Thread: Corona Virus

Originally Posted by JDNSW

While you can argue about a particular border closure (if there are no cases on either side, or cases on both sides, its a bit silly), "arbitrary lines on maps", usually with the help of a physical barrier such as a large river , mountain range or ocean, have stopped epidemics for many centuries.

And you seem to be falling into a false dichotomy - it is not an alternative between quarantine measures + mass unemployment + debt versus business as usual, it is the alternative between quarantine measures + mass unemployment + debt versus no quarantine measures + mass unemployment + debt + plus many more deaths and sickness. If the virus is allowed to spread unchecked, most people simply stop "business as usual" because they are frightened. Of course, there is a proportion who will, and we have a very good example of what happens in Scandinavia. Sweden has virtually no quarantine measures (their constitution pretty much prevents it) compared to their neighbours Norway and Denmark, and not only do they have a much higher death rate and a lot more cases, but their economy is almost as badly affected.

I get what you are saying,but even with the borders open,the virus is never going to spread unchecked.There are just two few cases.And the Health Departments are now well experienced and onto every case.
That’s another reason a chance of a second wave here is minimal.

The way some on here are thinking,looks like they hope the borders will be closed for years.....
I bet when she does eventually open the Qld/NSW border there will be no more or less cases than what we have now.

Every day they are shut is taking millions out of the economy.
And we must also remember there is an election here soon,so that will,without doubt, be part of the governments decision making.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

While you can argue about a particular border closure (if there are no cases on either side, or cases on both sides, its a bit silly), "arbitrary lines on maps", usually with the help of a physical barrier such as a large river , mountain range or ocean, have stopped epidemics for many centuries.

And you seem to be falling into a false dichotomy - it is not an alternative between quarantine measures + mass unemployment + debt versus business as usual, it is the alternative between quarantine measures + mass unemployment + debt versus no quarantine measures + mass unemployment + debt + plus many more deaths and sickness. If the virus is allowed to spread unchecked, most people simply stop "business as usual" because they are frightened. Of course, there is a proportion who will, and we have a very good example of what happens in Scandinavia. Sweden has virtually no quarantine measures (their constitution pretty much prevents it) compared to their neighbours Norway and Denmark, and not only do they have a much higher death rate and a lot more cases, but their economy is almost as badly affected.

I just wrote a really long reply and my phone crashed!

I dont think anyone in this entire thread had been anti lockdown, it's achieved remarkable results in terms of suppression, but until a vaccine becomes available we will have outbreaks, from what I've read elimination will be impossible, the best we can hope for is where we are at now.
When we have the inevitable outbreaks, with prompt isolation, contact tracing and testing it will continue to be suppressed, and that relyies on us to do our part too by continuing to keep our distance and maintain hygiene

There comes a time to start tentatively opening things up, and this is happening, but the piecemeal approach by the states, and the hard border closures in particular appear to be cynical political decisions, and in Qld's case to gain approval for a state government that was on the nose only a few months out from an election.
By thumbing their noses at the other states, the respective WA and Qld governments are tapping into an underlying insecurity and antipathy a reasonable % of those state residents feel toward the rest of the country and amplifying what is a reasonable fear of the virus.

It's only my opinion but it doesn't appear to be grounded in sound medical advice, it really does look like a cyclical political decision and it worries me the ongoing social and mental health implications of the continued uncertainty and real fear of people to survive and thrive in the future.

I'm ok, i'll continue to earn and I've faced far worse things from a mental health POV than this pandemic, but for a majority of people this has rattled them, suicides have climbed, the uncertainty is rattling a lot of people.
Work and to ability to earn is actually a brilliant therapy. Not being able to can destroy people and families and communities.

Originally Posted by INter674

One benefit of closing Tassies borders is 4wd Action/24/7 are kept from trashing our tracks and getting them closed to locals aftter they've pocketed money and goods from sponsors!! And of course the knock on effect of encouraging heaps of other 4wd visitors to do the same.

Graham and his mates focus largely on 3 or 4 tracks..2 of which are the focus of survey and possible closure. One actually crosses private land not that 4wd 24/7 ever says so in their selfish money making trips down here..

There's not that many hard tracks left in Tas..and unlike NSW and VIC which has a capacity to rest them..Tassie Depts just close them for good cause they have no money to repair them😞

I sorta like the isolation from that perspective😎

Last time we were on the west coast it was the local boys in Patrols running 35s that were stuffing the tracks, not the tourists. The Main Street of Zeehan was full of them.

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by Tote

Last time we were on the west coast it was the local boys in Patrols running 35s that were stuffing the tracks, not the tourists. The Main Street of Zeehan was full of them.

Regards,
Tote

Local boys live here and pay taxes here and do track/hut maintenance too....and 35s would not be getting them far on the tracks 4wd action are punishing repeatedly .. even 37s struggle nowadays due to wanna bees smashing them up ..so they can say "I've done the xyz track in Tassie" a trip that was no doubt inspired from watching You Tube. We met 5 Vic cars on the Spirit who were going to a track publicized by 4wd action..which was previously only known to and looked after by locals..and now most likely will be closed due to too much pressure😐

We told them not to bother..but they did..we then had to find parts to get them back to Vic..sum total was they achieved one track or two in 10 days. The rest was recovering and chasing parts for major repairs...fun for You Tube content where free parts are available..but not fun for young blokes with angry partners and limited cash reserves.


I'm being totally selfish of course...and no offence to those who do the right thing...just that Tas is small and green pressure is still high here.🙄

Originally Posted by trout1105

You Do realise that what you have done is selfish and hypocritical .
On the one hand you are advocating that NO "Tourists" cross into QLD from NSW citing health reasons and yet you have done Exactly that.
I Agree with you that the hard closures of some of the State borders Have helped to mitigate the spread of this virus and it is too early yet to reopen them But there you go "Border Hopping" without any concern for the health of your fellow Queenslanders and bragging about it.

Not at all. We followed all the rules.
We filled out the online questions and were granted border re-entry passes into Queensland.
The NSW Government makes the rules for NSW so if anyone disagrees they should email Premier GladysB. She says travel within NSW is unrestricted, interstate visitors are welcome and allows gatherings of up to 500.
We followed the usual social distancing practices.
BTW quite a number of NSW residents are already being granted passes to enter Qld for 'essential purposes'. I see NSW number plates in Brisbane.
If you doubt any of this, the answer is simple: apply online for a Queensland border pass, answer the questions honestly and see what happens. Over to you.

News conference with the Prime Minister just now. We have no known cases of covid in NZ currently after our last known case tested negative and is classed as recovered. It has been 17 days since our last new case. Something like 28 days since our last recognised case of community transmission. We are at Level 1 midnight tonight. *sigh* That was hard work.

Live: New Zealand will move to Covid-19 Alert Level 1 | Stuff.co.nz

Coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern announces level 1 move | Stuff.co.nz

Coronavirus: New Zealand is Covid-19-free, last remaining active case has recovered | Stuff.co.nz

Covid 19 coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern reveals when NZ will move to alert level 1 - NZ Herald

Covid 19 coronavirus: Zero! Bring on level 1 - NZ now Covid-free - NZ Herald

Originally Posted by rick130

I just wrote a really long reply and my phone crashed!

I dont think anyone in this entire thread had been anti lockdown, it's achieved remarkable results in terms of suppression, but until a vaccine becomes available we will have outbreaks, from what I've read elimination will be impossible, the best we can hope for is where we are at now.

When we have the inevitable outbreaks, with prompt isolation, contact tracing and testing it will continue to be suppressed, and that relyies on us to do our part too by continuing to keep our distance and maintain hygiene
.

In the last week I've had long Zoom calls with friends in the UK and Canada. Both were still in lockdown and neither were really aware of what the situation was in Australia. Both friends we were speaking to were visibly shocked when I told them that we'd managed to contain deaths here to 102 and that we were now carefully coming out of lockdown. As I said before, we've done really well as a country.

Interestingly, they didn't appear to be at all aware that the BCG vaccine may provide some protection.

You're right that from now on there'll be outbreaks and until there's a viable vaccine, as a member of a high-risk group, I'll be vulnerable. I think that mass-vaccination is at least 3 years away - an effective, safe, tested, reliable vaccine won't be available until late 2021 at the earliest. Production capability is limited when you need to vaccinate an entire country, so the first to get it will be the medical profession and health workers and the most vulnerable - the elderly and those who are immune suppressed and seriously ill, such as with cancer. The rest of us will wait our turn. In my case, I'm going to have to be very careful for the next few years. The only likely relief for me pre-vaccine is if they have a reliable antibody test to confirm whether the flu-like illness that I had in February - when working next to Circular Quay, with passengers wandering around our building - was or wasn't coronavirus.

Originally Posted by windsock

News conference with the Prime Minister just now. We have no known cases of covid in NZ currently after our last known case tested negative and is classed as recovered. It has been 17 days since our last new case. Something like 28 days since our last recognised case of community transmission. We are at Level 1 midnight tonight. *sigh* That was hard work.

Live: New Zealand will move to Covid-19 Alert Level 1 | Stuff.co.nz

Coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern announces level 1 move | Stuff.co.nz

Coronavirus: New Zealand is Covid-19-free, last remaining active case has recovered | Stuff.co.nz

Covid 19 coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern reveals when NZ will move to alert level 1 - NZ Herald

Covid 19 coronavirus: Zero! Bring on level 1 - NZ now Covid-free - NZ Herald

Congratulations to New Zealand.