Does Closing Beaches Make Any Sense?

[muppet]

What is your solution then to telling those people who dont listen to the media and dont care a jot anyway?

In Florida it is Spring Break. They are just there to drink and well, pillage and plunder. When told about the risks in what they were doing they simply said - " its my break, Ive been planning this for like, 2 whole months and no one is going to stop me from having a good time". My solution would be hosing them down with a water cannon.

But we are still allowed out in public. It’s a complex matter of degrees and you’re getting angry at recipients of poor, inconsistent and constantly changing comms.
If the threat is really that immediate, the strategy is wrong. The message is flatten the curve (i.e. slow how often people get it) so it’s not surprising people don’t take it seriously if the public plan is for people to still get it ...
In response to your question, i don’t have a solution. Just defending young people who are being blamed.
If there was a tsunami or bushfire people would get texts and police would marshal people away from danger.

 

[Julesmac]

I’d love to know where the Prime Minister thinks Brit backpackers would have “got the message” ... what message? Not everyone wastes their lives watching news.

No beach but going to the Sharks is fine? No cafes but crammed on public transport and schools fine?
It’s a shambles.

Blaming the people (young people are the current evil targets) is not helpful. If the message isn’t working it’s usually not the recipients fault, it’s the poor communicators fault.

Maybe not watching the news but hells bells they are never far away from a computer, and unless everything on their computer is in Swahili surely a nuggest or two about the situation must be getting through?

 

[burmans]

I’d love to know where the Prime Minister thinks Brit backpackers would have “got the message” ... what message? Not everyone wastes their lives watching news.

No beach but going to the Sharks is fine? No cafes but crammed on public transport and schools fine?
It’s a shambles.

Blaming the people (young people are the current evil targets) is not helpful. If the message isn’t working it’s usually not the recipients fault, it’s the poor communicators fault.

There is an old axiom of communication that you need to communicate 3 times for the message to get through. We were slow to start our comms and do not have a wide enough spread (i.e. you need a variety of mediums to get to the audience). As for the Prime minister thinking he is the comms manager, sorry but lots of people turned off listening to you a while ago.

 

[DC3]

Say, for example, I was a backpacker in the UK. I would be unlikely to watch the TV news, or probably even any TV. If I saw a local pollie (Boris, or someone) come on to the TV, I would be changing channels. The average backpacker has no interest in the news. Most in Bondi are here to party, have a good time and get to the beach during waking hours.

If Bondi Beach was such a threat then it could have been policed/signposted to manage such a situation. Heaps of beach-goers at Bondi on a sunny day is not exactly a secret.

 

[dajop]

I follow a lot of interesting stuff that is happening in the field of behavioral science. There is more to changing behaviour than simply putting out a message, whether the message be communicated once, three, or three hundred times. An interesting blog (if you avoid some of the political references) discussing this very issue:

Why Are People Ignoring Expert Warnings?—Psychological Reactance - By Syon Bhanot - Behavioral Scientist

While some are heeding the advice of public health experts, not everyone is doing so. From spring breakers to governors, some feel the need to defy orders. This behavioral phenomenon could help explain why.

behavioralscientist.org

 

[Renato1]

Re read andye's post and lovetravellingoz's posts and think about them. This isn't a game. The Government isn't trying to be nasty and spoil a day at the beach just because it can. Many are sacrificing contact with loved ones at much personal sacrifice because they take this seriously, so to see these people blatantly ignoring the factual information as a finger to the seriousness of this issue, is infuriating. The fact that these being younger people will have a better chance of recovery but at the expense of ICU services to those older people or those with health issues is too evil to think about.

Sorry - but you and most everyone aren't addressing the issues I raised - namely sun and fresh air are disinfectants, most people there were actually well spaced apart, and closing the place down was highly selective given that bars, restaurants, streets, malls, parks and trains were still open or running.
Regards,
Renato

Yes, not many aerial shots in the media. That beach is over 1km long x up to 100m wide. Many photos show virtually a 2D image, making ‘distancing’ look worse than it was.

Yes thanks, perspective makes distant widely spaced people look crunched up.
Regards,
Renato

 

[MEL_Traveller]

There is an old axiom of communication that you need to communicate 3 times for the message to get through. We were slow to start our comms and do not have a wide enough spread (i.e. you need a variety of mediums to get to the audience). As for the Prime Minster thinking he is the comms manager, sorry but lots of people turned off listening to you a while ago.

Nah. They have social media. And 'not knowing' is hardly an excuse... if they see every pub shut down, you think that not one of them asks someone 'why?'. Of course they all know. A select few are choosing to ignore.

It really isn't a difficult message. And there's no confusion. If your activity isn't essential (food or medical), then it should be put on hold.

 

[Himeno]

Have to agree. The last thing that backpackers would be doing is watching the Oz news on TV. What backpacker would be doing that?

A smart one.

 

[get me outta here]

I think they are aware of it now having seen the beach closed down for two days. Hopefully, it has done the trick, a bit radical but effective.

 

[Pushka]

At least we dont have to worry about Spring Break here.

College Students Test Positive for Coronavirus After Spring Break Trip

Five college students from the University of Tampa tested positive for the coronavirus after coming back from a spring break trip.

www.breitbart.com

 

[DC3]

Social media is given too much credit for being able to effectively communicate Coronavirus issues regarding gatherings, including Bondi Beach.

Would the average backpacker at Bondi be going onto social media for anything other than their own thought-bubble matters: friends, family, work-mates, holiday, .....? Certainly not bureaucratic stuff (that is constantly being changed [by necessity] day by day). Some are giving the young care-free backpacking crowd too much credit for taking this stuff onboard.

Edited

 

[JohnK]

Social media is given too much credit for being able to effectively communicate Coronavirus issues regarding gatherings, including Bondi Beach.

Some don't follow social media. Some don't watch TV news or read newspapers.

My news sources are my wife reading Thai news on Line app or Facebook, AFF which I don't check everyday and not all threads and following random discussion at work or on the street.

I didn't take this virus too seriously and I still don't understand all the panic surrounding the virus and I'm in a very high risk group.

I hate this quarantine/lockdown and hindsight is a wonderful thing but we should have closed our borders in January/February.

Also the testing kit costs €15 or ~AUD30. I'm not sure how many are available but make as many as possible available and test everybody and isolate. The cost (~AUD750,000,000) is nothing compared to the money the Reserve Bank spends to drag down the AUD.

 

[VPS]

At least we dont have to worry about Spring Break here.

College Students Test Positive for Coronavirus After Spring Break Trip

Five college students from the University of Tampa tested positive for the coronavirus after coming back from a spring break trip.

www.breitbart.com

I wonder if some of these were ones that said we need a break and I don't care if I get Coronavirus

 

[Pushka]

I wonder if some of these were ones that said we need a break and I don't care if I get Coronavirus

I wish we could follow that typical jerk who said that and see the outcome. It's a fine line between not panicking everyone by saying it's only the 20% that will get very ill and it's the older demographic, but the messaging has given the selfish brats the idea that they will be fine and screw the world.
They need to start showing pictures of their grandparents and parents as real people who may not be there at Christmas time. Is Ireland off btw?

 

[andye]

...namely sun and fresh air are disinfectants...

They are not disinfectants

As for the spacing it's just a way of lowering your odds of transmission. If you multiply that low chance by several hundred it can become very significant.

The public transport, bars, and restaurants were being allowed to stay open so that people could continue to earn money. Congregating an masse on the beach supports very few jobs. Now the government has made the call that the healthcare risks of the former outweigh the economic benefits

I was in our Covid assessment area this evening. I did not feel at all relaxed when the potentially infected patient was opening her door 2m away from me, pulling down her mask to tell me (not her doctor) that she still had pain and fever

Having it's not fair to make it a criticism of the young. There are many older people ignoring self-isolation including some very high-risk people (e.g. cruise returnees, Barossa Americans....)

 

[p--and--t]

They are not disinfectants

...and has anyone seen any reports that say standing/sitting/lying in the sun on the beach cures you of Covid-19 or perhaps any reports that say say standing/sitting/lying in the sun on the beach removes your propensity infect someone with Covid-19. [Rhetorical]

The government is trying to walk the tightrope balance of saving the economy vs saving lives. (I hope they get it right)

Sitting on the beach does not contribute one iota to GDP whereas open shops with employers paying staff and trading goods while following sanitising procedures and social distancing does. And for the time being shortens what will be even longer dole queues.

BTW: Not saying I agree with the flattening of the curve approach (in lieu of trying to stop the epidemic in it's tracks) but totally understand reasoning behind the iterative process being undertaken.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

When people say they are 'confused' it seems generally that they are looking for an excuse not to follow the rules.

instead of 'I'm confused' so 'why don't I stay at home and double my efforts at social distancing' they seem to arrive at 'I'm confused so... it must be ok for me to go to Bali/on a cruise/to Peru/have all my mates over for a party at mine'.

 

[Archphoto]

Having seen a number of people asking on the ABC News app, if it was still ok to go on holiday after being told "Do not travel!", I'm left shaking my head at how much clearer our pollies are expected to be. Seriously, how can you NOT undertsand that 3-word sentence????

 

[sagittariusdrake]

My, this is a very depressing thread to find
Part of me wants the unbelievers to go in a strict Big Brother-type scenario & let's do the epidemiology stats on them as a control 'do nothing group' as volunteers - heroes
Part of me believes in evolution.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Sorry - but you and most everyone aren't addressing the issues I raised - namely sun and fresh air are disinfectants,

Thread after thread you state what is not so.

With your theory, why is sun and fresh air an established cure for long running corona-viruses like the common flu, or common cold?
A: Because it does not work as a treatment, and it will not work for CV 19.

Post automatically merged: Mar 25, 2020

Having seen a number of people asking on the ABC News app, if it was still ok to go on holiday after being told "Do not travel!", I'm left shaking my head at how much clearer our pollies are expected to be. Seriously, how can you NOT undertsand that 3-word sentence????

Some seem to believe that sunny beaches are Covid 19 free zones