Corona Virus

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Queensland and WA right to keep borders closed: Grattan report
Report backs Queensland and Western Australia keeping borders closed amid coronavirus pandemic - ABC News

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Actually Mick, the Grattan report does not recommend that states keep borders closed, it does acknowledge that states have different levels of control and different restrictions. From the report, the only mention of state borders other than in the context of documenting restrictions

3.8.4 State-based strategies Some of Australia’s states have effectively eliminated local transmission of COVID-19, and are keeping their borders closed to states where it persists. States should maintain different restrictions if they have different rates of local transmission. Restrictions are obviously needed much less in states which have effectively eliminated the virus from their local population.

It's a pretty long bow to draw that the Grattan institute supports border closures from that sentence.

Regards,
Tote

Trans-Tasman travel - yeah, nah!

Why the Trans-Tasman travel bubble is dead | Stuff.co.nz

Some interesting views. Comments section is a good microcosm of NZ opinion from what I see out there myself. I have to agree that the emphasis now needs to be transferred to the Pacific and the covid-free islands with close NZ links especially.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Have to be in close contact for at least 15 mins with an infected person who sneezes or does something else to pass it on.

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The virus has to come in contact with a vulnerable part of your body. Period.

15 Minutes? That's an arbitrary figure chosen for contact tracing purposes based on having enough time for an infected person to drop it somewhere and you to pick it up and not overwhelming the contact tracing databases.

You could get it from a door handle that I used half an hour ago after wiping my infected nose. Scratch your nose with that hand and you could well pick it up. The little bugger is highly infectious. This is why absent of direct droplet infection, hand hygiene is one of the most effective preventatives.

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Originally Posted by windsock

Trans-Tasman travel - yeah, nah!

Why the Trans-Tasman travel bubble is dead | Stuff.co.nz

Some interesting views. Comments section is a good microcosm of NZ opinion from what I see out there myself. I have to agree that the emphasis now needs to be transferred to the Pacific and the covid-free islands with close NZ links especially.

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As attractive as it sounds that article points out the one big difference that NZ has from Australia. They are aiming for elimination, not minimisation. As long as Australia does have active cases and NZ doesn't I can't see how it would work. The bit about Australian state borders is pretty meaningless as Australian state borders are not, and can't be made non-porous anyway, you only have to read of the adventures of some Queenslanders on here going for a drive into NSW because it's safe for them to do so but not for NSW people to travel to QLD (unless you have one of the many exemptions).

The downside is that overseas tourism for NZ will still be dead for a long time and its not like the there's going to be mass tourism from Honiara.

Regards,
Tote

That is an interesting Thai Volunteer article & reminded me of action at one aged care facility when this thing arrived.


My youngest works at an aged care facility & has done some Nursing.

She started a small education program off her own bat on Hand Washing using the "dummy/test infection" virus thingy.

Her boss got involved & she asked him to demonstrate the correct procedure. Before & after stuff.

He briefly used soap , rinsed his hands under a running tap & thought that was it. She tested his hands with UV & the dummy/test infection (can't recall it's name) was still on his hands so a bad job.


This demonstration just shows how a little time spent hand Sanitising doesn't work if not carried out correctly.

He later repeated the test (mutter mutter mutter) did it as prescribed & it was clear. A two Minute's worth of soap needs to be applied correctly before rinsing..

So, I wonder how many people around the world sanitised correctly & realised the implications if they didn't?


Just sayin'.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Yep, it's easy to get tested and then the text message confirming you were negative is sitting on your phone, easily produced. Its a simple safeguard.

People are already travelling, which the Qld Government is encouraging, and that's good for struggling rural towns. Plenty of caravans on the highways up here. Few cases have been found outside the cities...……………………..

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I wonder if road trippers are going to be welcomed in little towns or viewed with suspicion, fear, even?

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Originally Posted by Tote

As attractive as it sounds that article points out the one big difference that NZ has from Australia. They are aiming for elimination, not minimisation. As long as Australia does have active cases and NZ doesn't I can't see how it would work. The bit about Australian state borders is pretty meaningless as Australian state borders are not, and can't be made non-porous anyway, you only have to read of the adventures of some Queenslanders on here going for a drive into NSW because it's safe for them to do so but not for NSW people to travel to QLD (unless you have one of the many exemptions).

The downside is that overseas tourism for NZ will still be dead for a long time and its not like the there's going to be mass tourism from Honiara.

Regards,
Tote

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Yep, this whole tourism thing has me bemused.

For example assume we have 500 people wanting a holiday in a particular time period and that there are two options available, Aust or NZ. Then 500 tourists come from Aust to NZ and 500 tourists go from NZ to Aust. Net benefit is zero overall isn't it. Domestic tourism is where it is going to be at for a while now. Our Tourism levels here has been unsustainable a while now. Lots of people (far too many in some areas) and hotels and attractions/activities price-gouging such that the NZ tourist has found going overseas for a holiday cheaper. A timely shake up for a sector used to doing the shake down on us for a long time.

I think I mentioned above that my brother's sister in law is having a knee replacement today. Since she has been advised to spend as little time as possible in a hospital, her daughter, who works in a hospital, is taking a week off to look after her at home. The daughter has approved of her mother going straight home - she said "The hospital ...... has had 13 Covid-19
positive tests in the emergency department in the last couple of days". I asked him if that was patients, staff or both. This is the answer I got - note the order of ailments!

"All patients. They test everyone who comes through the door, whether
it's a gunshot wound, critical injuries from a car accident, a heart
attack, a snake bite, an allergic reaction to peanuts, or a cut finger."

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Originally Posted by Red90

A test is meaningless.

Never mind the fact that it is only a single point in time and you could be infected any minute after, false negatives are over 50% if you are not symptomatic.

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A test is not meaningless. It is taken very seriously by Medical Authorities. In the USA, every patient entering emergency wards , for what ever reason, is tested. I'm sorry, but I regard your advice as very dangerous, and think you should think twice before giving it. Victoria Health take testing very seriously.

Department of Health and Human Services Victoria | Getting tested for coronavirus (COVID-19)

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Originally Posted by JDNSW

I think I mentioned above that my brother's sister in law is having a knee replacement today. Since she has been advised to spend as little time as possible in a hospital, her daughter, who works in a hospital, is taking a week off to look after her at home. The daughter has approved of her mother going straight home - she said "The hospital ...... has had 13 Covid-19
positive tests in the emergency department in the last couple of days". I asked him if that was patients, staff or both. This is the answer I got - note the order of ailments!

"All patients. They test everyone who comes through the door, whether
it's a gunshot wound, critical injuries from a car accident, a heart
attack, a snake bite, an allergic reaction to peanuts, or a cut finger."

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Yep. A worry for sure, both the ailments and the way the US is headed. Read an article this morning indicating that some unspecified hospitals in the US are 3-weeks away from being overwhelmed. While not specific, it was sad news. TX was listed as a state where it is taking off. We speak to a person regularly in TX and we are worried about news from her. She's in small-town TX and it is apparent to her it is becoming a local problem now rather than just confined the big cities.

Covid-19: US '''three weeks away''' from being overwhelmed | Stuff.co.nz