Thread: Corona Virus

Here's an interesting article from Professor Andrew Dawson, a British immigrant to Australia. " How COVID19 made me more Australian "

How COVID-19 made me more Australian | Pursuit by The University of Melbourne

Originally Posted by bob10

US daily infections smash records, while Spanish virologists have found traces of the Novel Coronavirus in waste water collected in March 2019, nine months before the disease was identified in China. The discovery of the virus genome in Spain , if confirmed, would suggest the disease may have appeared much earlier than thought.

USA daily infections smash record, with 40,000 new cases of coronavirus

On the other side of the ledger, how many or what % of the Newly Diagnosed are (a) showing clear symptoms, (b) Are or are obviously becoming more unwell, and (c) No symptoms at testing time and/or within14 days afterwards.

This may help - or confuse. Note the Diamond Princess rate.... where Social Distancing never happened during the infectious phase... (near bottom of list)

Mortality Analyses - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

And to add perspective... List of human disease case fatality rates - Wikipedia Note, even WITH vaccination, smallpox can take out 3%.

From today's Guardian.
Only one new community transmission overnight, and the quarantine testing % refusal rate is quite different to Victoria's experience

New South Wales records six new cases

In Australia, the state of New South Wales recorded six new cases of coronavirus cases overnight, authorities said.
NSW Health said the new cases reported between 8pm on 25 June and 8pm on 26 June brought the state’s total to 3,174.
One case is a man in his 70s which remains under investigation. The other five new cases are returned travellers in hotel quarantine, NSW Health said.
The state has 58 Covid cases being treated by health authorities, though no patients are in intensive care.
Its statement noted: “NSW will ensure all returned international travellers entering Australia will either be tested for Covid-19 during their hotel quarantine at day 10, or be required to extend their quarantine by an extra 10 days.
“NSW already requests all of these returned travellers undertake a Covid-19 test on day 10 of their quarantine, and less than 2% have refused to take the test.”
The practice contrasts with Victoria, where authorities on Friday admitted 30% of return travellers were declining a test

Originally Posted by bob10

Probably an example of why some citizens can't concentrate on what's necessary during these times . But wait. We now know why some in Melbourne don't understand what's necessary during the virus. Not because they don't care. They do not read or speak English.

Poorly assimilated migrants spark virus outbreaks by failing to abide by COVID rules

So ..... in the mid 2010s the Liberals and Nationals government - which Peta Credlin was at the heart of - ripped out and defunded language programmes that successfully taught English to migrants for 70 years and defunded community language programmes and now she's got the cheek to turn around and criticise the result of that? Unbelievable.

Oh, and in case you're wondering:

Migrant language service budget cuts | The Saturday Paper


https://scanloninstitute.org.au/site...arrative-3.pdf


"Australia has a long and proud record of teaching Englishto migrants and refugees. It was the first – and, for many years,only – country to provide newcomers with fully funded English language teaching. The Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP),established soon after World War II and after the first post-warmigrants learnt English on the first boats to Australia, has been theflagship amongst a range of government services that try to ensurethat migrants and refugees quickly find their feet, and their voice, intheir new land.Delivery of these services in employment, health, housing, education, psychologicalsupport, and English language learning has been so effective overall, that it promptedformer Immigration Department Secretary John Menadue to say in 2016 that “nocountry has integrated newcomers as well as we have.”

In 2009, the then UnitedNations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said that Australia had“one of the best refugee resettlement programs in the world.”Language learning has been at the heart of these services because the government,Australians, and new migrants themselves all believe that proficiency in Englishprovides the road to making Australia home. In an Australian National University pollin 2015, 92 per cent of Australians considered that the ability to speak English wasimportant or very important to ‘being truly Australian’. Having been born in Australiawas seen as much less important.8 Scanlon Institute | Narrative #3SCANLON INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SOCIAL COHESION RESEARCH

It’s a vital issue, because as migrant numbers have increased in thetwenty-first century, so has the share of the population that does not speak English asits first language. Today, 28 per cent of the population was born overseas, the highestproportion in a hundred years. Nearly a quarter of Australians speak a language otherthan English at home. Moreover, many refugees who have migrated this century underthe Refugee and Humanitarian Program come from societies that provide little accessto schooling, or their schooling has been severely disrupted by war, trauma, or long waitsin refugee camps. Teaching English to these newcomers can be a formidable task.Over 71 years, Australia’s main answer to these challenges has beenthe AMEP. About two million migrants have studied in it. The program islegislated and demand-driven, meaning that funding rises or falls with thenumber of students, not the whims of politics – a rare beast in cost-consciousCanberra. In 2019-20, the government expects to spend $259 million on theprogram, more than half of all the money it will spend this year on targeted servicesfor refugees and migrants. Over the years, the AMEP has produced materials,teaching methods and research that have led the world. Students have been able toaccess a personal counsellor to help them with educational and vocational pathwayswhile getting free childcare as they study. No wonder that in May 2017, eight MPs,divided equally between both main parties and including a former AMEP teacher, DrAnne Aly, lined up in the House of Representatives to praise the program’s part in thesuccess of Australian multiculturalism. Yet even as they did, the AMEP was about toexperience perhaps its greatest period of difficulty since its founding.

Was in the Docklands Costco yesterday and nearly everyone shopping was buying toilet paper, but I only saw one couple only buying toilet paper (and they had 96 rolls).

So, people were stocking up but no panic buying and no limits imposed.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

So ..... in the mid 2010s the Liberals and Nationals government - which Peta Credlin was at the heart of - ripped out and defunded language programmes that successfully taught English to migrants for 70 years and defunded community language programmes and now she's got the cheek to turn around and criticise the result of that? Unbelievable.

Oh, and in case you're wondering:

Migrant language service budget cuts | The Saturday Paper


https://scanloninstitute.org.au/site...arrative-3.pdf


"Australia has a long and proud record of teaching Englishto migrants and refugees. It was the first – and, for many years,only – country to provide newcomers with fully funded English language teaching. The Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP),established soon after World War II and after the first post-warmigrants learnt English on the first boats to Australia, has been theflagship amongst a range of government services that try to ensurethat migrants and refugees quickly find their feet, and their voice, intheir new land.Delivery of these services in employment, health, housing, education, psychologicalsupport, and English language learning has been so effective overall, that it promptedformer Immigration Department Secretary John Menadue to say in 2016 that “nocountry has integrated newcomers as well as we have.”

In 2009, the then UnitedNations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said that Australia had“one of the best refugee resettlement programs in the world.”Language learning has been at the heart of these services because the government,Australians, and new migrants themselves all believe that proficiency in Englishprovides the road to making Australia home. In an Australian National University pollin 2015, 92 per cent of Australians considered that the ability to speak English wasimportant or very important to ‘being truly Australian’. Having been born in Australiawas seen as much less important.8 Scanlon Institute | Narrative #3SCANLON INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SOCIAL COHESION RESEARCH

It’s a vital issue, because as migrant numbers have increased in thetwenty-first century, so has the share of the population that does not speak English asits first language. Today, 28 per cent of the population was born overseas, the highestproportion in a hundred years. Nearly a quarter of Australians speak a language otherthan English at home. Moreover, many refugees who have migrated this century underthe Refugee and Humanitarian Program come from societies that provide little accessto schooling, or their schooling has been severely disrupted by war, trauma, or long waitsin refugee camps. Teaching English to these newcomers can be a formidable task.Over 71 years, Australia’s main answer to these challenges has beenthe AMEP. About two million migrants have studied in it. The program islegislated and demand-driven, meaning that funding rises or falls with thenumber of students, not the whims of politics – a rare beast in cost-consciousCanberra. In 2019-20, the government expects to spend $259 million on theprogram, more than half of all the money it will spend this year on targeted servicesfor refugees and migrants. Over the years, the AMEP has produced materials,teaching methods and research that have led the world. Students have been able toaccess a personal counsellor to help them with educational and vocational pathwayswhile getting free childcare as they study. No wonder that in May 2017, eight MPs,divided equally between both main parties and including a former AMEP teacher, DrAnne Aly, lined up in the House of Representatives to praise the program’s part in thesuccess of Australian multiculturalism. Yet even as they did, the AMEP was about toexperience perhaps its greatest period of difficulty since its founding.

AMEP is mostly taught by TAFE and this federal government has gutted TAFE, so that's where the problem is.

Originally Posted by bob10

US daily infections smash records, while Spanish virologists have found traces of the Novel Coronavirus in waste water collected in March 2019, nine months before the disease was identified in China. The discovery of the virus genome in Spain , if confirmed, would suggest the disease may have appeared much earlier than thought.

USA daily infections smash record, with 40,000 new cases of coronavirus

I also read some time ago that a case has been confirmed in Paris in December 2019, well before it appeared in Wuhan.
Also, the New York outbreak, which spread across most of the USA, has been confirmed as the Italian strain of C-19. The Chinese strain was found later in Washington.

Originally Posted by scarry

But this was in Qld,borders are shut(except for Mick),no cases for the last week or whatever,and toilet paper is rationed?.FFS.

4bee,it was part of SWMBO's inheritance,and its down Ricks way,old asbestos fishing shack is about all it ishandyman special,and i am not a good handyman.....Dunny out the back,oh,and one inside,wind whistles through the cracks in the walls.Numerous buckets inside to catch the water that drips through whats left of the roof.Needs a restump,the floor sort of slopes one way.
I am sure you get the picture

The border isn't shut, just controlled.
Hundreds of NSW people cross into Qld every day under Qld Entry Pass conditions for work, study or other reasons.
People are still flying into Brisbane every day, and they are not quarantined unless they have come from overseas or from hotspots in Melbourne. There are 3000 in quarantine in Brisbane, which means they arrived in the last fortnight.
Other states and territories have similar regulations. SA has an online entry pass similar to Qld.
9000 people have been granted Federal Government passes to fly out of Oz since March.

This is how it actually works.