/drinking on the bus anyway.

Most of us just want to go home safe, and a mask in an airconditioned PT vehicle isn't a great imposition. I wish we still had buses with opening windows that allowed more airflow however. Living your life hermetically sealed in airconditioning is less than ideal.

 

[SydneySwan]

Just occurred to me that we've now gone past the incubation period from the New Years Fireworks in Sydney.

“New Year’s Eve is going to be the mother of all super-spreading events because the people who get infected on Christmas Day are going to be at their absolute maximum infectiousness on New Year’s Eve,” said UNSW Professor Raina MacIntyre.

Shortly the Sydney Test Cricket will pass the same barrier... I guess the next superspreading event is Australia Day. We need to schedule some more events to keep our epidemiologists in work... and where are the opinion articles on the Australian Open from Rania et al?

Next thing she'll be having a go at the Sydney Festival...

I am reminded of the quote from Paul Samuelson, Nobel prizewinning economist, about the stock market 'forecasting 9 of the last 5 recessions'. It could easily be repurposed for epidemiologists who continually forecast superspreader events that fortunately don't seem to happen. Fingers crossed.