General Coronavirus chit chat thread - non-travel specific

[cove]

Yes there will be some hardship cases @nutwood but that is what can happen in this lockdown.
I miss the comedy that Ma Anand Sheela brought to WA a decade ago
i should have said Bahamas.

 

[ja1]

So now it seems that the New South Wales Minister for the arts who was sacked and then find $1000 was actually following the rules for New South Wales which specifically say you are able to move between residencies. So it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

8. Moving to a new place of residence (including a business moving to new premises) or between different places of residence of the person or inspecting a potential new place of residence.

COVID-19: The New Restrictions on Gatherings and Movement

What are the new restrictions? What is a ‘reasonable excuse’ for leaving home? What is the 2 person rule? What are the exceptions to that rule? What are the penalties?

www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au

He didn't get dinged for breaking that rule as such. He got dinged because a different rule (or request? it's hard working out what's the law and what's common sense and what's big brother any more) that said you shouldn't travel from your primary place of residence (over easter ? during the 'break'?)

In his case it was the lack of common sense being applied - to move from a CV19 'hot spot' of Sydney to the central coast and to then have a visitor.

It's mind bogglingly stupid on his part sadly as if he had simply stayed where he was there was no issue and if he had specifically asked police or got appropriate permission in advance (in writing) but he chose to do none of those things and was actually caught. I have difficulty in feeling sorry for the guy..

 

[JohnM]

As Ma Anand Sheela from the Orange people once said “ tough cough” for those facing an extra 14 days isolation in another State.
@OZDUCK I checked with a PERTH newsroom and they said from all over for Rottnest isolation.

Then why were some put on Rotto and others in Perth hotels? It only makes sense if the WA lot were sent to one place and the interstate lot elsewhere.

I know the source of your information @cove - but fact check, please.

 

[drron]

Well this was in the Daily Mail so to be expected.
.

 

[JohnM]

I miss the comedy that Ma Anand Sheela brought to WA a decade ago

I think you're into time dilation there @cove.

It was about three decades ago.

But good try at staying young(er than me - which you significantly are) ...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Well this was in the Daily Mail so to be expected.
View attachment 213757.

Don't mention the war
(Fawlty Towers )

 

[Pushka]

But if these people now travel back to their interstate homes, they'll be subject to local quarantine? In Tasmania, that's fourteen days locked up in a hotel!

In SA it will be 14 days isolation at home.

Post automatically merged: Apr 11, 2020

The NSW police commissioner said released quarantineers (is that a word?) would be provided documentation regarding their quarantine in Sydney in the hope that they may not have to redo quarantine in their home state but it seems there are no reciprocal arrangements in place. I expect some states will take a very parochial view and insist on another does of quarantine.

Not in SA where anyone coming into the state has to self isolate.

 

[cove]

Let’s do the time warp yeh!
Sheela was a long time ago but it seems like yesterday. Only 3 decades...I was not counting....
Of course my favourite saying of all time was from serial blonde marriage artist Rod Stewart when he married Rachel Hunter.
I am happy as a dog with two dicks .....yes that is very hard to forget.....
I did a fact check on who was sent to Rotto from one of my favourites.
I am now following Mark McGowan on Twitter and I think he is doing a good job at keeping us safe in WA. If those ships had not come our figures on the virus would be so much better.

 

[juddles]

Have talked to some police friends about this whole thing. What a nightmare.

Essentially the government wants to enforce the "stay at home" thing, but as this is a new thing, the details are not exactly clear...

As always, it is left to a grey area for police to enforce.

Take the hypothetical case of a single person sitting at a bench in a public park. According to the broad "rules", they should not be doing that. Because it is clearly not "exercise' nor someone way from their household seeking food or medical essentials.

But if it is a quiet park and the person sits alone, sheer humanity suggests that they should be allowed their quiet outside time. But what if there are two people doing this? Or 200? Where is the line?

Some posters here have alluded to an "abuse" of powers. Please??? Why would the police want to abuse any power??

These are difficult times. The government itself is struggling to be clear. The police are left in a vacuum of clarity to try to enforce these things. But as always there are those that wish to leap upon them - which just makes that job so much harder.

Can everyone just stay the flock at home? How hard is that message to get across? Australia is in a superb position with this whole COVID thing. Petty attacks at the authorities are just insane - we should all be in this together.

 

[Flashback]

Walked down to the shop earlier to get some milk as we're out, fortunately walking in just as we restocking after having queued outside for 10 minutes in the roaring heat (22 degrees ), on my short trip there and back 8 double decker busses went past and a total of 2 pax, so 0.25 per bus actually using them.

Also interesting they've gone another level in the supermarket and said if you're there as a couple, just don't.


@juddles in the reflection you can see someone just sitting on a bench not exercising...

 

[drron]

Yes juddles it is a problem those park benches.Come the 21st and I am allowed out of strict isolation I will go for a daily walk.The problem is i have developed bursitis over the right hip.Injections haven't worked.But it is worse in cold weather and I am in Tassie.When it plays up I really have to sit for 5 minutes.It can come on sometimes at rest,sometimes it might be after walking an hour but if I am walking for 30 minutes more often than not I need that break.Going to look a bit silly when asked why I am out and I say for my exercise.

Though did see an unfortunate incident this week outside the hospital when an older woman using a Zimmer frame sat on the only seat left outside the main entrance which did have a note on it not to sit here.She was obviously out of breath but was asked to move on.

 

[juddles]

Simply pass on by. Solitary person washing car. No risk of spreading a virus, otherwise it's a perfectly legal activity. Why engage?

How are the police meant to know that this is a harmless activity unless they "engage"? Your comments harbour a common theme. I understand your desire to protect the person, but you do not (and I expect can not) explain how things actually work. You are assessing a situation with hindsight - as most people do from their armchairs - so how exactly do you think that the police should be able to assess these situations without " engaging"? Do you understand that by pushing the limits of interpretation of what is acceptable that you are one of the few that is making the whole success of Australia's battle that much harder? We, as a nation, are attempting a soft lockdown that gives the medical people and all of us a glimmer of hope. They do this despite the resistance of such people as you that make the whole thing so much harder

 

[juddles]

Yes juddles it is a problem those park benches.Come the 21st and I am allowed out of strict isolation I will go for a daily walk.The problem is i have developed bursitis over the right hip.Injections haven't worked.But it is worse in cold weather and I am in Tassie.When it plays up I really have to sit for 5 minutes.It can come on sometimes at rest,sometimes it might be after walking an hour but if I am walking for 30 minutes more often than not I need that break.Going to look a bit silly when asked why I am out and I say for my exercise.

Though did see an unfortunate incident this week outside the hospital when an older woman using a Zimmer frame sat on the only seat left outside the main entrance which did have a note on it not to sit here.She was obviously out of breath but was asked to move on.

If I was still a copper I would give you a ticket - no matter what
But seriously, this is hard. Your example is perfect - the little old lady. Should she get a ticket? I think not - but again, where is the line? Such a hard thing to enforce.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Some cheerful things.

Uber rides for health professionals in London are now free for the first 15 pounds. Dr FM has become a bit concerned about coming home on the tube late at night after her hospital shift, so she took an Uber from the hospital home and it cost her a little over 1 pound.

Dr FM said her staffroom is knee deep in Easter eggs - lots being donated.

 

[sagittariusdrake]

Hello good people.
I am so proud of how we in Oz & our good neighbours have done so well in this crisis, notwithstanding early inaction, various slips & Ruby (which all count).
This is unequivocally awful, beyond politics geography, religion or race.
Our pollies are cooperating, listening to experts & doing it better as we go. Kudos to all without reservation.
I worry that as we look forward to relaxations that frustration, loud voices, vested interests & fools will risk undoing our sacrifices for profit, infamy or greed.
'Celeb cures', snake oil merchants, 'influencers', conspiracy cranks & vested interests must all be called into question & held accountable where they seek to profiteer or cause harm.
In this sense, we are at a war footing.
Paradoxically, talking heads telling us to do the right thing is key media strategy. Long term change is needed here getting experts to argue/discuss issues regularly in public forums.
I have coincidentally been following the YouTube UK NHS Cardiologist medlifecrisis through this. He contracted it himself & urges everyone not to diminish other medical concerns at this time as a hidden tragedy of this.

Pardon the rant, but chefs are not doctors started this. Viruses have been around a lot longer than Paleo-times.

Let us never forget or devalue all those who served us all through this &/or have lost lives, loved ones.

Peace & love. homines sumus,

Guilty of many cryptic crosswords this year

 

[RooFlyer]

Though did see an unfortunate incident this week outside the hospital when an older woman using a Zimmer frame sat on the only seat left outside the main entrance which did have a note on it not to sit here.She was obviously out of breath but was asked to move on.

That's disappointing, drron. The Tas Premier, Gutwin, I thought put on a really good rider when he announced the current rules: 'just use common sense'. That's why I have no compunction in visiting the local landscape supplier several times in the past week to get some garden mulch with a trailer. They are out in the bush, a one person operation, with never more than one customer visiting. And like the car-wash example, I figured - why are they allowed to trade, if they are not supposed to have customers?

When on my daily walk, I often pass a neighbour, doing the same and sometimes we pause to chat - at a suitable distance

 

[Anna]

The NSW police commissioner said released quarantineers (is that a word?) would be provided documentation regarding their quarantine in Sydney in the hope that they may not have to redo quarantine in their home state but it seems there are no reciprocal arrangements in place. I expect some states will take a very parochial view and insist on another does of quarantine.

What the NSW police commissioner said was stupid IMO. People don't walk out of their isolation hotel room straight into their home. They have to go through a bus trip, time at the airport, a plane journey, another airport. They could be exposed any time during that process. Of course they should have to repeat their isolation or quarantine at their destination.

 

[Pushka]

What the NSW police commissioner said was stupid IMO. People don't walk out of their isolation hotel room straight into their home. They have to go through a bus trip, time at the airport, a plane journey, another airport. They could be exposed any time during that process. Of course they should have to repeat their isolation or quarantine at their destination.

Given there has been another death today in SA from that Ruby Princess debacle, I'm pretty sure such paperwork issued by NSW authorities will be binned at the roadblock or airport on arrival into SA/Adelaide as contaminated material. Probably wouldn't even think of using it as toilet paper.

 

[SydneySwan]

What the NSW police commissioner said was stupid IMO. People don't walk out of their isolation hotel room straight into their home. They have to go through a bus trip, time at the airport, a plane journey, another airport. They could be exposed any time during that process. Of course they should have to repeat their isolation or quarantine at their destination.

Fair point but..... yesterday a friend's sister left her quarantine hotel in Sydney. She lives in Scone in NSW about 200kms away. Her journey was train to Central Station in Sydney - train to Maitland - train to Scone - taxi to home. Journey took 6+ hours. No quarantine required in Scone.

That journey is similar to the plane journey you described swapping planes for trains and airports for stations.

So a long journey within a state is permitted without facing any additional quarantine measures. However if you pop over a state boundary you face various quarantine / self-isolation / permission requirements. The risk is surely in the journey you make not whether you pass over a line on the map. And if you have just served two weeks quarantine I imagine you are a lower risk to others than if you had been going to supermarkets, petrol stations, commuting, etc, anywhere in Australia.

Just my observations. I am not saying anyone is right or wrong.

 

[RooFlyer]

Given there has been another death today in SA from that Ruby Princess debacle,

And a 5th in Tasmania, I think also from the ship EDIT: No, they weren't.

Meanwhile, in other news, Tas Greens Senator Wish-Wilson is holed up in his shack on the east coast of Tas.

Angry locals say a Tasmanian politician staying at his East Coast shack “sends the wrong message” to Tasmanians and is “beyond disappointing”.

Apparently moved there a month ago, before restrictions, but its not his primary residence. Politicians are also exempt from the quarantine period after coming back from interstate, so after he attended Canberra last week, he's been freely moving around his east coast town. So he claims to be not in breach of any rules. But I think its still poor on several fronts. I intended to self isolate on my return home from o/s before they brought in the compulsion to do so (posted on AFF at the time), so maybe he could have showed some empathy for the 'common-folk' who do have to be quarantined and just kept a low profile, instead of being sighted in shops and on the beach.

I see no reason why politicians should be exempted from self or hotel isolation on return from the state; Federal Parliament isn't expected to meet in the near future and only a few of the pollies are attending. In Wish-Wilson's case, its clear he isn't visiting his state-wide constituents while at his shack.