Beoz

Would also be good to see the daily testing graph numbers too. Obviously you will test positive the more people tested. I think they said they are capping out at 10,000 per day now, but was it always 10,000?

Scared ... agree ..... don't let the people get complacent.

carcajou

Yes, it is different, and "pupil-free" doesn't necessarily mean "pupil-free."

I'll just use WA for an example but really Qld and SA will be following the same model, perhaps on slightly different timescales.

Next week will be the last week for lessons, but really that ship has long since passed - most schools now at 20-30% attendance and normal operations are impossible at that level. It will probably sink even lower in the coming days.

The last week of term, no normal lessons will happen. Any kid showing up will be put in a common room likely to do some on-line thing for the whole day with rostered supervision. The teachers will be converting their programs to on-line best they can. So it is "open," and kids can come, but they won't be getting a "school experience" and it is heavily discouraged.

The same arrangement will be for Term 2, if a kid shows up, they will be in a supervised common room but no timetabled lessons will occur. It is all on-line, not an a-la-carte where the parent and kid are choosing if they want online or face-to-face classroom instruction on any given day. They can do the online at home, or come to school and do the same exact online lesson anyways. Social distancing measures will be in place (so they won't be socialising and hanging out with their mates) and extra functions like canteen/school lunches won't be happening. All extra-curricular activities were stopped in Western Australia a few weeks ago anyways and I would imagine elsewhere too.

All teachers and staff will be expected to continue reporting to school.

The states are judicious about what kids they want showing up - kids of doctors, nurses, police, etc - "essential workers" - that kind of essential worker, not an essential worker as defined by Scott Morrison the other night as being everyone. The school is intended to be a last resort - government is expecting parents to do everything possible to keep the kid at home including organising paid daycare if that's the only other option. Mum should not be dropping off Junior because she can't bear him anymore and needs a break. If a kid acts like a turkey, refuses to do their online work etc - the school will be making someone come get him or her.

GarryP

I debated as to whether to post it, but I think some good news is worthwhile, even if it's not a fix, just a sign that previous actions are having an effect. We could do with some happy news.

If they were testing more and finding less new cases, that's a good thing too.

Problem is, if you don't hammer the community cases then pretty soon we'll be back in the same mess as we currently are - and I have a sneaking suspicion that trump is going to point to this kind to effect to say that he can reduce the US actions well before they have actually fixed the real underlying problem.

carcajou

As of now, Western Australia has begun implementing regional and local lockdowns. The borders to the Kimberley have been closed, as well as the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku (this is where Warburton is, on the Great Central Road connecting the Goldfields to Uluru) and parts of the Shire of East Pilbara.

I believe user stevenglish1 is currently in the Shire of East Pilbara. However this closure does not impact access to Newman, the parts that have been closed are to some indigenous communities.

There is significant concern in Western Australia about the potential impact on indigenous communities if the virus takes hold there and efforts are being made to isolate them until the situation passes. Those with connections to reserves were asked to return a few days ago. Though that also created problems as some were concerned about lack of testing to see if they had the virus before returning to the indigenous reserves.

There has also been talk of closing the borders to the South West region, to prevent any infections arriving from Perth during the Easter holiday coming up soon. The town of Walpole, a popular holiday resort, is already taking steps to move tourists on.

Today 26 new cases were reported in Western Australia, slightly down on previous days, with only one new case in the regions - and this was the first case in the Pilbara. All regions in Western Australia have now reported cases except the Gascoyne.

Beoz

Massive testing seems to be the reason Germany, Australia and South Korea aren't seeing massive death rates. Speaking with a Spanish colleague in Madrid who has it, wife has it, and kids with symptoms, he says the only way to get a test is if you are in a life and death situation and present yourself at emergency. For all else, stay isolated and get over it.

Beoz

NSW Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant says the number of cases in the state stands at 1405.
Of those, 877 are overseas acquired and 278 are locally acquired through contact with a confirmed case or known cluster.
The number of locally acquired cases where the source is unknown now stands at 145.
"That has increased and as the Premier said, that is the group that most concerns us because it represents community transmission without a known source," Dr Chant said.

This is the same premier that said, schools in the state will remain open, but has encouraged parents to keep their children at home to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Did she honestly think parents most parents are capable of that?

GarryP

They don't need to be buying tests, they need to be building the factory to churn out tests, in fact more than one factory. And patents etc. can go hang.

They will need many tens of millions of tests by the end of this, the kind that's both accurate and takes 10mins to run.

Beoz

Indeed.

Every country who has been able to test test test and act on those results is a success story.

Even the town of Vo in northern Italy is an example of how extensive testing works.

Bring on the test factory.

louie

I don't often stray into the Barbie but I saw this thread title and was interested how other people were doing and thought I might let you know how we are getting on. Then I remembered why I don't come here often. First dozen or so threads were indeed about how people were coping then the thread became the usual quasi-political tooing and froing. Couldn't someone have started another thread for general discussion of the virus and how to deal with it and left this one on topic for once?

It's interesting to see the changing attitudes to long term nomads like us. Until very recently we were a welcome lifeline to struggling rural communities, buying stuff and thus spending money in their shops (unlike the locals who head off to the big smoke to stock up in Coles every few months, we don't have the space to store things in any quantity) and keeping pubs open with our patronage etc. Now we are pariahs, the local stores won't sell to outsiders and we can just go away. But where are we supposed to go? There are thousands like us, either permanently on the road or maybe on long service leave or whatever, who have no permanent home to go to, either because they don't own a home or have let it out whilst they have their big adventure. We can't click our fingers and disappear.

Seems to me we are damned if we do, damned if we don't whatever we do. Maybe the vans with out of state registrations you see (and I've quoted Carcajou just because he's the one that first mentioned caravans) are trying to get home or maybe the caravan park they were staying in has closed or Walpole has kicked them out and they are trying to find somewhere else to go. Maybe the vans with in state registrations are trying to get home. Maybe people are trying to get back to their local communities and families even if they don't have a home to go to. Maybe they've been somewhere remote and are doing as requested and leaving. Don't assume everyone you see on the road is merrily heading off on holiday in contravention of the guidance. And maybe have some empathy for people in that position, like the family of four in this park a few days ago, the parents (both teachers) having taken long service leave, "home schooling" the kids for a year to experience this wide brown land, now stuck somewhere for months far from friends and family and unable to go home as it's been rented out. Not the adventure they had hoped for!

And back on topic, how are we doing? We've been travelling round South Australia (our "home" state) for months now and are coincidentally at the moment in sight of where we started out on our adventure. The plan for this year had been to head east and travel up the coast from Sydney to Brisbane, pretty much the only area (except the Gibb River Road and Rottnest) we wanted to "do", which we've not done. That was delayed as our citizenship ceremony was earlier this month (just sneaked in before the ban on public gatherings) and then again when it became a possibility, then likelihood, then reality that if we left the state we wouldn't be able to get back in. We had bookings for several caravan parks south of Adelaide in the run up to and over Easter; the first of those is now closed and whilst technically we are at the moment at least allowed to travel, we have decided to stay here for the duration. If we can. This park has no permanent residents so may well close. It will be a big pain in the wallet, this being an expensive park, and the parks we've prepaid aren't offering refunds, but so be it, it's a nice place to be. And when this is over? Who knows!

I'll try and put something about our nearly five years in Oz in the Update forum in the next couple of days.

moneypenny20

I don't know why the Australian forum is unable to carry a thread without it getting political. It certainly is boring and unnecessary especially when people from all walks of life and political persuasion around the world are getting sick and dieing.

I hope you find somewhere you can park up that doesn't cost the earth and have shops happy to sell to you. I've seen reports, could be bogus, could be true, of health professionals being turned away from some shops because they could be infected! This is the time we should help each other more than ever, however humans are not perfect and some are ****ed. Take care and I look forward to hearing of your travels.

Charismatic

Yes, the PPE and testing issues aren't good but your governments are having thousands of 'thoughts and prayers' domestically manufactured as we speak.

It is just completely unprecedented that Australia would face the same global pandemic European countries where facing weeks prior. That's why it has caught us so unprepared.

carcajou

Well, correction: BHP has banned its mining workers from entering the towns of Newman, in the Shire of East Pilbara, and the town of Port Hedland over infection fears. I imagine all of the companies there are not far off from such restrictions and so therefore user stevenglish1 may be impacted.

The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River in the state's South West has asked anyone who does not have permanent accommodation - "those who sleep in vehicles" such as caravans etc - to either secure permanent built accommodation in the shire for the next 3-4 months, or to leave and "go to Perth immediately where more health resources, crisis and budget accommodation is available." The Shire says it is concerned that its limited health facilities will not be able to cope with an influx of ill holidaymakers, or holidaymakers who turn ill while there, and that there are virus transmission concerns over caravaner and backpacker use of public facilities for laundry, showers, toilets etc. The Shire is likely to close these facilities shortly.

The City of Busselton is also looking at taking similar action.

There continue to be widespread rumours that the South West is going to follow the Kimberley, and be locked down. If I understand correctly, both the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River and the City of Busselton are requesting that the government implement a lockdown happen in short order.

Beoz

Australia certainly has the benefit of learning from the past weeks experiences of other countries. Natural borders do help too.

I see the number of arrivals, 7000 compared to 48000 same time last year has given state governments the ability to bus them straight from the airports to a hotel for the 2 week isolation, so they can focus solely on the community transmission. Good plan.

carcajou

Premier Mark McGowan announces Western Australia will be locked down by region, starting Tuesday. $50,000 fines will be in place for non-essential travelers leaving their region without permission.

cresta57

All news reports were saying the border is closed with just three roads remaining open: The M1, Gold coast Hwy & Griffith St. No mention of the main highways further West New England at Jennings & the Newell at Goondawindi more than half of the interstate freight comes in on those two roads I'm guessing because they're not on the Gold Coast they don't exist for the purpose of reporting.