Covid 19 -

[Trevor 57]

I had better be careful coz we are not supposed to discuss politics on FF, so best we stop eh?

[roKWiz]

Glady's my favourite. Just read the glowing reviews I praise her for in the Sydney rail thread.

[tweeked]

Well done by Andrews with the announcement, he made it quickly and is opening more than I expected. Gets a big tick from me.

Now he needs to double down on his contact tracing, get that right and we have a chance of keeping it under control till March next year. I think the warmer weather will protect us till then, but come March it will be game on, everyone will be complacent, a really dangerous time.

[Trevor 57]

From what I can see the contact tracing has been fine lately (despite what the MSM says), they got on top of the outbreak here pretty quick and nothing eventuated, they seemed to get onto top of that outbreak in the northern suburbs pretty quick

They are doing nothing different than NSW, in fact some is better. Don't believe ScoMo & Co or the MSM (read Murdoch press), they have an agenda to push (see my earlier post)

Something that most be people forget to mention is that NSW has NOT had a 2nd wave so comparing Vic to NSW is like comparing apples to oranges. To me NSW proved their worth with the Ruby Princess debacle, they not only managed to infect NSW but most of the country as well. Probably the real start to the pandemic

[cs123]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

From what I can see the contact tracing has been fine lately (despite what the MSM says), they go on top of the outbreak here pretty quick and nothing eventuated, they seemed to get onto top of that outbreak in the northern suburbs pretty quick

They are doing nothing different than NSW, in fact some is better. Don't believe ScoMo & Co or the MSM (red Murdoch press), they have an agenda to push (see my earlier post)

Something that most be people forget to mention is that NSW has NOT had a 2nd wave so comparing Vic to NSW is like comparing apples to oranges. To me NSW proved their worth with the Ruby Princess debacle, they not only managed to infect NSW but most of the country as well. Probably the real start to the pandemic

The second wave in Vic started with just a few infections with security guards. The govt wasn't able to deal with it and it exploded.

In NSW they also got a few infections from travellers coming across the border. They have dealt with it well, even though there are dribs and drabs that keep popping up, they are on top of things.

In NSW, the contract tracing seems good, the community is on-side.
in Vic, the contact tracing might be good now, the community is quite confused.


FWIW, for me the hotel security isn't an issue as the virus can escape into the population as has happened elsewhere.... what the big issue is how they handled that at the time... which was poorly.

[russellw]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

Something that most be people forget to mention is that NSW has NOT had a 2nd wave so comparing Vic to NSW is like comparing apples to oranges. To me NSW proved their worth with the Ruby Princess debacle, they not only managed to infect NSW but most of the country as well. Probably the real start to the pandemic

The 'blame game' serves very little purpose in this context. The virus was inevitably coming here and it would be illogical to think otherwise. Yes, the Ruby Princess issues helped spread it around the country perhaps a little faster than it otherwise might have but that first wave only produced a little over 7,000 cases and 100 deaths - bad enough but nothing compared to the latter outbreak in Victoria which has produced slightly more than 20,0000 cases and close to 800 deaths.

It's unseasonably cool in Victoria at the moment so we need to be cautious even as things start to open up again because even though contact tracing has dramatically improved, the Chadstone outbreak showed just how far (and fast) a single infection point can spread.

On the plus side, as long as things don't get wildly out of hand, we should be able to manage 'smaller' outbreaks with localised measures rather than the broad measures that have been used to date. Maybe. I'd like to see masks stay for the medium term (or return next winter at least) and hopefully some of the habits we've developed (social distancing in public, hand hygiene etc.) will continue and slow down the next outbreak.

If we don't at least learn something from the experience in Europe at the moment then we may well be experiencing the same next winter.

[Trevor 57]

I get a little sick of people continually pointing the finger at Victoria but forget about their own States failures Russ

As I said comparing Victoria to NSW is like comparing apples and oranges, they haven't had a true 2nd wave (regardless of what caused the Vict one)

[Polyal]

People need to let go of state rivalry in this case, leave it to those who chase balls for a living.

Nationally we need to get to some agreeance on how to handle outbreaks moving forward.

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by Polyal

People need to let go of state rivalry in this case, leave it to those who chase balls for a living.

Nationally we need to get to some agreeance on how to handle outbreaks moving forward.

It's pretty simple I think. NSW/ACT and QLD seem to be able to locate and squash outbreaks effectively and quickly whilst keeping their economies open and freedom of movement minimally managed. I'd say WA, NT, SA, TAS are untested as yet, having more relied on border closures.

If Victoria could be brought up to NSW/QLD forensic health standards then that would go a long way. Also, we may need to rethink completely open borders until we get the vaccine. Who says that it's OK to fly to other states for holidays just because we may be able to? Try holidaying in your home state maybe.

A bit of personal responsibility would go a long way. Guv-mints can only do so much.

[Work Horse]

I simply love Dan, I am uncomfortable relaxing our strict lock down measures, and have all Dans press conferences recorded so I can continue to watch every day forever.

OMG I have Stockholm syndrome..


And Covid 19 numbers are on the rise in Stockholm.......

[FPV8U]

Originally Posted by russellw

I'd like to see masks stay for the medium term (or return next winter at least) and hopefully some of the habits we've developed (social distancing in public, hand hygiene etc.) will continue and slow down the next outbreak.

I’d like to see a progression on mask policy in the next few weeks with warmer weather on the way to an indoor space legal requirement only then eventually a individual preference as seen in other states around Australia.

With an indoor setting they continue to make sense but not so much in an open outdoor space walking during a high 20 to low 30 degree day.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Work Horse

OMG I have Stockholm syndrome..

John Howard used it to his advantage in 1996

[russellw]

Data valid as at 23:59 GMT October 26th, 2020.

Note: As not all Australian States report at the same time, the data below is based on the previous full day reporting except for the Victorian 14 day moving averages.

14 new cases for Australia and no deaths so the CMR drops to 3.288% while active cases fall to 1,416. NSW recorded 4 cases, WA 2, SA 3 cases with zero in Victoria.

The Victorian State 14 day moving average is down to 3.29 with metro falling to 2.8 (6 unknown) and regional still at 0.2 with no unknown cases (including today). Victoria reported no new cases for the last 24 hours.

5 new cases and no deaths for NZ so CMR is 1.289% and active cases rise to 74.

The UK had a higher 20,890 new cases yesterday. We know they are now not counting their mortalities by the WHO guidelines so we are going to ignore the CMR but even using their method they recorded 102 deaths.

Just over 64k new cases in the USA yesterday and 448 deaths sees CMR drop to 2.592% and active cases up to 32.5% with the raw numbers rising and now over 2.8M. Note that the USA is actually minus one day due to time differences.

Other notable points:
The USA completes 134M, India 103M, UK 32M, Spain 16M, Ukraine 3M and Luxembourg 1M tests;

Norway (433) the highest since 27th March
Lithuania (766) - now 6 days in a row and 26% up on yesterday
North Macedonia (647)
Denmark (1,056)
Malaysia (1.240)
Bulgaria (2,243) - 41% above the previous high
Canada (4,109)
Netherlands (10,343) and
Russia (17,347) all recorded new daily highs; those in blue for the second consecutive day and those in red for a third or more consecutive days.

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

I get a little sick of people continually pointing the finger at Victoria but forget about their own States failures Russ

As I said comparing Victoria to NSW is like comparing apples and oranges, they haven't had a true 2nd wave (regardless of what caused the Vict one)

It’s apples and apples. NSW didn’t have a second wave purely due to its contact tracing and clear, concise and specific immediate communications with the public. They royally screwed the cruise ship, but looks like they learnt from it. WA, SA and didn’t get tested with the same seeding. QLD did really well squashing their smaller event.

VIC are at more pains to not “blame” the spreaders, so they do not give out specifics until recently in the Shep cluster. And look how well that worked. (I believe that is more to do with not having to blame a demographic for starting it, but bringing an innocent community together to stop it. They will not act as decisively with certain communities for fear of being called out).

NSW had just as much seeding into the general public as VIC did. Every post of yours is Scomo this and Vic Opposition that. I call it how I see it, Feds are still very poor in their aged response and not hearing anything about their plans, if they have any. The state Governments , regardless of which side of politics have all done well except VIC let the genie out of the bottle. Hope that they have leant the lesson.

[Trevor 57]

Both NSW & Victoria had security guards looking after hotel quarantine, it could have just as easily gone pear-shaped there as well

Interesting, not much mention of the security guard company

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

Interesting, not much mention of the security guard company

Because the answers that come up aren't that palatable Trev...

How virtue signaling botched Melbourne’s hotel quarantine

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/202...el-quarantine/

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by FairmontGS

It's pretty simple I think. NSW/ACT and QLD seem to be able to locate and squash outbreaks effectively and quickly whilst keeping their economies open and freedom of movement minimally managed. I'd say WA, NT, SA, TAS are untested as yet, having more relied on border closures.

If Victoria could be brought up to NSW/QLD forensic health standards then that would go a long way. Also, we may need to rethink completely open borders until we get the vaccine. Who says that it's OK to fly to other states for holidays just because we may be able to? Try holidaying in your home state maybe.

A bit of personal responsibility would go a long way. Guv-mints can only do so much.

I am not sure how you would manage it, but, some incentives to book time in your own state is a good idea. Pretty sure Tassie did some accommodation credit programs.

From a personal perspective, we have been trying to get to VIC since Easter and obviously no go. Now, bit of a moral dilemma for Christmas, really the right thing to do will be to give it a miss, but the grandparents are getting on and I am not sure if some will go another 12 months so Ill regret not.

[Trevor 57]

Interesting

Katrina Currie, a mid-ranking official from the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, had been seconded to the “Working for Victoria’’ program supporting those who had lost their jobs in the first COVID-19 lockdown… She told the inquiry she did not think the firms she hired would outsource their work to subcontractors

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by tweeked

Well done by Andrews with the announcement, he made it quickly and is opening more than I expected. Gets a big tick from me.

Now he needs to double down on his contact tracing, get that right and we have a chance of keeping it under control till March next year. I think the warmer weather will protect us till then, but come March it will be game on, everyone will be complacent, a really dangerous time.

You keep going on about this, can you please explain how the NSW contact tracing works as opposed the Victorian system. Curious.

On the Fed Govco app Covidsafe, it was a complete failure only detecting 17 cases altogether. (this mornings news)

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

Interesting

And telling. using private security in itself was not the failing.

Using untrained staff, in an inadequately managed businesses is. That is why the problem leads back to those who made the decision. To place a someone in the role who could not work out that awarding a contract worth over $40000000 to a non accredited business from outside of your network that has less than 100 staff, and not realise that they would be contracting out the work, or even ask how they could do it/train/oversee the new staff?

I don’t blame this person who was seconded from another job, I don’t blame the Government for seconding someone either. Oversight from the top , or lack thereof. Something as critical of this deserved 10 minutes of one of their meetings.

That is why others states used defence or police, sometimes in tandem with security. There were always trained staff and competant management around.

[Citroënbender]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

…On the Fed Govco app Covidsafe, it was a complete failure only detecting 17 cases altogether. (this mornings news)

At what - $72M? That’s $4.2M per case detected.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

At what - $72M? That’s $4.2M per case detected.

Money well spent, eh.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

Interesting

She just didn’t think!!

[FTE217]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

You keep going on about this, can you please explain how the NSW contact tracing works as opposed the Victorian system. Curious.

On the Fed Govco app Covidsafe, it was a complete failure only detecting 17 cases altogether. (this mornings news)

I'm not fussed about the state vs state and finger pointing as some do here but forgetting the gov app it seems to be how NSW Health has communicated and operated to date.
This has a little about it and disregard ScoMo quoting away.....
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-...ntrol/12636890
Also for as long as I can recall we have not needed to get a referal from the GP for a covid test, its just turn up get tested.
I had one again last Wednesday due to the Bathurst 1000 news for I was there Friday and thought better get one - had test @ 9am amazed I got my sms reply by 2pm same day.
My brother did as well, he recieved 2 follow up calls from Health asking more q's just for more info, he asked why, answer was this is what we do.
In part there is also some luck if you can say that, with the amount of spikes that have occurred now and then I thought were doomed BUT again, its been tracked, root cause found, contacted as many around that person at the time and in the press warned to get checks if in that area.
Seems some people in the community listen for we've avoided the need of lockdown.

[T3rminator]

Bloody Dan Andrews... lost his marbles lifting restrictions.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

I get a little sick of people continually pointing the finger at Victoria but forget about their own States failures Russ

As I said comparing Victoria to NSW is like comparing apples and oranges, they haven't had a true 2nd wave (regardless of what caused the Vict one)

You got to get over the blame game; simple fact is the Victorian government ****ed up and you would hope they have learned from the mistakes and get on top which I think they are finally doing.
As mentioned if contact tracing is on par we should be all ok and keep this virus under control.
Cheers

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Bloody Dan Andrews... lost his marbles lifting restrictions. image

I know who has lost his marbles and it isn't Andrews - old mate needs to retire and go do some worthwhile community work, but I suppose when Rupert Murdoch is your mate and has your back, you can think you are invincible

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by FTE217

Also for as long as I can recall we have not needed to get a referal from the GP for a covid test, its just turn up get tested.
.

I don't recall this happening in Victoria either.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Officemanager

You got to get over the blame game; simple fact is the Victorian government ****ed up

now, what do they call it when you tell someone to stop the blame game and then the next lot of words you blame someone - is it 'irony' or is some other word, it just isn't coming to me

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

I know who has lost his marbles and it isn't Andrews - old mate needs to retire and go do some worthwhile community work, but I suppose when Rupert Murdoch is your mate and has your back, you can think you are invincible

I think that Murdoch pulled out of Sky a while ago, but Alan Jones has always had that attitude.