Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[RAM]

Well at least for those that test positive on arrival but with a certificate pre departure that says they were negative that certificate should be followed up.If it turns out to be fake there should be some penalty.

Return to sender?

 

[Pushka]

I suspect that’s not overrunning our health care system

We are talking about SA here.

 

[oznflfan]

I suspect that’s not overrunning our health care system

We have to flatten the curve. It doesn't matter the size of the curve, it still needs flattening. Only when there is no curve with it be considered flattened enough.

 

[drron]

We are talking about SA here.

But I do agree.I will never work in SA again.It was far too dangerous and woefully understaffed.

 

[jakeseven7]

Waiting to pay is not an issue as you are not invoiced until after you have left quarantine, around 30 days I think.

Didn't know that, no wonder there are so many articles about people refusing to pay....

 

[drron]

Yes the numbers failing to pay are high.
Just one report

‘It’s not optional’: Debt collectors sent in for overdue quarantine hotel bills

Debt collectors are chasing millions of dollars owed by more than 7000 returning Australians for their stay in mandatory hotel quarantine in Sydney.

www.smh.com.au

 

[Lynda2475]

Plus you have Steven Miles ripping up HQ invoices, setting a bad example.

This is why anyone leaving Australia planning to return within a year should need to pre-pay for the HQ prior to leaving the country. And why we should have the NZ model of having to book and pre-pay for HQ before booking an incoming flights for those already overseas.

There will always been waivers for hardship (suspect you'd have to be on a government sponsored repatriation flight to claim that) and payment plans (just as there are special loans for repatriation flight seats).

 

[dajop]

I can and will pay if I manage to get back again and need to do HQ, so no objections.

But I do have to laugh at the tears about people not paying. It is unfair that most are paying and some are getting away with it, that is probably the story here and the injustice.

But $16m in NSW, $xm in other states. These sums of money are trivial compared to the benefit that HQ brings (arguably the single most important action that has protected Australia in a sustained way). Also trivial in the overall context of spending on COVID .... for example there have been over 16 million COVID tests completed, and I received a bill for one of this (in error) and it was about $250 from memory. OK, that won't be the cost to the government, but say they're paying $50/test, then that's $800m right there!

 

[SydneySwan]

I read in the UK Daily Telegraph overnight that UK immigration authorities are 'detecting' about 100 fake Covid test certificates per day. The officer who spoke to the journalist emphasised the word 'detected' and said that essentially it was a system based on trust. The article was also about the UK declaring India a 'red' zone from April 23 with mandatory HQ on entry. I got the impression (intended or otherwise) that the two issues are linked.

I also recently read (can't remember where but in the last few days) that the vast majority of the 'vulnerable' Australians trying to get home are in India. I don't know how you become classified as vulnerable but this would make it incredibly difficult for any government to impose a ban on flights from India.

 

[SydneySwan]

Spoke to soon - India flights to be cut by 30%

India flights slashed amid worrying surge in coronavirus cases

Direct flights to Australia from India will be slashed by 30 per cent, as the number of infections in travellers returning from the subcontinent surges.

thenewdaily.com.au

 

[Pushka]

Spoke to soon - India flights to be cut by 30%

India flights slashed amid worrying surge in coronavirus cases

Direct flights to Australia from India will be slashed by 30 per cent, as the number of infections in travellers returning from the subcontinent surges.

thenewdaily.com.au

That isn't going to assist those arriving into SA. Must be coming via SQ or QR.

 

[dajop]

That isn't going to assist those arriving into SA. Must be coming via SQ or QR.

Wouldn't be arriving on SQ ... India is not approved by Singapore government as approved ports for transit flights (coming from India) ...

https://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/media-centre/210416TableforCitiesApprovedforTransit.pdf

 

[Must...Fly!]

Until the government can either (a) verify negative tests or (b) insist they be done by certain reputable pathology clinics, then such measures seem proportionate and acceptable. Arguably they could be more strict.

 

[Pushka]

Wouldn't be arriving on SQ ... India is not approved by Singapore government as approved ports for transit flights (coming from India) ...

https://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/media-centre/210416TableforCitiesApprovedforTransit.pdf

QR it is then. Might be an airline to avoid for a while.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The problem with this case is that we can never really know where the two intersected and caught the virus. It is surely just as plausible that they contracted the virus before boarding the plane, from using the toilets, or on the bus to hotel quarantine than in the hotel itself?

This is the thing... all these people get tested no later than 72 hours before boarding their flights home. Yet people test positive the day after arriving in Australia? All sorts of excuses/reasons put forward as to how they contracted covid in such a short intervening period... but if it is *that* easy to catch, the states must be 100% correct to shut borders?

 

[Pushka]

This is the thing... all these people get tested no later than 72 hours before boarding their flights home. Yet people test positive the day after arriving in Australia? All sorts of excuses/reasons put forward as to how they contracted covid in such a short intervening period... but if it is *that* easy to catch, the states must be 100% correct to shut borders?

As noted before, the issue of the validity of those tests must be considered.

 

[N860CR]

I’m not quite sure why there’s a mass panic about people who are being put into managed quarantine testing positive for this virus. Isn’t that the point of the quarantine? If we want to eradicate the virus from our quarantine system, then what the hell is the point of even having it?!

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. First we lock the country closed, then flatten the curve, then suppress, then eradicate and now restrict people from “higher risk” locations from even entering quarantine. I have lost total faith in this country.

Unsurprisingly, McClown gets air time by calling to prevent people from India from even entering quarantine, whereas Gladys is the voice of reason. Very glad I live in NSW. Maybe we’re the state who needs to break away

 

[Pushka]

I’m not quite sure why there’s a mass panic about people who are being put into managed quarantine testing positive for this virus. Isn’t that the point of the quarantine? If we want to eradicate the virus from our quarantine system, then what the hell is the point of even having it?!

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. First we lock the country closed, then flatten the curve, then suppress, then eradicate and now restrict people from “higher risk” locations from even entering quarantine. I have lost total faith in this country.

Unsurprisingly, McClown gets air time by calling to prevent people from India from even entering quarantine, whereas Gladys is the voice of reason. Very glad I live in NSW. Maybe we’re the state who needs to break away

Because that is the only source of infection and our vaccination rate being so appalling will not prevent severe illness and death if it escapes again. It’s happened in most states. Just a matter of time and greater numbers increases the risk.

 

[N860CR]

Because that is the only source of infection and our vaccination rate being so appalling will not prevent severe illness and death it it escapes again. It’s happened in most states. Just a matter of time and greater numbers increases the risk.

It may well be, but that is the control we’ve chosen to use to maintain this unsustainable “eradication” model. We now don’t get to complain that people in the control who are assumed to have the virus actually do.

 

[Pushka]

It may well be, but that is the control we’ve chosen to use to maintain this unsustainable “eradication” model. We now don’t get to complain that people in the control who are assumed to have the virus actually do.

Well, I can't disagree with you there. But we all know how State Governments react and that is what bothers me right now.