Thread: Corona Virus

Originally Posted by Tote

An interesting position we find ourselves in, with vaccination rollout that is unlikely to give us protection to the level that we could allow more travel in the short term, articles in the media are becoming ever more vocal about closing borders further and preventing any overseas travel, dismantling hotel quarantine to focus on a non existent alternative and some states becoming ever more conservative in how they manage the inevitable quarantine breaches that will occur.
It occurs to me that Australia runs a very real risk of being an unvaccinated tinderbox due to our complacency of having very low rates of infection, and that low rate of transmission becoming a driver for the vaccination program to slow even further.

The recent people using NZ as a route to travel overseas is a very good example of how we cannot remain hermits forever and that Australia needs to integrate into a world that will rapidly become one in which corona virus is merely an inconvenience as vaccination rates overseas rise to herd immunity level while we are hiding under a rock.

The point was made over the weekend that over 40% of Australians don't have a passport and don't wish to travel, but the other side of the coin is that 60% do have one and are tiring of government restrictions on travel that are becoming ever harder to justify on a public health basis.

Regards,
Tote

Every one I know wants to be vaccinated. But, where are the vaccines?

Even my anti-vax friends here in anti-vax central aren't this loopy!!


Florida Private School Bars Vaccinated Teachers From Student Contact - The New York Times

Originally Posted by rick130

Even my anti-vax friends here in anti-vax central aren't this loopy!!


Florida Private School Bars Vaccinated Teachers From Student Contact - The New York Times

Even my anti-vax friends here in anti-vax central aren't this loopy!!

Had to have a giggle I can just picture the types you mean Rick.


I wonder whether it can be put into Cappos to take orally?

Originally Posted by Tote

An interesting position we find ourselves in, with vaccination rollout that is unlikely to give us protection to the level that we could allow more travel in the short term, articles in the media are becoming ever more vocal about closing borders further and preventing any overseas travel, dismantling hotel quarantine to focus on a non existent alternative and some states becoming ever more conservative in how they manage the inevitable quarantine breaches that will occur.
It occurs to me that Australia runs a very real risk of being an unvaccinated tinderbox due to our complacency of having very low rates of infection, and that low rate of transmission becoming a driver for the vaccination program to slow even further.

The recent people using NZ as a route to travel overseas is a very good example of how we cannot remain hermits forever and that Australia needs to integrate into a world that will rapidly become one in which corona virus is merely an inconvenience as vaccination rates overseas rise to herd immunity level while we are hiding under a rock.

The point was made over the weekend that over 40% of Australians don't have a passport and don't wish to travel, but the other side of the coin is that 60% do have one and are tiring of government restrictions on travel that are becoming ever harder to justify on a public health basis.

Regards,
Tote

I have to pull you up on a couple of points I'm afraid. Firstly Qld offered to have a quarantine facility near the International airport at Toowoomba ,with federal assistance. On Feb 4th, the owners of Wellcamp said 500 beds could be ready in 5 to 6 weeks. what's that 9 weeks ago? A purpose built facility, with onsite staff.1000 beds on completion. If the federal government paid for construction, Qld would increase it's cap on international arrivals. Our PM said he would write to the Qld Premier. There has been no correspondence so far.

Coronavirus Qld: Toowoomba COVID-19 quarantine facility ‘safer’ than hotel alternative (smh.com.au)

The country was up & ready for vaccinations weeks ago, but the supply side fell down. Does any one know what plan the federal government has now ? Do they even have one ? People want to be vaccinated, they just don't want to be pawns in a political game. As for flights from NZ to overseas, any Aussie doing that will find it very difficult to fly back to Aus. ;

"An Australian Border Force spokesperson told 9News people who want to transit through New Zealand to another destination, "must apply for an outward travel exemption".

"Australian citizens and permanent residents requesting an outwards exemption must acknowledge the risks of travel, and the limited and high cost of return flights to Australia," a spokesperson told 9News.
There are restrictions coming back though, with more than 34,000 Aussies still trying to get home from overseas."

How could it be harder to justify government restrictions on international travel , just look at what is happening overseas, in the EU , India ,Africa And the Americas? As for the USA , no one is allowed to fly internally, or arrive internationally,[ including US citizens] without either being vaccinated, or having had the virus and are over it. Nothing should open up fully until we are vaccinated. It's up to the federal government to make that happen. How hard could it be ?

Originally Posted by bob10

I have to pull you up on a couple of points I'm afraid. Firstly Qld offered to have a quarantine facility near the International airport at Toowoomba ,with federal assistance. On Feb 4th, the owners of Wellcamp said 500 beds could be ready in 5 to 6 weeks. what's that 9 weeks ago? A purpose built facility, with onsite staff.1000 beds on completion. If the federal government paid for construction, Qld would increase it's cap on international arrivals. Our PM said he would write to the Qld Premier. There has been no correspondence so far.

Coronavirus Qld: Toowoomba COVID-19 quarantine facility ‘safer’ than hotel alternative (smh.com.au)

The country was up & ready for vaccinations weeks ago, but the supply side fell down. Does any one know what plan the federal government has now ? Do they even have one ? People want to be vaccinated, they just don't want to be pawns in a political game. As for flights from NZ to overseas, any Aussie doing that will find it very difficult to fly back to Aus. ;

"An Australian Border Force spokesperson told 9News people who want to transit through New Zealand to another destination, "must apply for an outward travel exemption".

"Australian citizens and permanent residents requesting an outwards exemption must acknowledge the risks of travel, and the limited and high cost of return flights to Australia," a spokesperson told 9News.
There are restrictions coming back though, with more than 34,000 Aussies still trying to get home from overseas."

How could it be harder to justify government restrictions on international travel , just look at what is happening overseas, in the EU , India ,Africa And the Americas? As for the USA , no one is allowed to fly internally, or arrive internationally,[ including US citizens] without either being vaccinated, or having had the virus and are over it. Nothing should open up fully until we are vaccinated. It's up to the federal government to make that happen. How hard could it be ?

Good points bob. It is reasons like those that really, really makes one wonder whether the Com. Govt is taking this thing seriously at all. Didn't know about the Well Camp Offer but the AWM can't plan on spending A$500 million & the Govt. say they don't have the dosh to facilitate that Q offer. First things first or there may be nobody around to visit the AWM.

I wonder if it would be different if Q was a Lib Govt? Replies on a dunny roll single sheet please.

Maybe Scomo believing in Prayer might find a magic amount of dosh in the Treasury Bank if he tries hard enough?





I tell yer, I could easily become a Commie right now.

Orright, orright no nasty jibes now.

Without wanting to drag this into the political sphere, I wonder if the government is motivated by the impact of shutting down the hotel quarantine system on the hotel chains that are hosting it? There's a lot of beds in Sydney being sustained by the quarantine business that would otherwise be empty throwing people out of work.
The Wellcamp airport may well be a viable option but I've only heard the plus side for implementing it driven by those who support it. I imagine that if Wellcamp was used then every other state would want to implement remote Quarantine which would probably not work. There's also a difference in the standards that the medical unions would have the government implement and the reality of achieving those standards in a hastily constructed Donga community such as is proposed for Wellcamp. This bloke writes of a very high standard of facility that would be difficult to achieve in a short space of time We need to face the hard truths of hotel quarantine
Some suggestions such as Military bases and Christmas Island are clearly not suitable due to remoteness, lack of facilities or both.

I would have thought that Rottnest Island would be another ideal location but I've not heard anyone championing it, other than Andrew Miller.. I suspect there is a bit of Nimbyism going on here too as I'm sure state premiers would love for quarantine to be far away from capital cities, managed and financed by the federal government so they could get on with running their states and toss rocks at the feds every time someone got infected, I would if I was a Premier.

And FWIW I don't disagree with either of Bob's points but I wanted to explore the effect of a "heads in the sand" approach of closed borders over the longer term. Regardless of the reasons for Austraila remaining isolated there will come a day when as a country we are significantly disadvantaged by this approach and the rest of the world moves on. At the rate that the UK is vaccinating its population that point is looming over the horizon, the same with the US.

Regards,
Tote

Mod hat:
Please keep politics and religion out of it.

Originally Posted by Tote

Without wanting to drag this into the political sphere, I wonder if the government is motivated by the impact of shutting down the hotel quarantine system on the hotel chains that are hosting it? There's a lot of beds in Sydney being sustained by the quarantine business that would otherwise be empty throwing people out of work.
The Wellcamp airport may well be a viable option but I've only heard the plus side for implementing it driven by those who support it. I imagine that if Wellcamp was used then every other state would want to implement remote Quarantine which would probably not work. There's also a difference in the standards that the medical unions would have the government implement and the reality of achieving those standards in a hastily constructed Donga community such as is proposed for Wellcamp. This bloke writes of a very high standard of facility that would be difficult to achieve in a short space of time We need to face the hard truths of hotel quarantine
Some suggestions such as Military bases and Christmas Island are clearly not suitable due to remoteness, lack of facilities or both.

I would have thought that Rottnest Island would be another ideal location but I've not heard anyone championing it, other than Andrew Miller.. I suspect there is a bit of Nimbyism going on here too as I'm sure state premiers would love for quarantine to be far away from capital cities, managed and financed by the federal government so they could get on with running their states and toss rocks at the feds every time someone got infected, I would if I was a Premier.

And FWIW I don't disagree with either of Bob's points but I wanted to explore the effect of a "heads in the sand" approach of closed borders over the longer term. Regardless of the reasons for Austraila remaining isolated there will come a day when as a country we are significantly disadvantaged by this approach and the rest of the world moves on. At the rate that the UK is vaccinating its population that point is looming over the horizon, the same with the US.

Regards,
Tote

Yes, it is a difficult situation. Dare I say,' Unprecedented.? ' I can see your point, and understand where you are coming from. I wish I had a crystal ball, all we can do is hold our breath [ metaphorically] and hope for the best. If the best doesn't come , we have to learn to live with it. As difficult as that may be. Or , in the best Qld tradition, drink rum and carry on.