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Quote:
Originally Posted by rick130
Agreed, and credit where it's due, NSW has done the bulk of the international arrival quarantine but the rhetoric has been of "suppression" rather than "elimination".
Edit: .... but in this case it was circulating once it escaped and the current mystery cases are a real concern.
Luckily I haven't been anywhere near the peninsula or Sydney for a few years. [emoji12][emoji23]Quote:
Originally Posted by BradC
Quote:
Originally Posted by BradC
These are the Tracys we need:
Contact Tracys - YouTube
Yes, I'm not suggesting NSW has done anything wrong , essentially. And compared to Europe and the USA, we look very good. I'm just a little concerned that the NSW government may be hanging their hat on a COVID fight philosophy that has as it's engine room the back room boys of the conservative movement in Australia, A la Alan Jones & co. from the Sydney Cricket ground trust, to name one. Their philosophy is one of keep business open at all costs normally an admirable aspiration ,but loses it's lustre when it puts the health of citizens at risk.Quote:
Originally Posted by rick130
It begs the question, what standards do we as Australians, accept in this COVID fight? One that keeps share holders and the monied gentry happy, or one that protects all citizens. A loaded question, depends on your position in the social structure, I guess. Is the life of a struggling low income worker worth less than the life of say, Alan Jones? Speaking of the SCG trust, their board membership consists of a who's who of conservative party donors, could this be the reason the cricket is going on, against the advice of many senior health officials in Aus.? Don't want to turn this into something it shouldn't be, but all valid questions that need to be asked.
Speaking about the cricket, and referencing my previous posts on COVID and children, how many 9 or 10 year old's will be at the cricket, without a mask, do you think?
The more we find out about this virus, the more we find we do not know. Can anyone tell me how accurate is the testing being done? What type of test is it that we do? Do all States do the same tests? If we test 30,000 people, how do we get 30,000 accurate results the next day? I have heard of rapid testing, via the ' lateral flow method' , easily giving results in half an hour. Less accurate than the PCR swab test, with a high level of false negatives which is said to lead to the continued spread of the new more infectious variant of the disease.
Apparently the rapid test will pick up those with higher viral levels, thus more likely to pass on the virus. But those with low viral levels could slip thru. They may not pass on the virus as much as the others, but to me it's not desirable to have them wandering about. Another testing technology ' isothermal amplification' [ if any one can explain these things, please do] could reduce the rate of false negatives, according to reports. Which begs the question, what is the false negative percentage of the testing we are currently doing? And how many false negatives should we expect from 30,000 tests? Any way, found this
How accurate are COVID-19 swab tests?
PCR testing
Even the PCR test isn't 100% accurate. Scientists assess the accuracy of tests based on:
Sensitivity: how often people who have COVID-19 are identified as being infected. People who have 'false negative' tests are infected but have a negative result.
Specificity: how often people who do not have COVID-19 are told they are infected. People who have 'false positive' tests are not infected with COVID-19 but get a positive result (for instance, because they're infected with a virus with a similar genetic code).
One review suggests false negative rates of 2-29% for PCR testing, based on a negative PCR test which later becomes positive.Part of the problem lies with the amount of virus RNA present - at the early stages of infection, there may not be enough genetic material for an accurate positive test, even if you are infected with COVID-19. On average, people are most likely to test positive from a couple of days before they develop symptoms until about a week after symptoms begin
Are the new COVID-19 swab tests accurate? Should you get one, do they hurt and other questions answered | Patient
Just pre ordering my Doctors/patients flu vax for about March 2021 today. Been looking at Covid vax for a while wondering what, how, when and who. Flu Vaccines are a mess every year especially if events like a big flu year or the Covid outbreak puts the wind up people. That seems to have hit me for the last three years in a row I feel.
Looking at the US vaccine role out is not pretty at all. Given they knew about it coming for the same time as everyone else and spend a few billion on them. "Vaccination is going slowly because nobody is in charge- We’ve known for months that vaccines were coming. Why weren’t we prepared to use them? " is not a pretty headline I would hate to see here.
The UKs possible deviation from the recommendations for the second dose timing is [bigwhistle].
One seemingly bright example is Israeli with 12% of them already with one does I assume
Predicting which of the several vaccines or specifically, I assume, which one or all of the "4 separate agreements for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines" we may have soon is happily a bit premature.
My hope is we have three to four options and a very effective mass drive up vaccination process. My places Drive up flu vax 2020 worked very well. It will be much improved this year. Noting chatting with council to try and co-ordinate was a waste of time 2020 and sadly it seem a each to there own still with little information flows and joint planning at my low level non existent. Covid19 drive by vaccine will be crazy and fun.
State Gov vaccine distribution is better organized which is why I am at work today reporting for them to arrange this years supplies[thumbsupbig] I have kicked their distribution last year and in 2019. Hoping it works so much better for 2021. Massive rescheduling wastes a lot of time and resources which would be best spent giving vaccinations to those who want and need them.
As far as I am aware, we only use PCR.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob10
There is an Australian company that recently developed a quick test but it's not available in Australia, presumably because it's not accurate enough.
I suspected we were but in a roundabout way. I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slunnie
So according to the Brit article which says the PCR test can give any where from 2 to 29 % false negatives, taking that to halfway, that's probably 3,000 false negatives out of 30,000. Doesn't give me confidence in the testing system. But it's all we have, so we must carry on. What gives me even less confidence is that under those circumstances, Australia relies heavily on the honesty and good virtue of its citizens, a recipe for disaster under normal circumstances.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arapiles
8 more cases in NSW. This caught my attention because of the fact that a BWS store is the focal point here. I buy my Grog from a Dan Murphy's at Kipparing, and not once have my details been taken. However I, like most others, have a Dan Murphy's card which is swiped on payment. I'm assuming this would be the contact data needed for tracing, with my details on the card. Much the same as a club. Hope so , any way.
NSW records eight new COVID-19 cases as Berala cluster grows (msn.com)