Thread: Corona Virus

Tennis players coming to Australia were told of the risks of quarantine. It took a Kiwi to state the facts.

Arten Sitak.

"Basically Tennis Australia, the organisers, they told us the risks that we were going to be undertaking and they did mention that if somebody tests positive on the flight, it's going to be up to the health authorities to decide whether to quarantine all the flight or just isolate compartments of the plane.

"Now in our case, where the flight attendant tested positive, of course the whole plane has to be quarantined.
"So knowing the very, very strict rules of the Australian government regarding the virus, after that call, in my mind, I knew that if for some reason somebody tested positive on the plane, I'm going to have to quarantine for 14 days.
"So I was prepared to take that risk and I knew that was a possibility.


"I think we need to put some things into perspective," Sitak said.
"A lot of Australians at the moment cannot get home, because of the restrictions and all that, and we as foreigners, over 1000 people, we're here in Australia, we're going to be competing in a Grand Slam, earning a lot of money.
"And the amount of work that Tennis Australia has put in to organise all this, is absolutely insane - I can't even imagine how much work and how many hours they've put in to make this happen.
"So I just wanted to give a little perspective - we're still lucky to be here.
"It's unfortunate, the circumstances with the quarantine, but that's how it is."


"I think we need to put some things into perspective," Sitak said.
Kiwi tennis ace crushes quarantine myth (msn.com)

That report is an interesting read and whilst its possibly a valid study I can see why it isn't very popular:

The medical community wear masks every day and don't see a problem with it, nor see why the rest of the populace shouldn't have to do the same.
It gives Governments something less than cerfews and lockdowns something to enforce to be seen to be doing so.
It gives people a security blanket to feel that they are doing their bit and lets them portray non mask wearers as bad for society. If you want an example the baying from the medical community before the NSW Govt gave in and made masks compulsory is a good one.
All these things are desirable from a political point of view to enhance population compliance, government approval and to some degree assist in covid control.

On the other side of the coin there are definitely situations where masks are a good preventative measure such as on public transport or in situations where it is not possible to social distance, visitors to aged care facilities etc where the graver consequences merit greater risk mitigation.

The study reported only a small increase in protection but was based on the premise of wearing masks as a general preventative when outside the home, we only need to look at the contact tracing statistics to see that most virus cases are linked to close contacts of a contagious person, where is this contact likely to occur - inside the home or where they are having close contact. The number of mystery cases is small and these are the ones that are most likely to be prevented by mask wearing.

So mask wearing quite probably does not make a statistical difference in covid transmission reduction but it does provide enough benefits in specific situations to be worthwhile and it makes everyone feel better about themselves (particularly those who need to be seen to be doing something)

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by superquag

How does this compare with local masking mandates ? https://www.health.gov.au/sites/defa...al-masks_0.pdf

And the wording in this is interesting...

Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) statement on wearing masks on domestic flights | Australian Government Department of Health

This is the gist of it, as of 8 Jan. (save going to that link)


Mask wearing should be mandatory on domestic flights for all persons* in Australia as an additional preventative measure to prevent geographical spread of COVID-19.

Mask wearing should be mandatory in indoor areas in domestic airports depending on jurisdictional assessment.

To chuck a wooden shoe into the loom....

First, the Danes did a Study on mask effectiveness.... but oddly enough, when finished.... NO Journal wanted to publish !!!
More COVID Censorship: Controversial Danish Mask Study Hits Publication Blockade - The New American

Maybe this is why.... DANMASK-19 – The Bottom Line


DANMASK-19 trial results were not a surprise | The BMJ

Take-home:- Mask compliance AND "correct fitment" are pivotal factors, and they're the Biggies in our Real World.. Otherwise, build up your own bodily immunity / health, and 'don' worry - be 'appy !

Originally Posted by superquag

How does this compare with local masking mandates ? https://www.health.gov.au/sites/defa...al-masks_0.pdf

And the wording in this is interesting...

Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) statement on wearing masks on domestic flights | Australian Government Department of Health

This is the gist of it, as of 8 Jan. (save going to that link)


Mask wearing should be mandatory on domestic flights for all persons* in Australia as an additional preventative measure to prevent geographical spread of COVID-19.

Mask wearing should be mandatory in indoor areas in domestic airports depending on jurisdictional assessment.

To chuck a wooden shoe into the loom....

First, the Danes did a Study on mask effectiveness.... but oddly enough, when finished.... NO Journal wanted to publish !!!
More COVID Censorship: Controversial Danish Mask Study Hits Publication Blockade - The New American

Maybe this is why.... DANMASK-19 – The Bottom Line


DANMASK-19 trial results were not a surprise | The BMJ

Take-home:- Mask compliance AND "correct fitment" are pivotal factors, and they're the Biggies in our Real World.. Otherwise, build up your own bodily immunity / health, and 'don' worry - be 'appy !

There are too many weaknessess in the study for it to be conclusive. And, as stated, it's as important for the mask to be worn to stop the spread of infected particles, as it is to keep you safe.

Weaknesses

• The main benefit of a surgical face mask is to protect others from droplet and aerosol spread, and not the wearer- the study was not designed to investigate this
  
  • Whilst not a weakness per se, it is important that the findings are not misinterpreted
  
  
• Selection bias is likely to have been an issue, with a non-random sample of trial participants recruited to the study mainly through media adverts
• Participants volunteered for enrolment and it is unclear how this sample represented Danish society as a whole
• Participants were only followed up for one month, which is very short for an infection with an incubation period of 14 days
• Participants may have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the study but they did not test positive or become symptomatic during the period under surveillance
• The trial was submitted to the scientific ethics committee of the Capital Region of Denmark but did not require ethics approval, which seems unusual for a randomised controlled trial requiring blood tests on 4,800 people
• There was no oversight from a data safety and monitoring board
• Relying on participants to self-test following the development of symptoms in an unblinded study, is problematic, as is the self-reporting of results by trial participants
• No assessment was made of inter-observer variability in the performance or interpretation of the antibody or PCR tests
• A 50% reduction in SARS-CoV-2 infection seems unrealistic for a single non-pharmacological intervention:
  
  • A sample size of roughly 35,000 would have been required to detect a 20% absolute risk reduction in infection
  • A risk reduction of this magnitude could have major implications, in view of the potential for exponential spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection
  
  
• Crossover from the control to the intervention arm was not investigated nor described, other than in the survey of participant behaviour
• In view of the low prevalence of COVID-19 infection (around 2%), there may have been a large number of false positive antibody tests if the true specificity of the finger ***** antibody test was anything below 98%
  
  • Denmark had a mild first wave of COVID-19 and overall population infection rates during this period were likely significantly less than 2% of the population
  
  
• No statistical correction was made for the antibody test characteristics
• There were zero (0) confirmed PCR infections in the intervention arm. A PCR test is the gold standard for confirming the presence of SARS-CoV-2 infection
• No intention to treat analysis was performed. It is unclear what “did not finalise participation” meant and this exclusion mean that 1,000 participants did not complete the study
• Cafes and restaurants were closed in Denmark during most of the study period, so the impact of face masks in these at-risk settings was not assessed

America's vaccine cupboards are bare.


Federal officials â€" who promised on Tuesday they were starting to release more doses of COVID-19 vaccines to states â€" don't actually have any surplus to give out, according to a new bombshell report from the Washington Post.

The government said it had been previously stockpiling more than 50% of vaccine inventory, saving up enough second doses of COVID-19 shots from Pfizer and Moderna to ensure that everyone who had gotten one shot would be able to get their second booster on time, no matter what. (Both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines are given in two doses, administered three or four weeks apart.)

But, in fact, the Trump administration was already "taking second doses directly off the manufacturing line," according to the Post's report.
That grab-and-go strategy â€" of shipping out vaccine doses just as quickly as they were being manufactured â€" began in December for Pfizer's vaccine, and the same has been true for Moderna's shots since last weekend, according to the Post.


According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than 10 million American adults have begun receiving their shots, since vaccinations began in mid-December.

"It's a crisis," Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine who is also developing a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine, told Insider.

"Our only hope now â€" given how much this virus is accelerating and causing deaths of 4,000 a day â€" is we need to vaccinate the American people at the rate of 1 million to 2 million per day for every day from now until the end of August, and we're not even close to that."

There are no extra COVID-19 vaccines doses left to send to states, despite Trump's health officials promising to release more 3 days ago (msn.com)

Australia's hotel quarantine system is doing it's job, but can still be strengthened. For every 191 cases of COVID-19 found in hotel quarantine, one escapes into the community

Since the start of November until Thursday night, Australia's hotel quarantine system had caught 765 positive cases of COVID-19.
That's more than 10 a day.
From those cases, only four have infected a person outside of quarantine, with just three leading to outbreaks in the community.
A driver in NSW tested positive after transporting international travellers to hotel quarantine, which led to the Berala cluster that forced tens of thousands of people into isolation.
In Brisbane, a cleaner at a quarantine hotel, her partner and several Australians returning home tested positive for the more virulent UK variant of COVID-19, leading to a snap lockdown across the city and 129 people being evacuated from the hotel.
South Australia was thrown into lockdown after a cleaner and two security guards at a quarantine hotel tested positive and were linked to the Parafield cluster, in which 33 people caught the virus.
A genetic study in NSW showed a worker at a quarantine hotel in Darling Harbour caught the virus from an airline crew staying there, but she did not infect anyone else.
And earlier last year, breaches in hotel quarantine led to Victoria's second wave.

Professor Lyn Gilbert said the group would "be updating advice", particularly in light of the arrival of the highly transmissible UK COVID-19 variant.
"The ICEG has always acknowledged that SARS-CoV-2 can spread via aerosol transmission under [some] conditions, but evidence suggested that this was relatively uncommon," she said.

"It is likely that the frequency of such transmission is increased with the more transmissible strain."


Experts call on Federal Government to acknowledge possible airborne transmission of COVID-19 in hotel quarantine (msn.com)

Qld records one new case in quarantine, and no cases of community transmission linked to the Hotel Grand Chancellor. But it's early days yet, and we must not get complacent , Dr Young said. Testing rates are down, and must be lifted. Compliance with coronavirus directions have been high across the State. No fines in the last 24 hours and only 28 masks had to be handed out, says the State disaster co-ordinator Steve Gollschewski, with 2, 491 passengers processed thru our domestic airports and 4,848 vehicles at our borders,in the last 24 hours. 40 people have been turned away at our borders in the same time period.

864 tests conducted in relation to the Hotel cluster, no positive results. The time frame is 1:AM Friday 22nd.

Originally Posted by bob10

Tennis players coming to Australia were told of the risks of quarantine. It took a Kiwi to state the facts.

Arten Sitak.

"Basically Tennis Australia, the organisers, they told us the risks that we were going to be undertaking and they did mention that if somebody tests positive on the flight, it's going to be up to the health authorities to decide whether to quarantine all the flight or just isolate compartments of the plane.

"Now in our case, where the flight attendant tested positive, of course the whole plane has to be quarantined.
"So knowing the very, very strict rules of the Australian government regarding the virus, after that call, in my mind, I knew that if for some reason somebody tested positive on the plane, I'm going to have to quarantine for 14 days.
"So I was prepared to take that risk and I knew that was a possibility.


"I think we need to put some things into perspective," Sitak said.
"A lot of Australians at the moment cannot get home, because of the restrictions and all that, and we as foreigners, over 1000 people, we're here in Australia, we're going to be competing in a Grand Slam, earning a lot of money.
"And the amount of work that Tennis Australia has put in to organise all this, is absolutely insane - I can't even imagine how much work and how many hours they've put in to make this happen.
"So I just wanted to give a little perspective - we're still lucky to be here.
"It's unfortunate, the circumstances with the quarantine, but that's how it is."


"I think we need to put some things into perspective," Sitak said.
Kiwi tennis ace crushes quarantine myth (msn.com)

Selective reporting there - I watched the interview with him yesterday and what is mentioned above is correct BUT he also added that a large number of players or their representatives were not at that online briefing so missed these requirements and it would seem Vic/Tennis authorities did not chase up anyone not at the briefing - so a number of players were not aware of these requirements.

Originally Posted by 101RRS

Selective reporting there - I watched the interview with him yesterday and what is mentioned above is correct BUT he also added that a large number of players or their representatives were not at that online briefing so missed these requirements and it would seem Vic/Tennis authorities did not chase up anyone not at the briefing - so a number of players were not aware of these requirements.

You should open the link, instead of going off half cocked.