“Perth records positive community-transmitted coronavirus case on day one of lockdown

The WA Health Department has confirmed a positive COVID test result has been returned from a person within the community on day one of Perth’s snap lockdown.

The person presented for a COVID-19 test yesterday as they had gone to one of the locations visited by the COVID-positive Victorian case.

Perth is in a three-day lockdown after a traveller spent five days in the community while infectious.

“The person is now working closely with the Department’s contact tracing team to determine public exposure sites,” a WA Health Department statement said.

“Even if you have not visited one of the locations, if you have symptoms, get tested and self-isolate until you get your result.

“Do not be complacent. It is imperative you always follow the public health instructions.”

The lockdown was announced on Friday after a 54-year-old Victorian man tested positive for the virus after completing 14 days of hotel quarantine in Perth.

A woman who the man stayed with while in Perth also returned a rapid testing positive result for the virus.

One other case was recorded earlier on Saturday, a returned overseas traveller who is in hotel quarantine.

More to come.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-24/one-positive-case-recorded-in-perth/100093168

Michael V said:

“Perth records positive community-transmitted coronavirus case on day one of lockdown

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-24/one-positive-case-recorded-in-perth/100093168

we mean, we don’t wish COVID-19 on anyone (well, actually all those fkwts who tell everyone to let it rip and catch it for flock immunity and The Economy Must Grow are free to go ahead and catch it and lie down somewhere in isolation) but this will count at least a little against all the “but we’re overreacting” crowd

SCIENCE said:

Michael V said:

“Perth records positive community-transmitted coronavirus case on day one of lockdown

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-24/one-positive-case-recorded-in-perth/100093168

we mean, we don’t wish COVID-19 on anyone (well, actually all those fkwts who tell everyone to let it rip and catch it for flock immunity and The Economy Must Grow are free to go ahead and catch it and lie down somewhere in isolation) but this will count at least a little against all the “but we’re overreacting” crowd

Nods.

Hope so.

SCIENCE said:

Michael V said:

“Perth records positive community-transmitted coronavirus case on day one of lockdown

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-24/one-positive-case-recorded-in-perth/100093168

we mean, we don’t wish COVID-19 on anyone (well, actually all those fkwts who tell everyone to let it rip and catch it for flock immunity and The Economy Must Grow are free to go ahead and catch it and lie down somewhere in isolation) but this will count at least a little against all the “but we’re overreacting” crowd

People need to understand that sharp lockdowns for short periods is what seems to work best.

ABC News:

‘Fifteen Port Botany workers who had boarded an infected ship test negative for coronavirus, as NSW Health issues an alert for the Northern Beaches and the South Coast after viral fragments are found in sewage plants.

Sydney’s northern beaches population getting set to reprise their earlier role?

why Pfizer, not AstraZeneca, is the best bet, or, “Obviously Written By Pharmaceutical Company Shills Trying To Flog Their Marked-Up Product And Show Their Love For Dan”

https://theconversation.com/3-doses-then-1-each-year-why-pfizer-not-astrazeneca-is-the-best-bet-for-the-long-haul-159137

Last week, the chief executive of Pfizer said anyone who receives its COVID-19 vaccine will probably need to have a third dose within 6-12 months after being fully immunised, and then likely one dose every year going forward. We’ll need these because it’s likely that, for many of us, immunity will begin to wane within that time frame. The vaccine will also need to be tweaked to cover new coronavirus variants as they emerge. We know our immunity to different coronaviruses wanes over time. Our immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, also seems to wane quickly, although the rate at which this happens can be quite variable.

some coronavirus variants have mutations that reduce the effectiveness of vaccine-induced immunity. They’ve been described as “variants of concern”

The advantage of mRNA vaccines like Pfizer’s is they’re much easier to update than the “viral vector” vaccines like AstraZeneca’s.

“vector immunity”. The AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines use a viral vector, which is an inactivated (cannot replicate) form of a common type of virus called an “adenovirus”. However, you can’t be repeatedly immunised with this type of vaccine because you’ll likely develop immunity to the adenovirus vector (the delivery vehicle) itself. When that happens your immune system interferes with the delivery vehicle getting into your cells and the effectiveness of these vaccines would erode over time.

What’s more, in a very, very small number of people, this viral vector seems to be linked with an extremely rare but serious blood clotting syndrome.

By contrast, mRNA vaccines like Pfizer’s (and Moderna’s) can be updated much more quickly. Pfizer just needs to rework its RNA sequence to cover variants, which is a minor modification. Nothing changes about the delivery system

It’s absolutely vital Australia develops the ability to make mRNA vaccines onshore, particularly if new variants pop up here or in our region. This will be far more effective than waiting months to get new shots from overseas.

Right now, the AstraZeneca vaccine still has a role in Australia’s current vaccine strategy. We have it and we can make more of it, so let’s get it out there for over-50s as well as give those under 50 the opportunity to make an informed choice to have this vaccine. But as time goes on, the AstraZeneca vaccine will become less attractive, and mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer’s should eventually take its place.

SCIENCE said:

Right now, the AstraZeneca vaccine still has a role in Australia’s current vaccine strategy. We have it and we can make more of it, so let’s get it out there for over-50s as well as give those under 50 the opportunity to make an informed choice to have this vaccine. But as time goes on, the AstraZeneca vaccine will become less attractive, and mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer’s should eventually take its place.

You’d ask this government to tell a big-business big-money player like AZ ‘sorry, we don’t want your shit any more’?

captain_spalding said:

SCIENCE said:

Right now, the AstraZeneca vaccine still has a role in Australia’s current vaccine strategy. We have it and we can make more of it, so let’s get it out there for over-50s as well as give those under 50 the opportunity to make an informed choice to have this vaccine. But as time goes on, the AstraZeneca vaccine will become less attractive, and mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer’s should eventually take its place.

You’d ask this government to tell a big-business big-money player like AZ ‘sorry, we don’t want your shit any more’?

don’t worry they can point at the USSA where breakthrough cases still happen despite no AstraZeneca

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 5,800 out of 75 million fully vaccinated people in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19. Of these “breakthrough cases,” 396 were hospitalized and 74 people died. The CDC defines a breakthrough case as someone who gets sick, either symptomatically or asymptomatically, 14 or more days after full vaccination.

https://slate.com/technology/2021/04/covid-19-vaccine-breakthrough-infections-cdc-data.html

Moderna vaccine, which is 94 percent effective, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was 72 percent effective in a U.S. trial. In fact, the number of breakthrough COVID cases was “less than I expect,” said Bloom. “Far less.” Of the 75 million vaccinated people in the U.S., the 5,800 breakthrough cases represent just 0.0075 percent.

However, Stephen Kissler, an immunology and infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, cautioned that the vaccines’ impressive efficacy isn’t the only reason the proportion of people with breakthrough infections is so small.

For one thing, breakthrough cases can only happen when vaccinated people are exposed to COVID-19, and since most people were vaccinated recently, they haven’t had much time to be exposed. Another factor driving the number down may be that vaccinated people who have symptomatic breakthrough infections might not get tested because they assume they can’t be sick with COVID-19.

“I think, overall, I am completely surprised that the breakthrough numbers of people in the States is as low as it is,” said Bloom. “And we should be grateful for that.”

—

be warned, grateful today, complacent tomorrow

ÖVP-Mandatar im Parlament: Mehr Intensivbetten bedeuten mehr Tote

Laurenz Pöttinger sieht eine “unglückliche Wortwahl”, er kritisiere nur die Präventionsverweigerung der FPÖ

Wien – Den Unterschied zwischen Kausalität und Korrelation zu erkennen hütet uns vor einigen Fehleinschätzungen, die gerade in der Pandemie vermieden werden sollten. Ein bemerkenswertes Beispiel für so einen Irrtum schien am Donnerstag der ÖVP-Nationalratsabgeordnete Laurenz Pöttinger im Nationalrat anzubieten.

 An die FPÖ gerichtet sagte Pöttinger: “Ihre Partei fordert immer wieder, dass wir die Intensivbetten aufrüsten sollen. Sie wissen genau, dass ungefähr ein Drittel all jener, die auf Intensiv liegen, diese Krankheit nicht überleben. Das heißt, Ihre Aufstockung wäre dann in Wirklichkeit eine Erhöhung, eine wesentliche Erhöhung auch noch der Toten in diesem Land.”

Unglückliche Wortwahl”

Tatsächlich sterben viele Menschen auf Intensivstationen – aber trotz und nicht wegen der dortigen Behandlung. Das weiß Pöttinger auch, wie er im Gespräch mit dem STANDARD beteuert. Seine Wortwahl sei “unglücklich” gewesen und der Teil seiner Rede ohne den Zusammenhang der Debatte nur verzerrt wahrzunehmen.

—-
https://www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/2000126064570/vp-mandatar-im-parlament-mehr-intensivbetten-bedeuten-mehr-tote

Addressing the FPÖ, Pöttinger said: “Your party repeatedly calls for us to upgrade the intensive care beds. You know exactly that about a third of all those who are in intensive care will not survive this disease. That means that your increase would then be in Reality an increase, a substantial increase even in the deaths in this country. “

dv said:

ÖVP-Mandatar im Parlament: Mehr Intensivbetten bedeuten mehr Tote

Laurenz Pöttinger sieht eine “unglückliche Wortwahl”, er kritisiere nur die Präventionsverweigerung der FPÖ

Wien – Den Unterschied zwischen Kausalität und Korrelation zu erkennen hütet uns vor einigen Fehleinschätzungen, die gerade in der Pandemie vermieden werden sollten. Ein bemerkenswertes Beispiel für so einen Irrtum schien am Donnerstag der ÖVP-Nationalratsabgeordnete Laurenz Pöttinger im Nationalrat anzubieten.

 An die FPÖ gerichtet sagte Pöttinger: “Ihre Partei fordert immer wieder, dass wir die Intensivbetten aufrüsten sollen. Sie wissen genau, dass ungefähr ein Drittel all jener, die auf Intensiv liegen, diese Krankheit nicht überleben. Das heißt, Ihre Aufstockung wäre dann in Wirklichkeit eine Erhöhung, eine wesentliche Erhöhung auch noch der Toten in diesem Land.”

Unglückliche Wortwahl”

Tatsächlich sterben viele Menschen auf Intensivstationen – aber trotz und nicht wegen der dortigen Behandlung. Das weiß Pöttinger auch, wie er im Gespräch mit dem STANDARD beteuert. Seine Wortwahl sei “unglücklich” gewesen und der Teil seiner Rede ohne den Zusammenhang der Debatte nur verzerrt wahrzunehmen.

—-
https://www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/2000126064570/vp-mandatar-im-parlament-mehr-intensivbetten-bedeuten-mehr-tote

Addressing the FPÖ, Pöttinger said: “Your party repeatedly calls for us to upgrade the intensive care beds. You know exactly that about a third of all those who are in intensive care will not survive this disease. That means that your increase would then be in Reality an increase, a substantial increase even in the deaths in this country. “

Gesundheit.

dv said:

ÖVP-Mandatar im Parlament: Mehr Intensivbetten bedeuten mehr Tote

Laurenz Pöttinger sieht eine “unglückliche Wortwahl”, er kritisiere nur die Präventionsverweigerung der FPÖ

Wien – Den Unterschied zwischen Kausalität und Korrelation zu erkennen hütet uns vor einigen Fehleinschätzungen, die gerade in der Pandemie vermieden werden sollten. Ein bemerkenswertes Beispiel für so einen Irrtum schien am Donnerstag der ÖVP-Nationalratsabgeordnete Laurenz Pöttinger im Nationalrat anzubieten.

 An die FPÖ gerichtet sagte Pöttinger: “Ihre Partei fordert immer wieder, dass wir die Intensivbetten aufrüsten sollen. Sie wissen genau, dass ungefähr ein Drittel all jener, die auf Intensiv liegen, diese Krankheit nicht überleben. Das heißt, Ihre Aufstockung wäre dann in Wirklichkeit eine Erhöhung, eine wesentliche Erhöhung auch noch der Toten in diesem Land.”

Unglückliche Wortwahl”

Tatsächlich sterben viele Menschen auf Intensivstationen – aber trotz und nicht wegen der dortigen Behandlung. Das weiß Pöttinger auch, wie er im Gespräch mit dem STANDARD beteuert. Seine Wortwahl sei “unglücklich” gewesen und der Teil seiner Rede ohne den Zusammenhang der Debatte nur verzerrt wahrzunehmen.

—-
https://www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/2000126064570/vp-mandatar-im-parlament-mehr-intensivbetten-bedeuten-mehr-tote

Addressing the FPÖ, Pöttinger said: “Your party repeatedly calls for us to upgrade the intensive care beds. You know exactly that about a third of all those who are in intensive care will not survive this disease. That means that your increase would then be in Reality an increase, a substantial increase even in the deaths in this country. “

As Trump said, the cases only increase because they keep counting them.

dv said:

ÖVP-Mandatar im Parlament: Mehr Intensivbetten bedeuten mehr Tote

Laurenz Pöttinger sieht eine “unglückliche Wortwahl”, er kritisiere nur die Präventionsverweigerung der FPÖ

Wien – Den Unterschied zwischen Kausalität und Korrelation zu erkennen hütet uns vor einigen Fehleinschätzungen, die gerade in der Pandemie vermieden werden sollten. Ein bemerkenswertes Beispiel für so einen Irrtum schien am Donnerstag der ÖVP-Nationalratsabgeordnete Laurenz Pöttinger im Nationalrat anzubieten.

 An die FPÖ gerichtet sagte Pöttinger: “Ihre Partei fordert immer wieder, dass wir die Intensivbetten aufrüsten sollen. Sie wissen genau, dass ungefähr ein Drittel all jener, die auf Intensiv liegen, diese Krankheit nicht überleben. Das heißt, Ihre Aufstockung wäre dann in Wirklichkeit eine Erhöhung, eine wesentliche Erhöhung auch noch der Toten in diesem Land.”

Unglückliche Wortwahl”

Tatsächlich sterben viele Menschen auf Intensivstationen – aber trotz und nicht wegen der dortigen Behandlung. Das weiß Pöttinger auch, wie er im Gespräch mit dem STANDARD beteuert. Seine Wortwahl sei “unglücklich” gewesen und der Teil seiner Rede ohne den Zusammenhang der Debatte nur verzerrt wahrzunehmen.

—-
https://www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/2000126064570/vp-mandatar-im-parlament-mehr-intensivbetten-bedeuten-mehr-tote

Addressing the FPÖ, Pöttinger said: “Your party repeatedly calls for us to upgrade the intensive care beds. You know exactly that about a third of all those who are in intensive care will not survive this disease. That means that your increase would then be in Reality an increase, a substantial increase even in the deaths in this country. “

Trumpian illogic.

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

Michael V said:

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

Yet, AFAIK, they’re expecting 90,000 at the MCG for the footy this arvo.

Woodie said:

Michael V said:

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

Yet, AFAIK, they’re expecting 90,000 at the MCG for the footy this arvo.

So we can expect a return of the plague state?

Woodie said:

Michael V said:

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

Yet, AFAIK, they’re expecting 90,000 at the MCG for the footy this arvo.

Mandatory masks?

Michael V said:

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

well 1 out of 3 ain’t bad

right

SCIENCE said:

Michael V said:

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

well 1 out of 3 ain’t bad

right

Ha!

Tamb said:

Woodie said:

Michael V said:

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

Yet, AFAIK, they’re expecting 90,000 at the MCG for the footy this arvo.

So we can expect a return of the plague state?

With all of the inconsistencies in the various measures, rules, and prohibitions, i’m starting to wonder if the authorities aren’t, for some perverse reason, actually hoping for further infection waves.

Michael V said:

dv said:

ÖVP-Mandatar im Parlament: Mehr Intensivbetten bedeuten mehr Tote

Laurenz Pöttinger sieht eine “unglückliche Wortwahl”, er kritisiere nur die Präventionsverweigerung der FPÖ

Wien – Den Unterschied zwischen Kausalität und Korrelation zu erkennen hütet uns vor einigen Fehleinschätzungen, die gerade in der Pandemie vermieden werden sollten. Ein bemerkenswertes Beispiel für so einen Irrtum schien am Donnerstag der ÖVP-Nationalratsabgeordnete Laurenz Pöttinger im Nationalrat anzubieten.

 An die FPÖ gerichtet sagte Pöttinger: “Ihre Partei fordert immer wieder, dass wir die Intensivbetten aufrüsten sollen. Sie wissen genau, dass ungefähr ein Drittel all jener, die auf Intensiv liegen, diese Krankheit nicht überleben. Das heißt, Ihre Aufstockung wäre dann in Wirklichkeit eine Erhöhung, eine wesentliche Erhöhung auch noch der Toten in diesem Land.”

Unglückliche Wortwahl”

Tatsächlich sterben viele Menschen auf Intensivstationen – aber trotz und nicht wegen der dortigen Behandlung. Das weiß Pöttinger auch, wie er im Gespräch mit dem STANDARD beteuert. Seine Wortwahl sei “unglücklich” gewesen und der Teil seiner Rede ohne den Zusammenhang der Debatte nur verzerrt wahrzunehmen.

—-
https://www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/2000126064570/vp-mandatar-im-parlament-mehr-intensivbetten-bedeuten-mehr-tote

Addressing the FPÖ, Pöttinger said: “Your party repeatedly calls for us to upgrade the intensive care beds. You know exactly that about a third of all those who are in intensive care will not survive this disease. That means that your increase would then be in Reality an increase, a substantial increase even in the deaths in this country. “

Trumpian illogic.

Perhaps but remember how masks would make people take more risks, vaccination would make people take more risks, indeed …

… if we increase the capacity of intensive care, then people will take more risks, doctors will take more risks society will take more risks to ensure that those intensive care beds are filled ¡

Tamb said:

Woodie said:

Michael V said:

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

Yet, AFAIK, they’re expecting 90,000 at the MCG for the footy this arvo.

So we can expect a return of the plague state?

hard to say, various states recently had plenty of big events even at the tail end of outbreaks and not much bad stuff to show for it

one might hope that they have worked out the tracing and ringfencing thing and actually made it effective, who knows

meanwhile cautious optimism

Michael V said:

Woodie said:

Michael V said:

Social distancing?

Masks?

C’mon people!

Yet, AFAIK, they’re expecting 90,000 at the MCG for the footy this arvo.

Mandatory masks?

Not that I am aware of.

Went to the footy on the Gold Coast yesterday. Full house allowed, albeit just under 10,000 turned up.
Not a mask in sight. None. zip zilch. Not even on the crammed full shuttle buses (Nerang station to the ground etc). Masks recommended, but not required.

No COVID “Check-in”, or contact tracing etc.

Not sure if a COVID thing or not, but no “cash” at the ground. Everything purchased (a beer, or pie, or beenie) was card only. No cash.

Woodie said:

Not sure if a COVID thing or not, but no “cash” at the ground. Everything purchased (a beer, or pie, or beenie) was card only. No cash.

It is a COVID thing. No handling dirty ol’ cash.

Also convenient. No visits to banks needed before or after the event, no need for security for the cash, no chance of the odd $20 ‘slipping’ into a staff member’s pocket.

SCIENCE said:

meanwhile cautious optimism

I understand from ABC radio news just now, the all on that flight have tested -ve.

Woodie said:

Michael V said:

Woodie said:

Yet, AFAIK, they’re expecting 90,000 at the MCG for the footy this arvo.

Mandatory masks?

Not that I am aware of.

Went to the footy on the Gold Coast yesterday. Full house allowed, albeit just under 10,000 turned up.
Not a mask in sight. None. zip zilch. Not even on the crammed full shuttle buses (Nerang station to the ground etc). Masks recommended, but not required.

No COVID “Check-in”, or contact tracing etc.

Not sure if a COVID thing or not, but no “cash” at the ground. Everything purchased (a beer, or pie, or beenie) was card only. No cash.

No COVID “Check-in”, or contact tracing etc.

——————————-

Presumably traceable through ticket sales, if necessary.

Woodie said:

SCIENCE said:

meanwhile cautious optimism

I understand from ABC radio news just now, the all on that flight have tested -ve.

I find that really interesting. I know it’s masks all the way on planes. But someone in Perth apparently picked it up from that fellow just by attending the same restaurant.

buffy said:

Woodie said:

SCIENCE said:

meanwhile cautious optimism

I understand from ABC radio news just now, the all on that flight have tested -ve.

I find that really interesting. I know it’s masks all the way on planes. But someone in Perth apparently picked it up from that fellow just by attending the same restaurant.

we do wonder maybe there’s something about dry rarefied cycled air on aeroplanes with passengers having their mouths closed that isn’t quite the same in a warm, cozy, humid restaurant with people chatting and singing and doing whatever else they do at restaurants

SCIENCE said:

buffy said:

Woodie said:

I understand from ABC radio news just now, the all on that flight have tested -ve.

I find that really interesting. I know it’s masks all the way on planes. But someone in Perth apparently picked it up from that fellow just by attending the same restaurant.

we do wonder maybe there’s something about dry rarefied cycled air on aeroplanes with passengers having their mouths closed that isn’t quite the same in a warm, cozy, humid restaurant with people chatting and singing and doing whatever else they do at restaurants

eating.

SCIENCE said:

we do wonder maybe there’s something about dry rarefied cycled air on aeroplanes with passengers having their mouths closed that isn’t quite the same in a warm, cozy, humid restaurant with people chatting and singing and doing whatever else they do at restaurants

You’re at lot less risk in an airliner than in a resaurant.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/airplanes-ventilation-study-covid-19/index.html

https://www.tripsavvy.com/air-quality-during-your-flight-54164

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/10/15/study-risk-of-covid-19-transmission-on-planes-virtually-nonexistent-for-mask-wearers/?sh=684627d8787b

Michael V said:

Woodie said:

Michael V said:

Mandatory masks?

Not that I am aware of.

Went to the footy on the Gold Coast yesterday. Full house allowed, albeit just under 10,000 turned up.
Not a mask in sight. None. zip zilch. Not even on the crammed full shuttle buses (Nerang station to the ground etc). Masks recommended, but not required.

No COVID “Check-in”, or contact tracing etc.

Not sure if a COVID thing or not, but no “cash” at the ground. Everything purchased (a beer, or pie, or beenie) was card only. No cash.

No COVID “Check-in”, or contact tracing etc.

——————————-

Presumably traceable through ticket sales, if necessary.

Nope. I could have bought tickets for 10, given the tickets to anyone, and not gone myself.

Albeit, on the website, it said you must have “QLD Checkin app” on your phone or device. Nup. No QR code to scan anywhere.

Swannie V Brisbane a few weeks ago was “electronic” tickets only, individual tickets identifiable for contact tracing. Not this time. Printed paper ones accepted.

ChrispenEvan said:

SCIENCE said:

buffy said:

I find that really interesting. I know it’s masks all the way on planes. But someone in Perth apparently picked it up from that fellow just by attending the same restaurant.

we do wonder maybe there’s something about dry rarefied cycled air on aeroplanes with passengers having their mouths closed that isn’t quite the same in a warm, cozy, humid restaurant with people chatting and singing and doing whatever else they do at restaurants

eating.

ah we knew it COVID-19 was all a manufactured plandemic by Alan Joyce And Cronies to save money and get out of having to serve food on flights

Mark McGowan said it was not yet clear what would happen come Tuesday, when the lockdown is set to lift.
But he did say it was likely there would be “an extension in some form, of controls”.
“Right now, it’s too early to predict what will happen come Tuesday,” he said.
“We need to see more testing completed, and most importantly we need close contacts and casual contacts … to be tested.
“So please keep doing the right thing.”
Mr McGowan said more exposure sites would be added to the list as contact tracers continued to do their work.

Arts said:

Mark McGowan said it was not yet clear what would happen come Tuesday, when the lockdown is set to lift.
But he did say it was likely there would be “an extension in some form, of controls”.
“Right now, it’s too early to predict what will happen come Tuesday,” he said.
“We need to see more testing completed, and most importantly we need close contacts and casual contacts … to be tested.
“So please keep doing the right thing.”
Mr McGowan said more exposure sites would be added to the list as contact tracers continued to do their work.

as someone impacted by these entertaining impositions what’s the correct interpretation to be

SCIENCE said:

Arts said:

Mark McGowan said it was not yet clear what would happen come Tuesday, when the lockdown is set to lift.
But he did say it was likely there would be “an extension in some form, of controls”.
“Right now, it’s too early to predict what will happen come Tuesday,” he said.
“We need to see more testing completed, and most importantly we need close contacts and casual contacts … to be tested.
“So please keep doing the right thing.”
Mr McGowan said more exposure sites would be added to the list as contact tracers continued to do their work.

as someone impacted by these entertaining impositions what’s the correct interpretation to be

we had no recorded cases today up until 1.30. so if that keeps going we will likely be able to go out from Tuesday but wear masks (I reckon until Friday or so). given no more community cases for that it will be back to pre this lockdown stage

Arts said:

SCIENCE said:

Arts said:

Mark McGowan said it was not yet clear what would happen come Tuesday, when the lockdown is set to lift.
But he did say it was likely there would be “an extension in some form, of controls”.
“Right now, it’s too early to predict what will happen come Tuesday,” he said.
“We need to see more testing completed, and most importantly we need close contacts and casual contacts … to be tested.
“So please keep doing the right thing.”
Mr McGowan said more exposure sites would be added to the list as contact tracers continued to do their work.

as someone impacted by these entertaining impositions what’s the correct interpretation to be

we had no recorded cases today up until 1.30. so if that keeps going we will likely be able to go out from Tuesday but wear masks (I reckon until Friday or so). given no more community cases for that it will be back to pre this lockdown stage

Our snap 3 day lockdown gave us mandatory masks for two weeks. All throughout the state..!

Tasmania has yet to experience any mandatory masking.

SCIENCE said:

pay that :/

On Saturday, Twitter complied with the government’s request and prevented people in India from viewing more than 50 tweets that appeared to criticise the administration’s handling of the pandemic.

The targeted posts include tweets from opposition ministers critical of Mr Modi, journalists and ordinary Indians.

LOL

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/coronavirus-covid-19-india-narendra-modi-criticism-restriction/100094714

SCIENCE said:

On Saturday, Twitter complied with the government’s request and prevented people in India from viewing more than 50 tweets that appeared to criticise the administration’s handling of the pandemic.

The targeted posts include tweets from opposition ministers critical of Mr Modi, journalists and ordinary Indians.

LOL

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/coronavirus-covid-19-india-narendra-modi-criticism-restriction/100094714

“A Spanish man with COVID-19 symptoms who coughed on work colleagues and told them “I’m going to give you all the coronavirus” has been charged with intentionally causing injury after allegedly infecting 22 people.”

R. Sole.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/spanish-man-charged-22-people-coronavirus/100094812

Michael V said:

“A Spanish man with COVID-19 symptoms who coughed on work colleagues and told them “I’m going to give you all the coronavirus” has been charged with intentionally causing injury after allegedly infecting 22 people.”

R. Sole.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/spanish-man-charged-22-people-coronavirus/100094812

If any of them die will it be murder?

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

Long read.

ChrispenEvan said:

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

Long read.

well, can you help us with some interpretation

also, we found this bit

In Taiwan, those who breach quarantine orders by entering or leaving a premises without authorisation are fined up to $43,000. Similar fines and penalties were recommended in the Coate report. Beyond Taiwan, technologically supported home quarantine is being used successfully in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bahrain.

yeah but we don’t do those kinds of things in a Vibrant Liberal Western Democracy, not being racist or anything but there’s lots of ASIANS in those countries

Certainly, Australia’s efforts look good against the abysmal performance of many nations, but … By avoiding comparison with the best, Australian governments miss critical opportunities for innovation. If they’d operated borders and quarantine as efficiently as the world leaders, we’d have far less coronavirus cases and deaths, and few, if any, Australians stranded. Our leaders could have looked to the future and attempted to learn from best practice, rather than gloat that we’re doing better than the worst.

LOL

The ease with which Australia’s policy makers breach the human rights of citizens and residents without any substantial criticism from anyone other than those directly impacted, speaks to the morality of a society inured to divisive politics, that looks the other way as refugees and First Nations people are kept in torturous conditions, the unemployed are kept in dire poverty and children as young as ten are incarcerated. In the era of a worsening climate emergency, the unwillingness to look to smarter alternatives, to embrace available technology and the obvious economic and social benefits of doing so, also speaks to a society that is lurching backward and risks being left far behind.

well closer to pandemic, remember how we sent returning Australian citizens to Christmas Island detention when the pandemic was far smaller than now

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says his request to the federal government to halve international arrivals into Perth has been accepted.

The new cap of 512 arrivals per week will begin on Thursday.

Arts said:

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says his request to the federal government to halve international arrivals into Perth has been accepted.

The new cap of 512 arrivals per week will begin on Thursday.

Bloody racist.

sibeen said:

Arts said:

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says his request to the federal government to halve international arrivals into Perth has been accepted.

The new cap of 512 arrivals per week will begin on Thursday.

Bloody racist.

we need to build a facility that is dedicated to quarantine and not just try to house people in a hotel ill-equipped to deal with it.

we could possibly cordon off part of Rottnest Island and use that, but that is far too much income lost compared to a second rate hotel in the middle of the city.

this is a decent first step until they make some real decisions… at least this might help to ease the load a bit.. I think I hear Marky McG say that WA takes far more people per capita than other states..

Arts said:

sibeen said:

Arts said:

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says his request to the federal government to halve international arrivals into Perth has been accepted.

The new cap of 512 arrivals per week will begin on Thursday.

Bloody racist.

we need to build a facility that is dedicated to quarantine and not just try to house people in a hotel ill-equipped to deal with it.

we could possibly cordon off part of Rottnest Island and use that, but that is far too much income lost compared to a second rate hotel in the middle of the city.

this is a decent first step until they make some real decisions… at least this might help to ease the load a bit.. I think I hear Marky McG say that WA takes far more people per capita than other states..

Wouldn’t be quicker and cheaper to upgrade existing facilities?

I mean this kind of thing might never happen again and hopefully the end is in sight due to vaccines.

dv said:

Arts said:

sibeen said:

Bloody racist.

we need to build a facility that is dedicated to quarantine and not just try to house people in a hotel ill-equipped to deal with it.

we could possibly cordon off part of Rottnest Island and use that, but that is far too much income lost compared to a second rate hotel in the middle of the city.

this is a decent first step until they make some real decisions… at least this might help to ease the load a bit.. I think I hear Marky McG say that WA takes far more people per capita than other states..

Wouldn’t be quicker and cheaper to upgrade existing facilities?

I mean this kind of thing might never happen again and hopefully the end is in sight due to vaccines.

Yeah. Shirley they could rejig the ventilation/air con relatively quickly.

Arts said:

sibeen said:

Arts said:

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says his request to the federal government to halve international arrivals into Perth has been accepted.

The new cap of 512 arrivals per week will begin on Thursday.

Bloody racist.

we need to build a facility that is dedicated to quarantine and not just try to house people in a hotel ill-equipped to deal with it.

we could possibly cordon off part of Rottnest Island and use that, but that is far too much income lost compared to a second rate hotel in the middle of the city.

this is a decent first step until they make some real decisions… at least this might help to ease the load a bit.. I think I hear Marky McG say that WA takes far more people per capita than other states..

There’s plenty of government owned land in the metro area or just outside that could be suitably isolated and fenced off, without needing to bother with ferries out to Rotto and back. Take the drag racing place in Kwinana for example, huge block of land, could easily have some suitable accommodation construction in one corner of it. They’d just have to put up with the noise of drag racing once a fortnight in summer.

Arts said:

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says his request to the federal government to halve international arrivals into Perth has been accepted.

The new cap of 512 arrivals per week will begin on Thursday.

Aussies living overseas perhaps should apply for residency whereever it is they are.

There used to be a quarantine station out at Woodman’s Point in the 1950s and 60s. It got turned into a school camp in the 1980s. I stayed there on school camps and the odd youth group camp during that decade. Wonder if it still exists.

dv said:

Arts said:

sibeen said:

Bloody racist.

we need to build a facility that is dedicated to quarantine and not just try to house people in a hotel ill-equipped to deal with it.

we could possibly cordon off part of Rottnest Island and use that, but that is far too much income lost compared to a second rate hotel in the middle of the city.

this is a decent first step until they make some real decisions… at least this might help to ease the load a bit.. I think I hear Marky McG say that WA takes far more people per capita than other states..

Wouldn’t be quicker and cheaper to upgrade existing facilities?

I mean this kind of thing might never happen again and hopefully the end is in sight due to vaccines.

you mean the hotels? I think it would be better to create a pop up facility that has purpose, rather than upgrade a facility that might then later have to be reverted because of some cause in the ‘tenancy’ agreement.

party_pants said:

Arts said:

sibeen said:

Bloody racist.

we need to build a facility that is dedicated to quarantine and not just try to house people in a hotel ill-equipped to deal with it.

we could possibly cordon off part of Rottnest Island and use that, but that is far too much income lost compared to a second rate hotel in the middle of the city.

this is a decent first step until they make some real decisions… at least this might help to ease the load a bit.. I think I hear Marky McG say that WA takes far more people per capita than other states..

There’s plenty of government owned land in the metro area or just outside that could be suitably isolated and fenced off, without needing to bother with ferries out to Rotto and back. Take the drag racing place in Kwinana for example, huge block of land, could easily have some suitable accommodation construction in one corner of it. They’d just have to put up with the noise of drag racing once a fortnight in summer.

you could give them a quarantine area ticket. as a bonus for doing the right thing. gas masks and plastic sheeting provided

party_pants said:

There used to be a quarantine station out at Woodman’s Point in the 1950s and 60s. It got turned into a school camp in the 1980s. I stayed there on school camps and the odd youth group camp during that decade. Wonder if it still exists.

it does, but it’s on the way out…

I don’t quite understand why multistory hotels in the CBDs are being used. There are motels in the suburbs. Ring fence them and use them. No indoor corridors to worry about. Space outside for people to wander.

buffy said:

I don’t quite understand why multistory hotels in the CBDs are being used. There are motels in the suburbs. Ring fence them and use them. No indoor corridors to worry about. Space outside for people to wander.

Indoor corridors are a no no with quarantine.

buffy said:

I don’t quite understand why multistory hotels in the CBDs are being used. There are motels in the suburbs. Ring fence them and use them. No indoor corridors to worry about. Space outside for people to wander.

well, you can’t have them mingling..

Well, my local Bunnings was packed just now. Full of people needing to get their essential supplies.

I guess I shouldn’t judge too much. I needed woodglue for my lock down project. How else can one make progress on a project without all the essential stuff?

party_pants said:

Well, my local Bunnings was packed just now. Full of people needing to get their essential supplies.

I guess I shouldn’t judge too much. I needed woodglue for my lock down project. How else can one make progress on a project without all the essential stuff?

Improvise

Adapt.

Overcome.

buffy said:

I don’t quite understand why multistory hotels in the CBDs are being used. There are motels in the suburbs. Ring fence them and use them. No indoor corridors to worry about. Space outside for people to wander.

Perhaps the logistics of supplying meals in motels is an issue.

captain_spalding said:

party_pants said:

Well, my local Bunnings was packed just now. Full of people needing to get their essential supplies.

I guess I shouldn’t judge too much. I needed woodglue for my lock down project. How else can one make progress on a project without all the essential stuff?

Improvise

Adapt.

Overcome.

I needed the exterior wood glue I was talking about the other day. Much easier just to go to Bunnings and get a bottle labelled “exterior wood glue”.

party_pants said:

Well, my local Bunnings was packed just now. Full of people needing to get their essential supplies.

I guess I shouldn’t judge too much. I needed woodglue for my lock down project. How else can one make progress on a project without all the essential stuff?

I always keep a spare horse I can melt down for glue.

Seems as though the excessive caution over the vaccines in relation to bloodclot risk is a nice real life trolley problem.
You would expect a handful of deaths from vaccine-related bloodclots in a vaccination program that might save thousands of lives, but the vaccinations are perceived as the active choice, so administrators fear the backlash from the handful of deaths more than the thousands that result from the passive choice of halting the vaccinations.

ChrispenEvan said:

party_pants said:

Well, my local Bunnings was packed just now. Full of people needing to get their essential supplies.

I guess I shouldn’t judge too much. I needed woodglue for my lock down project. How else can one make progress on a project without all the essential stuff?

I always keep a spare horse I can melt down for glue.

Yeah, but that glue is water-soluble and unsuitable for outdoors.

Michael V said:

ChrispenEvan said:

party_pants said:

Well, my local Bunnings was packed just now. Full of people needing to get their essential supplies.

I guess I shouldn’t judge too much. I needed woodglue for my lock down project. How else can one make progress on a project without all the essential stuff?

I always keep a spare horse I can melt down for glue.

Yeah, but that glue is water-soluble and unsuitable for outdoors.

I use sea horses for wet environments.

ChrispenEvan said:

Michael V said:

ChrispenEvan said:

I always keep a spare horse I can melt down for glue.

Yeah, but that glue is water-soluble and unsuitable for outdoors.

I use sea horses for wet environments.

LOLOL

Pay that.

sarahs mum said:

Arts said:

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says his request to the federal government to halve international arrivals into Perth has been accepted.

The new cap of 512 arrivals per week will begin on Thursday.

Aussies living overseas perhaps should apply for residency whereever it is they are.

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

sarahs mum said:

sarahs mum said:

Arts said:

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says his request to the federal government to halve international arrivals into Perth has been accepted.

The new cap of 512 arrivals per week will begin on Thursday.

Aussies living overseas perhaps should apply for residency whereever it is they are.

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

sibeen said:

sarahs mum said:

sarahs mum said:

Aussies living overseas perhaps should apply for residency whereever it is they are.

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

her mask isn’t covering her nose…

Arts said:

sibeen said:

sarahs mum said:

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

her mask isn’t covering her nose…

Well spotted. Bit hard to tell with the pixellation.

party_pants said:

Arts said:

sibeen said:

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

her mask isn’t covering her nose…

Well spotted. Bit hard to tell with the pixellation.

I was more shocked by…

‘Currently a one way fare from Los Angeles to Sydney is $23,000. First and business class cabins are filled, with hundreds of seats in economy cabins sitting empty. Even tickets on the sporadic Qantas commercial repatriation flights start at $2,200 from London, with preference given to bidders able to pay $8,700 for a business class seat.’

sibeen said:

sarahs mum said:

sarahs mum said:

Aussies living overseas perhaps should apply for residency whereever it is they are.

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

Fair point.

Arts said:

sibeen said:

sarahs mum said:

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

her mask isn’t covering her nose…

But I don’t think that is her point. I cannot be sure because I really have no idea what she is trying to get across in that tweet.

Arts said:

sibeen said:

sarahs mum said:

https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/amp/

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

her mask isn’t covering her nose…

How can you tell? It’s been pixellated.

Michael V said:

Arts said:

sibeen said:

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

her mask isn’t covering her nose…

How can you tell? It’s been pixellated.

I thought it was a pirate plying his trade on land.

Michael V said:

Arts said:

sibeen said:

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

her mask isn’t covering her nose…

How can you tell? It’s been pixellated.

you can see their nose. I am more astounded people can tell their sex.

Michael V said:

Arts said:

sibeen said:

From that article:

I really have no idea what her point is here? Is she complaining that the nurse has too much PPE gear on? Too little?

This is why leaders panic? Shit, I thought the 800 odd deaths in Victoria once the virus got out and the 6 month shutdown of the State may have had something to do with their edginess.

her mask isn’t covering her nose…

How can you tell? It’s been pixellated.

you can clearly see her nose

Witty Rejoinder said:

buffy said:

I don’t quite understand why multistory hotels in the CBDs are being used. There are motels in the suburbs. Ring fence them and use them. No indoor corridors to worry about. Space outside for people to wander.

Perhaps the logistics of supplying meals in motels is an issue.

How would it be any different from in a hotel? You just have the meals made up and then deliver them door to door. Seems like the same routine to me.

Arts said:

buffy said:

I don’t quite understand why multistory hotels in the CBDs are being used. There are motels in the suburbs. Ring fence them and use them. No indoor corridors to worry about. Space outside for people to wander.

well, you can’t have them mingling..

I’m not talking about the medi hotels. I’m talking about the people waiting to see if they might later test positive. If they are supervised and outdoors, masks and distance should be sufficient.

Sebastian again. This study looks interesting. I’m still reading it.

https://sebastianrushworth.com/2021/04/24/covid-prior-infection-vs-vaccination/

“The lockdown of the Perth and Peel region will end at midnight tonight after Western Australia recorded no new community spread of coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

“Key points:

• The interim restrictions include the mandatory wearing of face masks

• The Premier says the lockdown was the “circuit-breaker” WA needed

• Two people caught COVID-19 off a man infected in hotel quarantine

But Premier Mark McGowan said while people were free to leave their homes and return to work and schools would be open as usual, some interim restrictions would remain for the next four days, including the mandatory wearing of face masks for adults.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/no-new-coronavirus-cases-as-wa-approaches-end-of-lockdown/100094918

buffy said:

Sebastian again. This study looks interesting. I’m still reading it.

https://sebastianrushworth.com/2021/04/24/covid-prior-infection-vs-vaccination/

Only read the comments if you want a rabbit-hole experience…

Michael V said:

“The lockdown of the Perth and Peel region will end at midnight tonight after Western Australia recorded no new community spread of coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

“Key points:

• The interim restrictions include the mandatory wearing of face masks

• The Premier says the lockdown was the “circuit-breaker” WA needed

• Two people caught COVID-19 off a man infected in hotel quarantine

But Premier Mark McGowan said while people were free to leave their homes and return to work and schools would be open as usual, some interim restrictions would remain for the next four days, including the mandatory wearing of face masks for adults.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/no-new-coronavirus-cases-as-wa-approaches-end-of-lockdown/100094918

unit are going to still do online teaching so I have to learn how to use collaborate now.. and I’m teaching them ANOVA this week.. which generally blows peoples brains out.. so this should be fun.

South Australia has recorded a significant one-day jump in coronavirus cases, with 14 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours, all of them in hotel quarantine.

SCIENCE said:

South Australia has recorded a significant one-day jump in coronavirus cases, with 14 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours, all of them in hotel quarantine.

Hmm…it’s almost like…maybe…that it could be…

…hotels aren’t the best type of facility for this sort of thing.

But, that can’t be. Our governments wouldn’t persist with an unsuitable strategy.

Now would they?

buffy said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

buffy said:

I don’t quite understand why multistory hotels in the CBDs are being used. There are motels in the suburbs. Ring fence them and use them. No indoor corridors to worry about. Space outside for people to wander.

Perhaps the logistics of supplying meals in motels is an issue.

How would it be any different from in a hotel? You just have the meals made up and then deliver them door to door. Seems like the same routine to me.

Are hotels using room service or dropping off care packages?

Witty Rejoinder said:

buffy said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Perhaps the logistics of supplying meals in motels is an issue.

How would it be any different from in a hotel? You just have the meals made up and then deliver them door to door. Seems like the same routine to me.

Are hotels using room service or dropping off care packages?

It’s not like motels won’t/can’t deliver you a crappy breaksfast if you order it.

Witty Rejoinder said:

buffy said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Perhaps the logistics of supplying meals in motels is an issue.

How would it be any different from in a hotel? You just have the meals made up and then deliver them door to door. Seems like the same routine to me.

Are hotels using room service or dropping off care packages?

remember how drone delivery was some fast food fad and it was going to be all the rage

now we have Australian citizens crying out to return to regional facilities crying out to be used for quarantine against a disease crying out for airborne protection measures crying out to include remote delivery of food and other necessities

¿ oh wait, was it all a pie in the sky ?

¿ literally ?

wait

Witty Rejoinder said:

buffy said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Perhaps the logistics of supplying meals in motels is an issue.

How would it be any different from in a hotel? You just have the meals made up and then deliver them door to door. Seems like the same routine to me.

Are hotels using room service or dropping off care packages?

Hotels have indoor corridors, and possibly shared ventilation.

Motels have outdoor access and their own air-conditioner.

captain_spalding said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

buffy said:

How would it be any different from in a hotel? You just have the meals made up and then deliver them door to door. Seems like the same routine to me.

Are hotels using room service or dropping off care packages?

It’s not like motels won’t/can’t deliver you a crappy breaksfast if you order it.

Well in most places there is no cooking in rooms, so I would assume at least evening meals are delivered in the usual hotel style. But it could easily be done a la meals on wheels. Appropriately organized. Perhaps that’s the bit the Feds are baulking at. Having to actually organize something.

I like the motel idea, who came up with it?

Tau.Neutrino said:

I like the motel idea, who came up with it?

Me. Months ago.

buffy said:

captain_spalding said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Are hotels using room service or dropping off care packages?

It’s not like motels won’t/can’t deliver you a crappy breaksfast if you order it.

Well in most places there is no cooking in rooms, so I would assume at least evening meals are delivered in the usual hotel style. But it could easily be done a la meals on wheels. Appropriately organized. Perhaps that’s the bit the Feds are baulking at. Having to actually organize something.

But, they don’t have to.

Most/many motels have an arrangement where your breakfasts, on a tray, are bunged through a hatch in the wall, with no contact between deliverer and recipient. All that the government would be paying for in excess of the daily accommodation price is the provision of lunch and dinner.

Being cooped up in motel room for 14 days is not my idea of fun. But, as has been pointed out, there’s usually adequate outdoor space, and with proper supervision (y’know, like they have in quarantine hotels) and social distancing, inmates wouldn’t have to be confined to cells too much.

I begin to suspect a deal between governments and ‘hotel’ owners/chains as compared to dealing witht the ‘lower class’ of motel operators.

buffy said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

I like the motel idea, who came up with it?

Me. Months ago.

BUT, IS IT EVIDENCE-BASED?

captain_spalding said:

buffy said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

I like the motel idea, who came up with it?

Me. Months ago.

BUT, IS IT EVIDENCE-BASED?

It is awaiting proof of concept.

:)

buffy said:

captain_spalding said:

buffy said:

Me. Months ago.

BUT, IS IT EVIDENCE-BASED?

It is awaiting proof of concept.

:)

I see that you’ve played this game before.

captain_spalding said:

buffy said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

I like the motel idea, who came up with it?

Me. Months ago.

BUT, IS IT EVIDENCE-BASED?

I’m sure Buffy would have taken notes.

well, now that we know Perth is back in the relative clear, I’m sure we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Tau.Neutrino said:

I’m sure Buffy would have taken notes.

Notes.

Pfft.

We need volumes of studies from places like Johns Hopkins, Bethesda, Barts, Prince Alfred, et al.

captain_spalding said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

I’m sure Buffy would have taken notes.

Notes.

Pfft.

We need volumes of studies from places like Johns Hopkins, Bethesda, Barts, Prince Alfred, et al.

And economic reports.

buffy said:

captain_spalding said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

I’m sure Buffy would have taken notes.

Notes.

Pfft.

We need volumes of studies from places like Johns Hopkins, Bethesda, Barts, Prince Alfred, et al.

And economic reports.

True.

Whether it works or not is always secondary to what it costs.

It would be interesting to compare covid case numbers at motels vs covid case numbers at hotels.

Tau.Neutrino said:

It would be interesting to compare covid case numbers at motels vs covid case numbers at hotels.

Are there any COVID cases sequestered at motels, as opposed to hotels?

If so, are any statistics being recorded?

captain_spalding said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

It would be interesting to compare covid case numbers at motels vs covid case numbers at hotels.

Are there any COVID cases sequestered at motels, as opposed to hotels?

If so, are any statistics being recorded?

Motels aren’t being used I don’t think. I suppose another consideration is using 4 or 5 multilevel hotels or the equivalent capacity in 20+ motels.

captain_spalding said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

It would be interesting to compare covid case numbers at motels vs covid case numbers at hotels.

Are there any COVID cases sequestered at motels, as opposed to hotels?

If so, are any statistics being recorded?

You’ll have to look at Buffy’s notes.

Motels don’t have indoor corridors being fed with drafts coming under the doors from every room.

It will be interesting to see numbers.

Tau.Neutrino said:

captain_spalding said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

It would be interesting to compare covid case numbers at motels vs covid case numbers at hotels.

Are there any COVID cases sequestered at motels, as opposed to hotels?

If so, are any statistics being recorded?

You’ll have to look at Buffy’s notes.

Motels don’t have indoor corridors being fed with drafts coming under the doors from every room.

It will be interesting to see numbers.

Nobody has been doing it. There are no numbers.

Witty Rejoinder said:

captain_spalding said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

It would be interesting to compare covid case numbers at motels vs covid case numbers at hotels.

Are there any COVID cases sequestered at motels, as opposed to hotels?

If so, are any statistics being recorded?

Motels aren’t being used I don’t think. I suppose another consideration is using 4 or 5 multilevel hotels or the equivalent capacity in 20+ motels.

I don’t actually know how many rooms are dedicated to returned travellers at the moment. But remember the numbers coming into the country are spread right around the country. I also don’t know how many motels remain, they have been in decline.

buffy said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

captain_spalding said:

Are there any COVID cases sequestered at motels, as opposed to hotels?

If so, are any statistics being recorded?

You’ll have to look at Buffy’s notes.

Motels don’t have indoor corridors being fed with drafts coming under the doors from every room.

It will be interesting to see numbers.

Nobody has been doing it. There are no numbers.

Somebody needs to do it.

so what’s Howard doing then

SCIENCE said:

so what’s Howard doing then

Probably thinking of what he could be doing.

I like Buffy’s motel idea.

If I was returning from overseas I would rather stay at a motel than at a hotel, I would also avoid multi story motels.

If next door became positive I would wear the mask all day.

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

so what’s Howard doing then

Probably thinking of what he could be doing.

we mean Frederick Howard, master of the small topsail schooner HMS Beatrice which carried out exploration work from the Escape Cliffs settlement in 1864, hydrographer

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

so what’s Howard doing then

Probably thinking of what he could be doing.

we mean Frederick Howard, master of the small topsail schooner HMS Beatrice which carried out exploration work from the Escape Cliffs settlement in 1864, hydrographer

He is probably lying down somewhere.

Here is Worldometers for New York.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/new-york/

buffy said:

Here is Worldometers for New York.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/new-york/

Rookie numbers

dv said:

buffy said:

Here is Worldometers for New York.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/new-york/

Rookie numbers

I prefer to look at the deaths graphs. At least you know you are catching most of the deaths. You don’t know how many of the cases you are catching.

;)

buffy said:

dv said:

buffy said:

Here is Worldometers for New York.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/new-york/

Rookie numbers

I prefer to look at the deaths graphs. At least you know you are catching most of the deaths. You don’t know how many of the cases you are catching.

;)

Fair.

The death numbers have also tanked.

Sweden’s deaths are also down. Note y axis is different values for Sweden, 0 to 150. The New York one is 0 to 1500.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/

Seems as though much of the Western World is indeed past the worst and the fear now is that people will lose interest despite the raging problem in the developing world.

don’t worry just let those developing world virology laboratories come up with a new vaccine-resistant coronavirus and the fun can begin again

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/fiji-suva-goes-into-covid-lockdown/100095712

About 100,000 people in the city must stay in containment zones and non-essential businesses have been closed after the first community coronavirus cases in 12 months were detected.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9510133/Boris-Johnson-said-bodies-pile-high-order-lockdown-sources-claim.html

• Claims that Boris Johnson said he would rather ‘bodies pile high in their thousands’ than order a third lockdown
• Allegedly came after Michael Gove warned soldiers needed to guard hospitals
• Downing Street has strongly denied that the Prime Minister made the comment

‘Typical Boris, he wanted to be bullish and optimistic, which is his nature. He couldn’t face dishing out a negative message all year round,’ says the source. ‘He wanted to be positive. He thought people were already fed-up without him adding to it, so decided to try to be upbeat.’

For Hong Kong, which has banned non-residents since March 2020, the deal with Singapore is its first bilateral resumption of travel ties with another city.

Singapore already has some pacts on essential business and official travel, and has opened unilaterally to general visitors from countries including Brunei Darussalam, China and New Zealand.

Both Hong Kong and Singapore said they are in talks with countries including Australia and New Zealand for similar travel bubbles.

The Asian cities have brought the local virus situation largely under control compared with other developed cities.

New cases, however, have inched up in the past week, with Hong Kong reporting local transmission of a COVID-19 variant with the N501Y mutated strain and Singapore investigating possible COVID-19 reinfection cases at a migrant worker dormitory.

—

foolish ASIANS don’t they know that the correct way to make sure The Economy Must Grow is to let it rip and kill off the grandparents and yet live with COVID-19 duh

Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese told the ABC’s RN Breakfast the situation in India reinforced the need for secure quarantine facilities.

Peak health bodies and Labor have been calling on the Commonwealth to establish different quarantine facilities, arguing hotels aren’t fit-for-purpose.

I don’t understand why the Wagner proposal hasn’t been taken any further.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-27/queensland-covid19-palaszczuk-quarantine-camps-overseas-arrivals/100097056

Western Australia has recorded no new community cases of COVID-19 but four more in hotel quarantine, all relating to people who had returned from travel to India. Premier Mark McGowan announced the latest cases as Perth and the Peel region spent its first day out of lockdown. He said the latest cases in hotel quarantine were three men and a woman who had arrived back in Australia from India. “We will have to manage them in their hotel quarantine arrangements,” Mr McGowan told ABC Radio Perth ahead of his 9:00am media conference.

“This case and the other four confirmed cases in hotel quarantine all originate from flight MH125 that arrived from Kuala Lumpur into Perth on Saturday, 24 April,” he told the media conference. “I have just been advised at this morning’s emergency management team meeting that 78 of the 79 passengers on this flight had been in India recently. “Our expectation is the number of positive cases from this group of people will grow and potentially grow significantly.”

“The best thing we can do is get everything open as quickly as we can, get our thriving economy back into operation as quickly as we can,

—

uh oh

actually no don’t worry context is everything

—

stop the threat of the virus leaking out of hotels by having a much stricter approach to the number of returning people to Australia and stop people from going overseas in the middle of a pandemic.” Mr McGowan again called for the Commonwealth to crack down on people travelling overseas for non-essential reasons. He said it was unacceptable that the person who was the original source of COVID-19 in the Mercure hotel had travelled to India to get married.

“In the middle of a pandemic that is killing hundreds of thousands of people across India, there is no need to go to India for anything but the most extreme of reasons now,” he said. “I can’t think of many . “Perhaps someone that had an infant child that needed to be picked up from a relative or something, that might be one. If you had to go there for some kind of life-saving surgery, I think that could be another. “But going there to play cricket, go to a funeral, go to a wedding or get married, they are not reasons you should be going to India at this point in time.”

—

heartless bastard, he’d be singing a different woke communist tune if it was a same-sex marriage YES wouldn’t he

jokes we thought marriage was a fucking obsolete / obsolete fucking institution anyway

Interesting.

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/04/21/covid-19-new-variants-known-unknowns/

SCIENCE said:

Western Australia has recorded no new community cases of COVID-19 but four more in hotel quarantine, all relating to people who had returned from travel to India. Premier Mark McGowan announced the latest cases as Perth and the Peel region spent its first day out of lockdown. He said the latest cases in hotel quarantine were three men and a woman who had arrived back in Australia from India. “We will have to manage them in their hotel quarantine arrangements,” Mr McGowan told ABC Radio Perth ahead of his 9:00am media conference.

“This case and the other four confirmed cases in hotel quarantine all originate from flight MH125 that arrived from Kuala Lumpur into Perth on Saturday, 24 April,” he told the media conference. “I have just been advised at this morning’s emergency management team meeting that 78 of the 79 passengers on this flight had been in India recently. “Our expectation is the number of positive cases from this group of people will grow and potentially grow significantly.”

“The best thing we can do is get everything open as quickly as we can, get our thriving economy back into operation as quickly as we can,

—

uh oh

actually no don’t worry context is everything

—

stop the threat of the virus leaking out of hotels by having a much stricter approach to the number of returning people to Australia and stop people from going overseas in the middle of a pandemic.” Mr McGowan again called for the Commonwealth to crack down on people travelling overseas for non-essential reasons. He said it was unacceptable that the person who was the original source of COVID-19 in the Mercure hotel had travelled to India to get married.

“In the middle of a pandemic that is killing hundreds of thousands of people across India, there is no need to go to India for anything but the most extreme of reasons now,” he said. “I can’t think of many . “Perhaps someone that had an infant child that needed to be picked up from a relative or something, that might be one. If you had to go there for some kind of life-saving surgery, I think that could be another. “But going there to play cricket, go to a funeral, go to a wedding or get married, they are not reasons you should be going to India at this point in time.”

—

heartless bastard, he’d be singing a different woke communist tune if it was a same-sex marriage YES wouldn’t he

jokes we thought marriage was a fucking obsolete / obsolete fucking institution anyway

Time for some dedicated donga camps as quarantine stations. I suggest motor racing circuits around the country be commandeered for this purpose.

Michael V said:

Interesting.

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/04/21/covid-19-new-variants-known-unknowns/

New variants: what are they, where do they come from, and what might they do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOYZaiDZ7BM

Australia pauses all flights from India.

sibeen said:

Australia pauses all flights from India.

Can sort of understand why. But it would suck to be an Aussie stuck in India right now and not able to get out.

sibeen said:

Australia pauses all flights from India.

Midair?

dv said:

sibeen said:

Australia pauses all flights from India.

Midair?

yes they need the oxygen

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

sibeen said:

Australia pauses all flights from India.

Midair?

yes they need the oxygen

Like they did in Childhoods End

Cymek said:

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

Midair?

yes they need the oxygen

Like they did in Childhoods End

never watched it

SCIENCE said:

Cymek said:

SCIENCE said:

yes they need the oxygen

Like they did in Childhoods End

never watched it

The aliens paused planes mid air

Cymek said:

SCIENCE said:

Cymek said:

Like they did in Childhoods End

never watched it

The aliens paused planes mid air

https://youtu.be/H-0RHqDWcJE?t=123

“Covid-19: What do we know about airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2?”

https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1030

Michael V said:

“Covid-19: What do we know about airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2?”

https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1030

Here you go MV…Cochrane review the research. Lots of reading if you want it.

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/covid-19

we point out that unfortunately alongside the große disinformation campaign there have been presumably ego driven academic mêlées with polarised opinion and camps dug into trenches so readers are advised to follow chains of evidence carefully because depending on which direction you set off in you can end up in some very strange places

buffy said:

Michael V said:

“Covid-19: What do we know about airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2?”

https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1030

Here you go MV…Cochrane review the research. Lots of reading if you want it.

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/covid-19

Thanks.

a concerning read about these flights from India via KUL, please excuse the Twitter hyperlinkage

https://twitter.com/s_sayner/status/1386709029007753216

(full thread at link; sample below)

Ontario apparently where green downward arrows are school closures

Unspecified

Holland apparently where green arrows are school closures and red arrows are school declosures

More smoke and mirrors.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-27/wa-hotel-quarantine-report-warned-of-dangers-a-month-ago/100098824

As you all well know (apologies) we’ve been advocating for proper quarantine facilities for more than half a year. But don’t worry, it’s WA’s fault because they had a report a few weeks ago.

As they say, the best time to fix this problem was 12 months ago. The next best time is now.

Gold Standard Shows The Cards

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says people do not need to rush to get a COVID-19 vaccine, conceding there is angst in some groups amid changes to advice about the AstraZeneca shot.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/no-rush-berejiklian-says-there-is-no-urgency-to-get-covid-19-vaccine-20210427-p57mun.html

Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly stressed the need to expedite the rollout of vaccinations, warning NSW could not return to a pre-COVID life until as many people as possible had been vaccinated. The Premier, who was in the electorate of Upper Hunter ahead of next month’s crucial byelection, said she acknowledged there were concerns about the vaccine, especially in regional NSW.

—

so 3 things then

a soft touch for the byelection hey

either we’re locking in a slower flinging open of doors and a delayed letting it rip, overall a safer way, good

or they know something we don’t about the plans to fling open doors and let it rip For The Economy Must Grow so they can afford to be careless with vaccines and the plans will go blindly ahead regardless

TIL Russia’s vaccine is called Sputnik V. When 5G isn’t enough and you need a freakin spacecraft in your arm.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-28/australians-vaccinated-in-china-sinopharm-sinovac-covid/100098816

Mr Desai, his wife Krimija and his parents don’t feel safe in the country and desperately want to return to their home in Sydney. Yesterday the country recorded more than 323,000 new infections and 2,771 deaths. “Everybody here wants to go back home because it’s very bad up here in India,” he said. Mr Desai is one of around 9,000 Australians in India who want to come home, with 650 of those considered vulnerable.

did they not / was it not, before

ABC News:

‘Millions of Americans can ditch face masks as CDC eases guidelines’

So will the ‘my body, my choice’ mob now take to insisting that they can’t be told to not wear facemasks, and insist on wearing them in defiance of the gubmint’s advice to the ‘sheeple’?

A Visual Guide to the New Coronavirus Variants 7 min video.

Toilet flushing can create infectious aerosols even when lid is closed

An experimental study has quantified the volume of aerosol particles generated by flushing toilets in a public restroom. The real-world research suggests even with lids closed flushing toilets can increase levels of ambient aerosol particles, heightening the risk of airborne disease transmission in poorly ventilated public spaces.

more…

I remember talking about this years ago.

and people poo pooed the idea.

What is an N95 Mask? The Right Mask, For The Right Situation

The key difference between masks is what they’re supposed to do and what your needs are. If you have no respiratory problems and live in an area with low levels of pollution, for example, the focus is on protecting others. A simple cloth mask blocks and captures respiratory droplets when you speak, sneeze, and breathe, and can be washed and reused. They’re not generally effective at blocking pollutants or airborne germs from others, so these masks only work for public health when everyone wears them.

more…

Tau.Neutrino said:

Toilet flushing can create infectious aerosols even when lid is closed

An experimental study has quantified the volume of aerosol particles generated by flushing toilets in a public restroom. The real-world research suggests even with lids closed flushing toilets can increase levels of ambient aerosol particles, heightening the risk of airborne disease transmission in poorly ventilated public spaces.

more…

I remember talking about this years ago.

and people poo pooed the idea.

So what you’re saying is wear a mask and wash your hands thoroughly ?

party_pants said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Toilet flushing can create infectious aerosols even when lid is closed

An experimental study has quantified the volume of aerosol particles generated by flushing toilets in a public restroom. The real-world research suggests even with lids closed flushing toilets can increase levels of ambient aerosol particles, heightening the risk of airborne disease transmission in poorly ventilated public spaces.

more…

I remember talking about this years ago.

and people poo pooed the idea.

So what you’re saying is wear a mask and wash your hands thoroughly ?

Yep wear a mask while in the looo in an apartment buildings…cruise ships….hotels….

In 2003, during the peak of Hong Kong’s SARS outbreak, 321 cases rapidly appeared in a single housing estate. Comprehensive investigations of the outbreak ultimately homed in on the primary case, a man visiting one of the apartment blocks.

On the day the man was visiting he had diarrhea and used a toilet in one of the apartments. Tracking subsequent cases, the investigation discovered the most likely route of viral transmission to other residents was via aerosolized particles discharged into sewage pipes.

Not many people are understanding the aerosol covid connection.

Not many people are getting the aerosol sewage connection.

There is air in toilets, and air in sewage pipes.

Tau.Neutrino said:

party_pants said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Toilet flushing can create infectious aerosols even when lid is closed

An experimental study has quantified the volume of aerosol particles generated by flushing toilets in a public restroom. The real-world research suggests even with lids closed flushing toilets can increase levels of ambient aerosol particles, heightening the risk of airborne disease transmission in poorly ventilated public spaces.

more…

I remember talking about this years ago.

and people poo pooed the idea.

So what you’re saying is wear a mask and wash your hands thoroughly ?

Yep wear a mask while in the looo in an apartment buildings…cruise ships….hotels….

In 2003, during the peak of Hong Kong’s SARS outbreak, 321 cases rapidly appeared in a single housing estate. Comprehensive investigations of the outbreak ultimately homed in on the primary case, a man visiting one of the apartment blocks.

On the day the man was visiting he had diarrhea and used a toilet in one of the apartments. Tracking subsequent cases, the investigation discovered the most likely route of viral transmission to other residents was via aerosolized particles discharged into sewage pipes.

Not many people are understanding the aerosol covid connection.

Not many people are getting the aerosol sewage connection.

There is air in toilets, and air in sewage pipes.

If 321 people can get COVID from one toilet.

How do you isolate a positive case from the rest?

Would it be possible to redesign a toilet so no air feeds back?

Tau.Neutrino said:

Would it be possible to redesign a toilet so no air feeds back?

Yes.

In other news, Boris Johnson is alleged to have said “let the bodies pile up in their thousands” during an argument over imposing a second lockdown in the UK back in September or October last year.

If 321 people got COVID from one toilet then this would also happen in toilets that are in hotels and motels.

Tau.Neutrino said:

If 321 people got COVID from one toilet then this would also happen in toilets that are in hotels and motels.

Quarantine centres would need redesigned toilets.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

If 321 people got COVID from one toilet then this would also happen in toilets that are in hotels and motels.

Quarantine centres would need redesigned toilets.

I wonder how long it will take for this to happen?

so Covid centres need toilets where no air feeds back.

Are there any toilets around like that?

Tau.Neutrino said:

so Covid centres need toilets where no air feeds back.

Are there any toilets around like that?

have you heard of this thing called a dendrite

Tau.Neutrino said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

party_pants said:

So what you’re saying is wear a mask and wash your hands thoroughly ?

Yep wear a mask while in the looo in an apartment buildings…cruise ships….hotels….

In 2003, during the peak of Hong Kong’s SARS outbreak, 321 cases rapidly appeared in a single housing estate. Comprehensive investigations of the outbreak ultimately homed in on the primary case, a man visiting one of the apartment blocks.

On the day the man was visiting he had diarrhea and used a toilet in one of the apartments. Tracking subsequent cases, the investigation discovered the most likely route of viral transmission to other residents was via aerosolized particles discharged into sewage pipes.

Not many people are understanding the aerosol covid connection.

Not many people are getting the aerosol sewage connection.

There is air in toilets, and air in sewage pipes.

If 321 people can get COVID from one toilet.

How do you isolate a positive case from the rest?

Speaking of cruise ships this is really quite a surprise, not the toilets spread infection bit, but the OMG Wut Toilets Spread Infection ¿¡ bit,and especially the cruise ships and COVID-19 should be fine bit, and they don’t even mention norovirus…

It was a benchmark, of sorts. Once the jobless rate fell comfortably below 6 per cent, some level of budget repair would kick back in.

Six months later, it turns out the economic recovery has taken hold much sooner than Treasury anticipated.

Unemployment has already fallen to 5.6 per cent and while it will almost certainly bounce higher thanks to last month’s withdrawal of JobKeeper, most economists are confident it will continue to fall. This is unquestionably good news.

But it also creates a political conundrum. Budget repair wasn’t meant to commence for several years. With an election due in 12 months, now is not an ideal time for a “deliberate shift” to snapping the wallet shut.

—

LOLwellFK

imagine if you listened to the experts when they told you that zero COVID-19 and good pandemic control would actually give you a V-shaped recovery, WTF eh

oh wait was that a J-shaped recovery, damn

ChrispenEvan said:

SCIENCE said:

It was a benchmark, of sorts. Once the jobless rate fell comfortably below 6 per cent, some level of budget repair would kick back in.

Six months later, it turns out the economic recovery has taken hold much sooner than Treasury anticipated.

Unemployment has already fallen to 5.6 per cent and while it will almost certainly bounce higher thanks to last month’s withdrawal of JobKeeper, most economists are confident it will continue to fall. This is unquestionably good news.

But it also creates a political conundrum. Budget repair wasn’t meant to commence for several years. With an election due in 12 months, now is not an ideal time for a “deliberate shift” to snapping the wallet shut.

—

LOLwellFK

imagine if you listened to the experts when they told you that zero COVID-19 and good pandemic control would actually give you a V-shaped recovery, WTF eh

oh wait was that a GOD-shaped recovery, damn

QED

Now That CHINA Has Solved The Overpopulation Problem In The Developing World, Who Will The Tories Be Able To Blame In 2022 ¿

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/india-brazil-us-turkey-mexico-covid-19-death-toll/100100020

The United States remains the country with the most cases and deaths from COVID-19, at more than 32 million and 574,000 respectively.

The death toll is also rising rapidly, with India’s health ministry reporting a record 3,293 further deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the country’s total to more than 200,000. University of Queensland virologist Ian Mackay said further deaths would inevitably follow the surge in cases, and it “will be massive”. Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton weighed in on Twitter, writing that rather than the 350,000 daily cases that had been reported earlier this week, “the true daily figure is probably over two million”. “

I can’t conceive of how hard it would be to track those cases, those illnesses, the spread… you couldn’t do contact tracing under those conditions.” Dr Mackay said action taken to eliminate the virus in Australia wouldn’t work in a country like India. “When numbers are that high, everything gets thrown out the window and just becomes a game of trying to protect your population from further death. “Right now, India should probably be focusing on vaccinating its own people as much as it can.” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/india-covid-mass-vaccination-drive-pune-new-delhi/100103002

But behind the US, Brazil leads the world in deaths due to COVID-19. On Tuesday, the country’s health minister reported 3,086 further deaths, bringing the total to more than 395,000.

Dr Mackay said while Brazil’s variant strain of COVID-19 will have played a role in spreading the virus, but he cautioned blaming the variant for the high case numbers. “It’s not always just about the variant, it’s happening because of the way the public health measures are in place to prevent spread of any variant of self-care.”

France is in its third national lockdown after a spike in deaths and case numbers.

Turkey went into a full lockdown this week and residents are expected to remain under stay at home orders until at least May 17 to curb its pike in deaths and infections.

In Mexico, the government says the country’s death toll is likely 60 per cent higher than the confirmed figure after updated figures were published by the Health Ministry.

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

Brazil is still worse.

Arts said:

I haven’t caught up with the real news for a while… are the Olympics still going to go ahead?

sure, they’ll be prioritised ahead of adults aged 50 years and over, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged 18-49 years, and other critical and high risk workers

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-27/australian-olympians-tokyo-olympics-to-be-given-covid-vaccine/100099222

couple of months so there’s still time but unless they pull off a Dictator Dan it’s going to be silly

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/18/958120783/about-80-of-japanese-think-olympic-games-should-be-canceled-or-postponed-poll-sh
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1104918/poll-shows-japanese-public-against-games
https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/tokyo-olympics-72-percent-of-japanese-polled-want-the-games-canceled-or-postponed-over-slow-vaccine-rollout/

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

Brazil is still worse.

Yeah Brazil is way worse at the moment.

SCIENCE said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-27/hotel-quarantine-covid-wa-scott-morrison/100098318

remember, this Marketing moron is still lying like a cow

“If I was to tell you that would achieve a 99.99 per cent success rate, you wouldn’t have believed me. No-one in this country would have believed me. I would have found that hard to believe.”

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

But will it will have covid proof bathrooms?

or lets spread covid around via faecal aerosol transmission via leaky air toilets.

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

But will it will have covid proof bathrooms?

or lets spread covid around via faecal aerosol transmission via leaky air toilets.

Outside facilities with a large fan to blow the infection away.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

Brazil is still worse.

Yeah Brazil is way worse at the moment.

Not worse enough to use Sputnik V

Interestingly, this article was originally headlined to make VICTORIA and DICTATOR DAN (oh sorry he’s off sick like poor Laming and cronies, we mean whoever that guy in charge is) look bad, for their health system giving conflicting advice as an evolving situation evolves, but now they’ve tried to soften it and hide it behind the happy celebrations of pet quarantine.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-28/victoria-health-department-mixed-messages-perth-coronavirus/100101158

Videre licet “victoria-health-department-mixed-messages-perth-coronavirus” versus “Pet facility set to be the site of a new quarantine hub in Melbourne’s north”.

Tamb said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

But will it will have covid proof bathrooms?

or lets spread covid around via faecal aerosol transmission via leaky air toilets.

Outside facilities with a large fan to blow the infection away.

poikilotherm said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

Brazil is still worse.

Yeah Brazil is way worse at the moment.

Not worse enough to use Sputnik V

New Mathematics or New Math was a dramatic change in the way mathematics was taught in American grade schools, and to a lesser extent in European countries and elsewhere, during the 1950s–1970s. Curriculum topics and teaching practices were changed in the U.S. shortly after the Sputnik crisis. The goal was to boost students’ science education and mathematical skill to meet the technological threat of Soviet engineers, reputedly highly skilled mathematicians.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Tamb said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

But will it will have covid proof bathrooms?

or lets spread covid around via faecal aerosol transmission via leaky air toilets.

Outside facilities with a large fan to blow the infection away.

LOL … excellent point, they’re not just Good For The Environment, they’ll save us from disease as well

COVID-19, Is There Any Planet It Can’t Heal

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Will it have leaky air toilets?

Tau.Neutrino said:

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Will it have leaky air toilets?

No.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/28/crime-against-humanity-arundhati-roy-india-covid-catastrophe

A chilling and sickening read.

Tau.Neutrino said:

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Will it have leaky air toilets?

Fixation?

sibeen said:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/28/crime-against-humanity-arundhati-roy-india-covid-catastrophe

A chilling and sickening read.

You normally say that about any Guardian article.

Michael V said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

party_pants said:

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Will it have leaky air toilets?

Fixation?

With Scott Morrison in charge, the detainees will be limited to one shit per day, just like when he was in charge of stopping the boats.

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

They seem to have phenomenal testing abilities to get the numbers. Or are they relying on symptoms. I mean, given they don’t have such good hospital/treatment facilities, it seems a bit strange that they can test so many people.

buffy said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

They seem to have phenomenal testing abilities to get the numbers. Or are they relying on symptoms. I mean, given they don’t have such good hospital/treatment facilities, it seems a bit strange that they can test so many people.

With 40% test positivity we suggest they aren’t getting the numbers.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton weighed in on Twitter, writing that rather than the 350,000 daily cases that had been reported earlier this week, “the true daily figure is probably over two million”.

sibeen said:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/28/crime-against-humanity-arundhati-roy-india-covid-catastrophe

A chilling and sickening read.

Wow.

(Wonder if this will be inspiration for her next novel?)

buffy said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

They seem to have phenomenal testing abilities to get the numbers. Or are they relying on symptoms. I mean, given they don’t have such good hospital/treatment facilities, it seems a bit strange that they can test so many people.

The article I just linked to seems to suggest that the actual number of cases and deaths far exceed the official numbers.

SCIENCE said:

buffy said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

They seem to have phenomenal testing abilities to get the numbers. Or are they relying on symptoms. I mean, given they don’t have such good hospital/treatment facilities, it seems a bit strange that they can test so many people.

With 40% test positivity we suggest they aren’t getting the numbers.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton weighed in on Twitter, writing that rather than the 350,000 daily cases that had been reported earlier this week, “the true daily figure is probably over two million”.

Either way I imagine it could spread through the entire population

SCIENCE said:

buffy said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

They seem to have phenomenal testing abilities to get the numbers. Or are they relying on symptoms. I mean, given they don’t have such good hospital/treatment facilities, it seems a bit strange that they can test so many people.

With 40% test positivity we suggest they aren’t getting the numbers.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton weighed in on Twitter, writing that rather than the 350,000 daily cases that had been reported earlier this week, “the true daily figure is probably over two million”.

Reasonable conclusion.

sibeen said:

buffy said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

India’s new cases/day are showing some signs of flattening, so that’s something I suppose.

They seem to have phenomenal testing abilities to get the numbers. Or are they relying on symptoms. I mean, given they don’t have such good hospital/treatment facilities, it seems a bit strange that they can test so many people.

The article I just linked to seems to suggest that the actual number of cases and deaths far exceed the official numbers.

Herd immunity in no time.

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Mickleham is near Tullamarine. About 5 to 10 minutes away.

Michael V said:

SCIENCE said:

buffy said:

They seem to have phenomenal testing abilities to get the numbers. Or are they relying on symptoms. I mean, given they don’t have such good hospital/treatment facilities, it seems a bit strange that they can test so many people.

With 40% test positivity we suggest they aren’t getting the numbers.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton weighed in on Twitter, writing that rather than the 350,000 daily cases that had been reported earlier this week, “the true daily figure is probably over two million”.

Reasonable conclusion.

Well yes, but even the numbers being reported suggest an huge amount of testing being done in a very poor country.

buffy said:

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Mickleham is near Tullamarine. About 5 to 10 minutes away.

They say it will be designed to be almost 100% safe, or at least 99.9% they say.

buffy said:

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Mickleham is near Tullamarine. About 5 to 10 minutes away.

Indeed, all good points, plus remote is not going to be good for saving lives if they do get sick. We resolve to temper our extreme positions on remoteness. “Not in high density areas” is better.

Peak Warming Man said:

buffy said:

party_pants said:

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Mickleham is near Tullamarine. About 5 to 10 minutes away.

They say it will be designed to be almost 100% safe, or at least 99.9% they say.

so at least 10 times better than hotels

Field Hospital Hotel in Canada

SCIENCE said:

Peak Warming Man said:

buffy said:

Mickleham is near Tullamarine. About 5 to 10 minutes away.

They say it will be designed to be almost 100% safe, or at least 99.9% they say.

so at least 10 times better than hotels

Almost exactly the same.

Peak Warming Man said:

SCIENCE said:

Peak Warming Man said:

They say it will be designed to be almost 100% safe, or at least 99.9% they say.

so at least 10 times better than hotels

Almost exactly the same.

ah another engineer

poikilotherm said:

sibeen said:

buffy said:

They seem to have phenomenal testing abilities to get the numbers. Or are they relying on symptoms. I mean, given they don’t have such good hospital/treatment facilities, it seems a bit strange that they can test so many people.

The article I just linked to seems to suggest that the actual number of cases and deaths far exceed the official numbers.

Herd immunity in no time.

buffy said:

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

Victoria identifies site of purpose-built quarantine facility, wants Commonwealth to fund construction

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/victoria-identfies-melbourne-site-for-quarantine-facility/100103308

The Victorian government has confirmed it has chosen an existing quarantine site in Melbourne’s north for a 500-bed quarantine hub for returned travellers. The facility will be built next to an existing pet quarantine site in Mickleham, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

—

OK we agree it probably doesn’t have to be “remote”, but not sure if 500 is really adequate. Hey, it’s a start.

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Mickleham is near Tullamarine. About 5 to 10 minutes away.

Sounds ideal IMHO.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/world/asia/india-covid19-variant.html

Doctors, the public and the media point to anecdotal evidence of infections even among the vaccinated. Scientists say the data is too thin and cite other reasons behind the country’s second wave.

At Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, a huge facility in the middle of India’s capital, 37 fully vaccinated doctors came down with Covid-19 earlier this month. The infections left most with mild symptoms, but it added to their growing fears that the virus behind India’s catastrophic second wave is different. They wonder if a more contagious variant that dodges the immune system could be fueling the epidemic inside the world’s hardest-hit nation.

Officials in India are trying to track how many fully vaccinated people have fallen ill, a measure called the breakthrough infection rate. That could suggest how virulent any variant in India might be. They have focused on frontline medical workers, who are more likely to have received both doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. So far, data from the Indian Council of Medical Research up to April 21 shows an extremely low breakthrough infection rate, though perhaps not as low as that of the United States. The data shows 0.02 percent to 0.04 percent of vaccinated people falling ill. The rate in the United States, which relies on different vaccines, is 0.008 percent.

Yeah nah I never heard of Mr Bridgetown either until ABC Classic brought this to my attention. Seems like it could be a good movie.

Then ABC Classic played a violin version of Ariana Grande’s “Thank You Next”… I didn’t like it.

dv said:

Then ABC Classic played a violin version of Ariana Grande’s “Thank You Next”… I didn’t like it.

Peak Warming Man said:

buffy said:

party_pants said:

Remote is a bad idea. It needs to be within reasonable distance of the airport by bus, and near enough to the major city hospitals and medical specialists to deal with any cases that might pop up. Being remote and requiring access by air isn’t going to work well.

Mickleham is near Tullamarine. About 5 to 10 minutes away.

They say it will be designed to be almost 100% safe, or at least 99.9% they say.

That should be good enough for ScoMo.

from a while back but just for awareness of the Manhattan we’re up against

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/02/16/australia-shows-that-zero-covid-doesnt-work/

(alternative / mirror)

Australia shows that Zero Covid doesn’t work

Victoria has been locked down, yet again, in response to a tiny cluster of cases.

It must be tempting, from overseas, to see Australia as the country that defeated Covid-19. A land where the suffering of 2020 was worth it, allowing Australians to be free of the restrictions crippling Britain. Wrong. There has been no victory, and the fear of lockdown permanently hangs over our heads.

https://ipa.org.au/author/jamesbolt
James Bolt is the Manager of Audio & Online Content for the Institute of Public Affairs.

we’d LOL but disinformation is serious bad shit

Divine Angel said:

dv said:

Then ABC Classic played a violin version of Ariana Grande’s “Thank You Next”… I didn’t like it.

Wrong thread, sorry

SCIENCE said:

from a while back but just for awareness of the Manhattan we’re up against

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/02/16/australia-shows-that-zero-covid-doesnt-work/

(alternative / mirror)

Australia shows that Zero Covid doesn’t work

Victoria has been locked down, yet again, in response to a tiny cluster of cases.

It must be tempting, from overseas, to see Australia as the country that defeated Covid-19. A land where the suffering of 2020 was worth it, allowing Australians to be free of the restrictions crippling Britain. Wrong. There has been no victory, and the fear of lockdown permanently hangs over our heads.

https://ipa.org.au/author/jamesbolt
James Bolt is the Manager of Audio & Online Content for the Institute of Public Affairs.

we’d LOL but disinformation is serious bad shit

Yes, yes it is.

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration urges calm about the death of two men after they received COVID vaccines, saying while investigations into both deaths are ongoing, the current evidence doesn’t suggest a likely association

roughbarked said:

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration urges calm about the death of two men after they received COVID vaccines, saying while investigations into both deaths are ongoing, the current evidence doesn’t suggest a likely association

impressive, it’s the same junk lines that get trotted out each time, before “further investigation” “confirms” a link, say it enough times with enough conviction or hope and it must be true

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has urged calm about the death of two men after they received COVID vaccines, saying while investigations into both deaths are ongoing, the current evidence “doesn’t suggest a likely association”. He said both patients had “various clotting disorders” and it was believed they both received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We do have to remember that, sadly, every week in Australia, 3,000 people die of all sorts of causes,” he said. “We also have to remember that in reporting cases of people presenting in hospitals with clots or to their GP, 50 Australians each day report to hospitals with serious blood clots.”

He sought once again to ask people not to jump to conclusions given the extremely rare nature of the blood clots associated with the vaccine.

—

“Versus the situation that unless we decide to live in a country that will never open our borders, unless we decide to never return to our normal activities, the vaccine still remains — along with other measures — the best way out of this pandemic.”

—

and oh so now that they’re pushing corruption grants driven vaccines, it’s about ending a pandemic so that relative normality can be restored

funny that wasn’t the clear message about ending the pandemic so that relative normality can be restored, early last year, before things got ridiculous worldwide

SCIENCE said:

roughbarked said:

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration urges calm about the death of two men after they received COVID vaccines, saying while investigations into both deaths are ongoing, the current evidence doesn’t suggest a likely association

impressive, it’s the same junk lines that get trotted out each time, before “further investigation” “confirms” a link, say it enough times with enough conviction or hope and it must be true

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has urged calm about the death of two men after they received COVID vaccines, saying while investigations into both deaths are ongoing, the current evidence “doesn’t suggest a likely association”. He said both patients had “various clotting disorders” and it was believed they both received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We do have to remember that, sadly, every week in Australia, 3,000 people die of all sorts of causes,” he said. “We also have to remember that in reporting cases of people presenting in hospitals with clots or to their GP, 50 Australians each day report to hospitals with serious blood clots.”

He sought once again to ask people not to jump to conclusions given the extremely rare nature of the blood clots associated with the vaccine.

—

“Versus the situation that unless we decide to live in a country that will never open our borders, unless we decide to never return to our normal activities, the vaccine still remains — along with other measures — the best way out of this pandemic.”

—

and oh so now that they’re pushing corruption grants driven vaccines, it’s about ending a pandemic so that relative normality can be restored

funny that wasn’t the clear message about ending the pandemic so that relative normality can be restored, early last year, before things got ridiculous worldwide

Covid could be the start of recurring progressively deadlier viruses especially with the world warming up, not only could it release frozen stuff it may alter evolutionary rates

Cymek said:

Covid could be the start of recurring progressively deadlier viruses especially with the world warming up, not only could it release frozen stuff it may alter evolutionary rates

probably not so much we would suspect

SCIENCE said:

Cymek said:

Covid could be the start of recurring progressively deadlier viruses especially with the world warming up, not only could it release frozen stuff it may alter evolutionary rates

probably not so much we would suspect

Maybe just pondering, the worry is getting complacent and some other zoonotic disease comes along that is more deadly

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.27.441510v1.full.pdf

Two passengers who arrived from coronavirus-hit Papua New Guinea were accidentally allowed into the departures area of Brisbane’s international airport this morning, the airport’s operators say.

“At approximately 9:30am, two transit passengers arrived on a ‘red’ flight from Port Moresby and proceeded through screening to transit as per normal process,” a BAC statement said. “The breach is due to human error, and BAC is currently working with all relevant authorities including Queensland Health to investigate the circumstances of the breach.”

Currently all overseas arrivals except for those from New Zealand must stay in ‘red zone’ areas of the airport. While in the green zone, the BAC said the passengers accessed a shop and used a public toilet between 9:55am and 11:20am. During the period the ‘red’ passengers were in the ‘green’ zone, three flights to New Zealand departed, taking approximately 390 passengers.

India covid. Last week India’s rate of covid deaths was less that the world average for all countries, a third of that of the USA and less than a fortieth of some eastern European countries. Let’s see what it’s like this week.

The covid mortality rate in India is very low.
(You’ve noticed that news reports on India concentrate on the number of cases, ignoring the number of people recovering).

Covid deaths per week in India have increased by a factor of 3.4 in the last 2 weeks. Bad news.
Compare the situation there now compared with other countries.

India is now ranked the 62nd worst country for covid in the world by deaths per million population.
USA is ranked 60th worst.
Brazil is ranked 8th worst.

Hungary is still worst, followed in turn by Uruguay, Bosnia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Paraguay, Poland, Brazil, etc.

Good news for Lebanon!
Last week Lebanon was 3rd worst in the world, this week it is 34th worst!
This is the result in a drop in weekly death rate in just one week from 1,346 per M population/week to 197 per M population/week

Australia flu is worse than this time last year.

Victoria’s Health Department is urging hundreds of Victorians to get coronavirus tests after “strong and unexpected” COVID-19 fragments were found in the state’s wastewater.

Authorities have contacted 246 people in Melbourne’s western and north-western suburbs to get COVID-19 tests “as a precaution”.

“This additional action is being taken due to the strength of the wastewater detection and because a known positive COVID-19 case, from flight QF778, has been in Victoria in the past 14 days,” the department said in a statement late Thursday afternoon.

A traveller, who unwittingly entered a common area of the Brisbane International Airport yesterday after arriving on a flight from Papua New Guinea, has tested positive to coronavirus. The traveller and one other passenger had been in transit on a flight from Port Moresby, a coronavirus hotspot, and were accidently allowed into the “green zone” at the departures terminal on Thursday morning. For an hour-and-a-half the pair shopped and used public toilets before being retrieved.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/coronavirus-covid-qld-brisbane-airport-positive-traveller-png/100092508

Fuck.

Really can’t afford these mistakes. Really.

That’s why for once we agree with the politicians here.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/emotional-q-a-hears-of-indias-covid-crisis-australia-flight-ban/100105856

Farida Alvi shared the story of losing her brother, who was a doctor tending to homeless people. She said the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in denial about the severity of the nation’s COVID crisis and repeated claims they had blocked people from speaking out about the issues on social media. Ms Alvi then asked why the Australian government was blocking direct flights from India until May 15 rather than doing more to bring Australian citizens home.

Panellist Parnell Palme McGuinness, a communications specialist, ripped into the government decision despite the “double mutant” Indian strain of COVID-19 possibly being more virulent than others. “I think we need to bring people home as quickly as we can. I think it’s so important for the Australian government to say these are our residents, these are our citizens … they are in trouble and we need to help them come home. “This is a decision about cutting off flights, which is just unconscionable. They are flying supplies to make vaccine and provide oxygen to India. And the planes are coming back empty.

No, we need to bring them home as SAFELY as we can.

SCIENCE said:

A traveller, who unwittingly entered a common area of the Brisbane International Airport yesterday after arriving on a flight from Papua New Guinea, has tested positive to coronavirus. The traveller and one other passenger had been in transit on a flight from Port Moresby, a coronavirus hotspot, and were accidently allowed into the “green zone” at the departures terminal on Thursday morning. For an hour-and-a-half the pair shopped and used public toilets before being retrieved.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/coronavirus-covid-qld-brisbane-airport-positive-traveller-png/100092508

Fuck.

Really can’t afford these mistakes. Really.

That’s why for once we agree with the politicians here.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/emotional-q-a-hears-of-indias-covid-crisis-australia-flight-ban/100105856

Farida Alvi shared the story of losing her brother, who was a doctor tending to homeless people. She said the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in denial about the severity of the nation’s COVID crisis and repeated claims they had blocked people from speaking out about the issues on social media. Ms Alvi then asked why the Australian government was blocking direct flights from India until May 15 rather than doing more to bring Australian citizens home.

Panellist Parnell Palme McGuinness, a communications specialist, ripped into the government decision despite the “double mutant” Indian strain of COVID-19 possibly being more virulent than others. “I think we need to bring people home as quickly as we can. I think it’s so important for the Australian government to say these are our residents, these are our citizens … they are in trouble and we need to help them come home. “This is a decision about cutting off flights, which is just unconscionable. They are flying supplies to make vaccine and provide oxygen to India. And the planes are coming back empty.

No, we need to bring them home as SAFELY as we can.

Large donga-based camps with access to quality medical facilities would have been so easy to achieve in the last 12 months.

A missed opportunity.

(Sigh.)

Michael V said:

SCIENCE said:

A traveller, who unwittingly entered a common area of the Brisbane International Airport yesterday after arriving on a flight from Papua New Guinea, has tested positive to coronavirus. The traveller and one other passenger had been in transit on a flight from Port Moresby, a coronavirus hotspot, and were accidently allowed into the “green zone” at the departures terminal on Thursday morning. For an hour-and-a-half the pair shopped and used public toilets before being retrieved.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/coronavirus-covid-qld-brisbane-airport-positive-traveller-png/100092508

Fuck.

Really can’t afford these mistakes. Really.

That’s why for once we agree with the politicians here.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/emotional-q-a-hears-of-indias-covid-crisis-australia-flight-ban/100105856

Large donga-based camps with access to quality medical facilities would have been so easy to achieve in the last 12 months.

A missed opportunity.

(Sigh.)

Indeed, large safe quarantine facilities would have enabled larger numbers of returns and resolution of much of the problem earlier.

It’s not like some half-developing country can’t throw together 3000 beds of hospital in 10 days. You’d think living space like demountables / donga without having to wire up all the life support systems would be easier than that.

“The reality is 13 months ago we had a historic grouping of premiers and the Commonwealth coming together as one nation to actually deal with the pandemic. “And in March last year, they all made a decision … that the state governments would take control of the quarantine system in this country. They made that as a collective.”

So they acknowledge that there should have been ample time to assess and revise and improve procedures dealing with a pandemic that clearly is evolving.

Also just for context to confirm the perspective that the quoted opinion is sourced from.

Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern B.1.1.7, B.1.351 or P.1

https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.16.2100348

A larger proportion of VOC cases were admitted to hospital (B.1.1.7/SGTF 11.0%; B.1.351 19.3%, and P.1 20.0%; p < 0.001 for all VOC) and ICU (B.1.1.7/SGTF 1.4%, p = 0.002; B.1.351 2.3%, p = 0.001 and P.1 2.1%, p = 0.005) compared with non-VOC cases (7.5%, hospitalised and 0.6% requiring ICU; Table 1, Supplement A, Figure S6).

So, excellent news, once you’ve had your first wave, you can get that second, more deadly wave¡

—

Post-acute COVID-19 outcomes in children

https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2352-4642%2821%2900124-3

We followed children (aged ≤18 years) at a dedicated COVID-19 follow-up clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne, Australia, between March 21, 2020 and March 17, 2021. Children who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the RCH or externally between March 21 and Oct 28, 2020, were referred to this clinic.

12 (8%) children had post-acute COVID-19 symptoms, all of whom were symptomatic with acute COVID-19 (table). The most common post-acute COVID-19 symptoms were mild post-viral cough (six of 151 children), fatigue (three children) or both post-viral cough and fatigue (one child). The duration of post-viral cough ranged from 3 weeks to 8 weeks and of post-viral fatigue ranged from 6 weeks to 8 weeks from the time of symptom onset. At the most recent review in March, 2021, all 151 children had returned to their baseline health status and post-acute COVID-19 symptoms had resolved.

This news is slightly more reassuring, but because we got things under control in Australia, we had only 12 “long-COVID” cases in children, so it might well not have included cases where they take even longer to return to their baseline health status.

SCIENCE said:

Michael V said:

SCIENCE said:

A traveller, who unwittingly entered a common area of the Brisbane International Airport yesterday after arriving on a flight from Papua New Guinea, has tested positive to coronavirus. The traveller and one other passenger had been in transit on a flight from Port Moresby, a coronavirus hotspot, and were accidently allowed into the “green zone” at the departures terminal on Thursday morning. For an hour-and-a-half the pair shopped and used public toilets before being retrieved.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/coronavirus-covid-qld-brisbane-airport-positive-traveller-png/100092508

Fuck.

Really can’t afford these mistakes. Really.

That’s why for once we agree with the politicians here.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/emotional-q-a-hears-of-indias-covid-crisis-australia-flight-ban/100105856

Large donga-based camps with access to quality medical facilities would have been so easy to achieve in the last 12 months.

A missed opportunity.

(Sigh.)

Indeed, large safe quarantine facilities would have enabled larger numbers of returns and resolution of much of the problem earlier.

It’s not like some half-developing country can’t throw together 3000 beds of hospital in 10 days. You’d think living space like demountables / donga without having to wire up all the life support systems would be easier than that.

“The reality is 13 months ago we had a historic grouping of premiers and the Commonwealth coming together as one nation to actually deal with the pandemic. “And in March last year, they all made a decision … that the state governments would take control of the quarantine system in this country. They made that as a collective.”

So they acknowledge that there should have been ample time to assess and revise and improve procedures dealing with a pandemic that clearly is evolving.

And it’s not like they don’t have the experience of spending hundreds of millions of dollars erecting and running camps to “protect Australia” (from refugees). And they were done on remote islands.

And the mining industry has lots of experience doing this, too. I’ve watched a 2,500 room camp laid out, paths made, high-quality single-story dongas (each with verandahs) installed and landscaped in 8 weeks. I’ve seen a portable 400-person camp installed and running in just three days – including kitchen-dining facilities, raised timber walkways and an integrated sewerage system.

Michael V said:

SCIENCE said:

Michael V said:

Large donga-based camps with access to quality medical facilities would have been so easy to achieve in the last 12 months.

A missed opportunity.

(Sigh.)

Indeed, large safe quarantine facilities would have enabled larger numbers of returns and resolution of much of the problem earlier.

It’s not like some half-developing country can’t throw together 3000 beds of hospital in 10 days. You’d think living space like demountables / donga without having to wire up all the life support systems would be easier than that.

“The reality is 13 months ago we had a historic grouping of premiers and the Commonwealth coming together as one nation to actually deal with the pandemic. “And in March last year, they all made a decision … that the state governments would take control of the quarantine system in this country. They made that as a collective.”

So they acknowledge that there should have been ample time to assess and revise and improve procedures dealing with a pandemic that clearly is evolving.

And it’s not like they don’t have the experience of spending hundreds of millions of dollars erecting and running camps to “protect Australia” (from refugees). And they were done on remote islands.

And the mining industry has lots of experience doing this, too. I’ve watched a 2,500 room camp laid out, paths made, high-quality single-story dongas (each with verandahs) installed and landscaped in 8 weeks. I’ve seen a portable 400-person camp installed and running in just three days – including kitchen-dining facilities, raised timber walkways and an integrated sewerage system.

Facts, facts, who wants facts?!

https://www.sciencealert.com/experts-recommend-a-simple-way-to-recover-your-sense-of-smell-after-covid-19

Michael V said:

https://www.sciencealert.com/experts-recommend-a-simple-way-to-recover-your-sense-of-smell-after-covid-19

A group of olfactory experts are advising against the use of steroids to treat a lingering loss of smell caused by COVID-19. Instead, they suggest you try re-training your nose to sniff out certain scents.

Wait, was it just unlearning smells that COVID-19 causes, or we thought it actually damages your ability to sense smell at all?

(Obviously we can handle the possibility that if you don’t smell anything for a while, then you could unlearn how it works.)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/victoria-covid-19-quarantine-hub-mickleham-peter-dutton/100106962

There’s a surprise. Hang on, why is Defence commenting on this? Wouldn’t this be border control?

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/victoria-covid-19-quarantine-hub-mickleham-peter-dutton/100106962

There’s a surprise. Hang on, why is Defence commenting on this? Wouldn’t this be border control?

Dutton is The Chosen One. He is known as a boots and all head-kicker type.

Michael V said:

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/victoria-covid-19-quarantine-hub-mickleham-peter-dutton/100106962

There’s a surprise. Hang on, why is Defence commenting on this? Wouldn’t this be border control?

Dutton is The Chosen One. He is known as a boots and all head-kicker type.

But it’s not his baby any more. Karen Andrews is the Minister for Home Affairs now.

buffy said:

Michael V said:

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/victoria-covid-19-quarantine-hub-mickleham-peter-dutton/100106962

There’s a surprise. Hang on, why is Defence commenting on this? Wouldn’t this be border control?

Dutton is The Chosen One. He is known as a boots and all head-kicker type.

But it’s not his baby any more. Karen Andrews is the Minister for Home Affairs now.

Don’t tell us, tell him.

buffy said:

Michael V said:

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/victoria-covid-19-quarantine-hub-mickleham-peter-dutton/100106962

There’s a surprise. Hang on, why is Defence commenting on this? Wouldn’t this be border control?

Dutton is The Chosen One. He is known as a boots and all head-kicker type.

But it’s not his baby any more. Karen Andrews is the Minister for Home Affairs now.

nominally

you really think Misogyny Marketing would let a … woman … run any show

buffy said:

Michael V said:

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/victoria-covid-19-quarantine-hub-mickleham-peter-dutton/100106962

There’s a surprise. Hang on, why is Defence commenting on this? Wouldn’t this be border control?

Dutton is The Chosen One. He is known as a boots and all head-kicker type.

But it’s not his baby any more. Karen Andrews is the Minister for Home Affairs now.

she needs a good pair of steelcaps to put Dutts in his place.

OTOH he’s also a terrible choice for Defence Minister.

They should put him where he can’t do too much damage, like Sport & Recreation.

Post-covid syndrome
Researchers are closing in on long covid
The results are alarming

Science & technology
May 1st 2021 edition

In the 1890s one of the biggest pandemics in history, known at the time as “Russian flu”, swept the world. It left 1m people dead. Russian flu is now thought to have been misnamed. It was probably not influenza, but rather a coronavirus ancestral to one that now just causes symptoms described by sufferers as “a cold”. When it was new, however, few people had immunity to it, so it was often lethal. And not only that. For, as the pandemic receded, it left in its wake a wave of nervous disorders. A similar wave followed the next big pandemic, the “Spanish” flu of 1918 (which, though nothing much to do with Spain, really was influenza). One common symptom was lethargy so bad that in Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) it helped cause a famine because so many people were too debilitated to pick the harvest.

Something similar is happening now, with the covid-19 pandemic. A wave of what has become known as “long covid” is emerging in countries where acute cases have been falling. Formally, the condition is called “post-covid syndrome” (pcs). But even the official definition of its symptoms is fluid, because knowledge of its details is still evolving. Britain’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, for example, defines pcs as “signs and symptoms that develop during or after an infection consistent with covid-19, continue for more than 12 weeks and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis”. It does not, though, specify a list of such symptoms.

There are, indeed, many of them. A survey of almost 3,800 people around the world reported 205. A sufferer typically has several at a time, with the most debilitating usually being one of three: severe breathlessness, fatigue or “brain fog”.

Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ons) estimates that 14% of people who have tested positive for covid-19 have symptoms which subsequently linger for more than three months (see chart 1). In more than 90% of those cases the original symptoms were not severe enough to warrant admission to hospital. According to the ons, in the four weeks from February 6th nearly half a million people in Britain reported they had had long covid for more than six months—and this will not include any of those infected towards the end of 2020 in the country’s second wave.

At the time when the ons collected those data, at least 1.1% of Britain’s population, including 1.5% of working-age adults, reported symptoms dragging on for three months or longer. Multiply that by the hundreds of millions around the world who have been infected at some point by sars-cov-2 , the virus that causes covid-19, and a public-health catastrophe may be in the making. In the short term, it was only right that effort focused on dealing with the acute disease. Today covid-19’s chronic after-effects also need to be considered.

It ain’t over ’til it’s over

Not all of the suffering badged as long covid is actually caused by sars-cov-2. Even before the virus came along lots of young and healthy people would develop similarly debilitating symptoms for medically unexplained reasons. The classic example of such a mystery illness is chronic-fatigue syndrome (cfs), which often seems to follow a viral or bacterial infection. Chronic migraines and other symptoms often seen in long covid would, in normal years, also strike lots of people out of the blue. The data do, nevertheless, suggest that the effects of long covid are swamping this symptomatic background. Researchers in Britain compared the persistence of a dozen typical long-covid symptoms in nearly 22,000 people who had tested positive for sars-cov-2 with the rates of these symptoms in a similar group with no record or likelihood of having been infected. In both, many people got better as time passed (see chart 2). But after 12 weeks the rate of symptoms in the covid-19 group was eight times higher than in the uninfected group.

Who should be diagnosed with pcs is still being worked out. Many of those with long-covid symptoms have tested positive neither for sars-cov-2 nor for antibodies against it—perhaps because tests were not available when they were ill or those tests were not sensitive enough to pick up the relevant antibodies before they disappeared (a problem with several of the first generation of antibody tests). Studies comparing symptomatic individuals with and without a positive viral or antibody test generally find the same patterns of symptoms in both. Yet many doctors are brushing off individuals with no laboratory proof of past infection.

Those showing up at long-covid clinics in America and Europe are predominantlymiddle-aged and mostly women. Ethnic minorities are under-represented, even though they have higher acute infection rates. Many doctors suspect this is because white people in these parts of the world are often in a better position than others to seek care, and are more demanding about doing so. Some see parallels with cfs, known sceptically in the past as “yuppie flu” because of the demographic profile of those who spoke out about it.

A study by King’s College London found the median age of those with self-reported long covid to be 45, echoing the message of the clinic-attendance data. But the ons found, contrary to what those data seem to suggest, that women were only slightly more likely than men to develop the condition—though it is unclear whether the types of symptoms experienced by women may be more debilitating.

Broadly speaking, there are three types of long-covid patients, says Avindra Nath of America’s National Institutes of Health. The first are characterised by “exercise intolerance”, meaning they feel out of breath and exhausted from even small tasks involving physical activity. The second are characterised by cognitive complaints in the form of brain fog and memory problems. The third are characterised by problems with the autonomic nervous system, a set of nerves that control things like heartbeat, breathing and digestion. Patients in this group suffer from symptoms such as heart palpitations and dizziness.

Impairments of the autonomic nervous system are known as dysautonomia, an umbrella term for a variety of syndromes. Igor Koralnik of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, in Chicago, who has been treating long-covid patients with neurological symptoms, says there has been a marked increase in dysautonomia since the pandemic began. David Putrino, director of rehabilitation innovation at Mount Sinai Hospital, in New York, says that roughly 80% of people who show up at his long-covid clinic have symptoms that are “dysautonomia-like”, regardless of the underlying cause. “And by far these symptoms are the most debilitating, so if we rehabilitate them we can often make the biggest impact in people’s lives.”

Based on these patterns of symptoms, and various laboratory tests of long-covid patients, doctors are focusing on three possible biological explanations. One is that long covid is a persistent viral infection. A second is that it is an autoimmune disorder. The third is that it is a consequence of tissue damage caused by inflammation during the initial, acute infection.

According to the first of these hypotheses, some patients never clear the virus completely. They are not infectious, says Dr Nath, so it could be that they harbour some altered form of the pathogen which is not replicating and is thus undetectable by the standard test for sars-cov-2, but is nevertheless making some viral product that their bodies are trying to fight off. This sort of thing is known to occur with other viruses, including measles, dengue and Ebola. rna viruses, of which sars-cov-2 is an example, are particularly prone to this phenomenon, says Dr Nath.

Proof of this hypothesis is lacking, but there are pertinent clues. Researchers are looking for sars-cov-2 or its products in all sorts offluids and tissues from people with prior infection. There is already evidence that the virus can persist in the body, though the data are predominantly from those who did not develop long covid. A study published recently in Nature showed that some people had traces of sars-cov-2 proteins in their intestines four months after they had recovered from acute covid-19. Viral products from sars-cov-2 have also been found in people’s urine several months after their recovery. Dr Putrino says viral material has been detected in stool samples from some patients in his long-covid clinic, but not all.

The second hypothesised mechanism for long covid, that it is an autoimmune disease, holds that the virus, though gone, has caused something to go awry with the immune system—which now attacks some of the body’s own tissues. A growing body of evidence backs this idea, too.

Bad reactions
The immune system is a complex machine, with many cellular and molecular components, any of which might break and cause symptoms. Some of those suffering from long covid have badly behaving macrophages, the cells responsible for detecting and engulfing harmful invaders. Others exhibit abnormal activation of their b-cells—white blood cells which churn out custom-made antibodies to gum up specific pathogens. In these cases, their b-cells seem to make an unusual quantity and variety of “auto-antibodies”, which attack the body’s own cells instead of invaders. Others still have low levels of interferons, a group of molecules involved in fighting off viral infections. And some have problems with their t-cells, which are parts of the immune system that have the jobs of destroying infected cells and alerting b-cells to the presence of pathogens, so that appropriate antibodies can be made.

Several studies have found reduced t-cell counts in people who have had acute covid-19, and also that their surviving t-cells are “exhausted”—meaning they mount only a weak response to infections. Laboratory studies by Dr Koralnik’s team have found that long-covid patients with brain fog have different t-cell responses from those of people who were once infected but are now asymptomatic.

All of this suggests that some individuals cannot fight the virus off completely, or that parts of their immune systems act in ways that may be detrimental to their bodies. Some doctors think people who are already vulnerable to developing an autoimmune condition are pushed further in that direction by the stress which covid-19 puts on their bodies. Such disorders are typically diagnosed in middle age, which is consistent with the age-peak found by King’s College, and are more common in women—as is, albeit to a lesser extent, long covid.

The third hypothesis about the cause of long covid, inflammation, holds that the fight put up by the body against the acute illness causes irreparable collateral damage. This often happens during a viral infection, but it could be particularly likely with covid-19. Out-of-control inflammation, caused by cytokines (molecules that drum up inflammation) is a hallmark of the illness.

One guess is that the inflammation which happens when people are ill somehow damages parts of their autonomic nervous systems. Another suggestion, made by Dr Koralnik, is that in some patients sars-cov-2 may damage the cells that line blood vessels, either by infecting them directly or via inflammation. This would change the way blood flows to the brain, and may thus explain the brain fog.

Whys and wherefores
Studies intended to investigate each of these possibilities are under way. But the three theories are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, most researchers agree that long covid is probably a term which embraces several conditions with different causes.

Determining these will help both with the development of treatments and with their prescription. If persistent viral infection turns out to be a cause, the search will be on for suitable antiviral drugs. Treatment would consist either of a defined course of medication that clears the virus completely (as is now possible for hepatitis c, for example) or of drugs that people take routinely to keep the virus at bay, the approach taken with hiv/aids.

Treatments for immune disorders already exist, and some may work for long covid. “As soon as we define the immune abnormality in these patients, then it will become very clear how to treat them,” says Dr Nath. “It is quite possible that we may need multiple treatments for different types of immune response—and we should be able to figure that out as well.”

Some of those with long covid have felt dramatically better after a covid-19 vaccination. But the relief tends to be temporary. Doctors have seen this before. People with cfs, for example, sometimes feel temporarily better after a flu shot or other vaccination. Nobody knows why. One possibility is that the revved-up immune system alleviates their symptoms for a time. A placebo effect may also be involved. Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, has proposed clinical trials of covid-19 vaccines for long covid. She argues that seeing which work, even if only for a short time, may unmask the specific immune abnormality involved—and show what sorts of drugs could work as well.

At the moment, the only treatment is rehabilitation. To design protocols for long covid, Dr Putrino’s team have been working with experts on disorders with similar symptoms, including dysautonomia, cfs and Lyme disease. “We’ve tried to be extremely symptom-centric,” he says. “We try to dig through a person’s life and understand what is causing the biggest triggers that interfere most with their daily life.”

He describes some typical examples. Many patients come in having lost a lot of weight because if they have a full meal “their symptoms just wash over them and that’s it for the day.” That is common in dysautonomia, whereby stretching of the stomach causes an autonomic-nervous-system reaction. These patients are advised by nutritionists on how to eat smaller, nutritious meals and to find out what foods are easiest on them. Some patients experience a drop in blood pressure when they move about, and feel dizzy—another hallmark of dysautonomia. Simply wearing compressive stockings to prevent blood pooling in their legs can help these people a lot. So can avoiding going outdoors in hot and humid weather. Those with extreme fatigue are taught how to watch for “energy windows”, in which to do the most important tasks of the day.

Dr Putrino’s team have identified another common problem. They tested25 of their long-covid patients and found that all had carbon-dioxide levels which were too low. This may sound surprising, given that CO2 is a waste product derived from respiration, and is harmful if present in too high a concentration. But it also helps regulate acidity, and incorrect acidity can disrupt all sorts of metabolic processes. Low CO2 levels are also often seen in dysautonomia and cfs. The solution is breathing exercises to help with CO2 retention. (Elsewhere, opera singers are teaching long-covid patients helpful breathing techniques.)

At Dr Koralnik’s neurology clinic, the approach is similar. Long-covid patients are first assessed to see whether their specific problem is memory, attention, fluency in word finding, “or whatever they may have that could be different than someone else who also has brain fog”. Cognitive rehabilitation is then tailored to their needs.

It is painstaking work. After an average of 150 days of rehab, which includes two half-hour sessions each week with a therapist, plus remote follow-up, Dr Putrino’s patients report a 30-40% improvement in fatigue levels. Such improvement was not seen in comparable patients who were not undergoing rehab, so his team are confident that the effect is real. But out of about 100 patients whose outcomes are being monitored for research purposes, only three say they have recovered fully.

This means that even with appropriate health care, many of those who have long covid will continue to struggle in their daily lives. A survey in Britain, albeit of a self-selected group of people who responded, found that the illness affected the ability to work of 80% of those suffering from it, and about 40% said it affected their ability to care for others (see chart 3).

All this suggests that, even when the pandemic of acute covid-19 has been dealt with, a big problem will remain. Post-viral syndromes on this scale affect not only those who are experiencing them directly. They also have serious consequences for everyone else.

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/04/29/researchers-are-closing-in-on-long-covid?

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/victoria-covid-19-quarantine-hub-mickleham-peter-dutton/100106962

There’s a surprise. Hang on, why is Defence commenting on this? Wouldn’t this be border control?

Spud Dutton and the rest of Marketing Dept will continue to think it’s a dud idea unless Rupert ‘suggests’ otherwise.

So you see, when we look at the curve compared to most other world, whatever they’ve done seems relatively impressive, and the commentators say as much.

It’s been said that “Portugal was the world’s worst-hit country by size of population in January, weeks after lifting restrictions for four days over Christmas. But the pandemic has ebbed significantly since a strict lockdown that month which authorities gradually began loosening six weeks ago. The virus incidence rate per 100,000 population over 14 days — a key pandemic measure — stands at 67. At the end of January, it was 1,628.” (https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/portugal-poised-lift-restrictions-pandemic-ebbs-77338606).

Still, you have to wonder if this is going to work out all right. They’ve somehow had to keep themselves “locked down” just to maintain 500 cases a day, for a country of population 10M. Allegedly it doesn’t appear as strict as Chairman Dan’s little play (see appendix below), but that’s just from the sources we’ve seen. We haven’t been there ourselves recently so we can’t tell you how their track/trace/isolate is going. When New South Wuhan Victoria shut up shop, they got those cases down to 0 (which we were very impressed by, and damn their modelling hit the target like magic). You don’t reopen until you’re basically at 0, if you want it to stay at 0. Anyway, it’s possible the 500/day is because they’ve staged the lifting of restrictions but the fact that it hasn’t tapered off completely is concerning.

As you can see it’s a relatively impressive picture, matched only by Israel, South Africa, UK in the table above them (Israel and UK are vaccinating like fucking Leo Kanner; South Africa we’re not so sure). Even below them, there are a few plummeting curves, but you have to go down to Morocco before you get similar again. Side note, Japan not looking too clever still, and it’s another week closer to the planned Olympics.

They’re about 8.4% covered vaccine-wise (a mix of BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca), to go with their 8.4% supposed flock immunity if you believe their case numbers. Let’s say overall the effective immunity is 80% after getting any of those. Is 17% * 80% enough to prevent another fucking disaster the moment the doors are flung open¿ We’ll have to see, but we hope they can avert one.

Portugal passa do estado de emergência para a calamidade

O estado de emergência termina esta sexta-feira, às 23:59, em Portugal Continental, que entra seguidamente em situação de calamidade, segundo confirmou hoje o primeiro-ministro. Tal só é possível porque Portugal mantém-se “claramente” no quadrante verde, com uma incidência que está atualmente nos 66 casos por 100 mil habitantes (números de ontem) e uma taxa de transmissibilidade no 1.

Não significa isto que o país possa considerar a situação ultrapassada”, precisou o chefe do Governo para justificar a situação de calamidade. António Costa disse ainda que se vai manter o dever cívico de confinamento e a população deve “evitar os contactos que não são necessários” para não se correr o risco da situação voltar a agravar-se. Da mesma forma, mantém-se a obrigatoriedade do uso de máscara de proteção contra a pandemia de covid-19, o que deve acontecer até ao final do verão, quando se prevê a obtenção de imunidade de grupo, afirmou hoje o primeiro-ministro.

Para defender a conformidade constitucional das medidas do Governo, primeiro-ministro procurou salientar que se está “a limitar para proteção de um bem fundamental, que é a saúde pública, em nome de um direito constitucional, que é o direito à saúde de todos”.

Sweden is dropping down the chart in terms of deaths per million population. They sat around 26-27 for a while. Now down at 32. USA seems to be dropping too, now at 17th.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

Racist Scientists Hide Behind Data To Explain Why Indians Aren’t Allowed In

https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/12-04-2021/siouxsie-wiles-the-data-behind-the-decision-to-suspend-arrivals-from-india-in-nz/

Them fellas who slapped a Travel Ban On Wuhan a year ago when the positive rate was like 0.1% must be feeling pretty chuffed right now¡

(meanwhile in Australia…)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15kdyqFGfJdFi0KaTbZp-UDw8WwoKu6OPRs5V5ZzO1c0/edit#gid=1743119892

BBC News:

‘Stephen Karanja: Kenyan anti-vaccine doctor dies from Covid-19

By Emmanuel Onyango
BBC News, Nairobi

A Kenyan doctor who became a vociferous opponent of the Covid-19 vaccine has succumbed to the virus, weeks after saying the jab was “totally unnecessary”. ‘

Once again, Karma decides ‘i think i’ll wear my “bitch” hat today…’

captain_spalding said:

BBC News:

‘Stephen Karanja: Kenyan anti-vaccine doctor dies from Covid-19

By Emmanuel Onyango
BBC News, Nairobi

A Kenyan doctor who became a vociferous opponent of the Covid-19 vaccine has succumbed to the virus, weeks after saying the jab was “totally unnecessary”. ‘

Once again, Karma decides ‘i think i’ll wear my “bitch” hat today…’

Seems like it.

I can’t wait to be fully vaccinated. If anti-vaxxers wish participate in the Darwin Awards, then so be it.

I’ve done the 14 days since the flu vax, and in another 14 days or so, they should be rolling it out to GPs. I’ll have my sleeve rolled up in advance.

Michael V said:

captain_spalding said:

BBC News:

‘Stephen Karanja: Kenyan anti-vaccine doctor dies from Covid-19

By Emmanuel Onyango
BBC News, Nairobi

A Kenyan doctor who became a vociferous opponent of the Covid-19 vaccine has succumbed to the virus, weeks after saying the jab was “totally unnecessary”. ‘

Once again, Karma decides ‘i think i’ll wear my “bitch” hat today…’

Seems like it.

I can’t wait to be fully vaccinated. If anti-vaxxers wish participate in the Darwin Awards, then so be it.

I’ve done the 14 days since the flu vax, and in another 14 days or so, they should be rolling it out to GPs. I’ll have my sleeve rolled up in advance.

Had my flu jab last Tuesday. Have to wait until June for the second vaccine shot.