moneypenny20

My neighbours didn't have people round last night for the first weekend since this started. Why? Because they piled into their RV and went somewhere for the night instead. Presumably someone else's house. However they did have people round Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe they just don't like each other enough to spend time together without other people there as well.

scrubbedexpat098

yep, nothing to do with fatigue, everything to do with being a dickhead. I can understand businesses being tempted to open up earlier than may be advisable, that's their livelihood, but the crowds on beaches and parties etc, these just selfishness in the extreme.

GarryP

From next weekend the banana benders will be able to
- Go for a drive (within 50km of home)
- Ride a motorbike, jetski or boat for recreation
- Have a picnic
- Visit a national park
- Shop for non-essential items

of course, they are already doing all of these, and more, and none of them should ever have been restricted since they really don't increase risks. However its a small step in the right direction.

scrubbedexpat098

it's the contact with other people that's been limited by banning those activities that's been the step in the right direction. People have proven time and again that they can't be trusted to use common sense so they've needed it spelling out to them. Give them an inch, they'll take a mile

Amazulu

Reading this thread this morning and an ad for this was on the sidebar:
https://www.newchic.com/hats-and-cap...ml?rmmds=theme

WTF!!

scrubbedexpat098

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1581...3/?d=null&vh=i

This should clear things up

carcajou

Premier Mark McGowan has announced a relaxation of some restrictions in Western Australia. The "two person limit" is now a "ten person limit."

Home openings, display villages etc can now open for a maximum of ten people. Wedding attendance can now be increased to ten people.

Some outdoor recreation now allowed provided no shared equipment, social distancing is maintained and the ten-person limit is maintained.

Regional lockdown will remain in force.

There were no new cases in Western Australia yesterday. There are currently 55 active cases in the state - of that, 16 are in hospital and 4 in ICU.

Yesterday's single case was from the Costa Luminosa cruise ship - however that person did not become symptomatic until after the 14-day period. Health Minister Roger Cook says it is possible that person just had a long incubation period, or they actually caught it in Perth and not on the cruise ship. That person was travelling with family; Cook said investigations are ongoing.

Cook also announced that all 17 cases in the Kimberley Region have now recovered, and that the Kimberley no longer has any active cases.

carcajou

Apparently very nice weather in Perth today and that has caused the West Coast Highway (coastal road in Perth's northern suburbs) to be "packed like sardines" with people and this came up at the Premier's press conference today. Agree that people have been acting selfish but I also think that low case numbers has led to complacency and a relaxation of the mindset.

Beoz

Picnic? Any rules for the amount of people?

None of this is any where on the same level as a trip to Coles. Not seen any outbreaks from Coles.

scrubbedexpat098

yep, it all seems a bit like stopping a course of antibiotics 2 days in because you feel better. Thing is it won't be those that are flouting rules and taking chances with other people's health that will pay the price. Fine the living daylights out of them I reckon, they'll learn the hard way.

The Bloke

Yes, the Chinese made big mistakes and the people who did paid for that, but at least once the central government found out, the reaction was quick and decisive. they didn't bumble around like other countries have done. It may have started there, but the Spanish Flu was started by Americans last century, and I don't recall anyone griping about that or the pandemic that swept through Australia after colonisation. The only reason there is such an outcry over this one is that certain politicians in the US and of course, Australia, decided they could get good political milage through the media, to blame somebody because they were so slow, like 2 months, in getting organised after initially saying what a good job was done, and also the use of social media by the far-right to push their propaganda that has the country in an uproar.

Yes, I would have been happy to be tested because it would have given me peace of mind, and it's also not as difficult as people make out.
In China, it definitely is mandatory for returning citizens from abroad to be tested and also people to be quarantined and tested when returning to either their home province OR city/town.....you don't leave until you have had at least 2 negative tests within that 14 days. I was lucky they reduced ine in Zhongxiang as I had a green health certificate from the Yichang authorities and you can't use any public transport, bus, train, taxi, DIDI or aircraft, now unless you either show either a green heacth code by scanning the QR code with your phoen or have a current paper certificate,

As to the numbers, i rely on the old saying of lies, damn lies and statistics, especially with the low rate of testing done here and the lax restrictions that slowly were put in place, which most have been ignored anyway.

I'm just wondering how many cases have fallen through the cracks (again I will cite the guy who was cleared in NSW and flew back to Brisbane and was positive) and so no wonder "the curve" is being flattened. There is also no daily checking of detainees to ensure there health s they only rely on what people tell them and definitely no fresh air, only recycled air-conditioning that takes air from all over the buildiing and sends back to every room, surprisingly air-con does tend to spread airborne pathegins around the system.

carcajou

I think Chinese State Media may not have told you some things while you were there, that we know here. One is that the central government's response was not "swift and decisive." They sat on information for months, and among other things, actually arrested and convicted the doctors who first identified the virus and raised the alarm in show trials. The central government has also been uncooperative with foreign governments requesting medical information about the virus, and also loudly protested any sorts of restrictions that were being put in place by other countries. Few, if any, actually believe the reported figures coming out of China, for very good reason.

The restrictions that have been put in place in Australia have not been largely ignored by the people. A small number have tried to defy them but most people have abided by them. The curve has actually flattened. That is not a myth spouted by a lazy, lying and stupid Western Government. The hospitals were cleared out (another example of good preparation here) and are mostly empty, which is why elective surgeries are re-starting. Several posters here have been in hospitals during this period and can vouch they are not overflowing with COVID patients being hidden by the government.

I would also guess the reason there weren't complaints about Spanish Flu spreading here from the US, was because it didn't spread here from the US. It's generally accepted that it started in Western Europe in 1916 and circulated among troops fighting in World War I, who then brought it back to their home countries. That's based on documented British medical journals identifying symptoms and patterns consistent with it dating back to army field hospitals in 1916.

old.sparkles

My guess would be that the numbers in Australia are a more accurate reflection than those for other countries.

Anyone with symptoms has been able to get a test in some states for more than a week now, with no surge of new cases.

Also, estimates of the mortality rate are in the 2% to 5% range in most reports I've seen. Latest figures are 83 deaths, and 5523 recoveries - so a mortality rate of approx 1.5%. So either the numbers are close to accurate, or there are a whole load of unreported deaths out there.

Compare that with UK numbers. Deaths in hospitals is 20319, and there are an estimated 7500 deaths in care homes not currently included, so a total of 27819. Even if we were to assume a high end mortality rate of 5%, and all remaining cases recovered. That would give 556,380 cases in UK where current number is reported as 148,377 - or more than 400,000 cases not reported, not tested! If the mortality rate were actually only 1.5% as here, the total number of cases in the UK would rise to more than 1.8 million based on number of deaths.

Finally, if you want to believe that all the deaths have been reported, and mortality is 5% (about the worst case I can imagine), then the UK should still have more than 400,000 cases compared with the 148,377 reported.

Beoz

Big Mistakes ...... continually allowing wet markets after SARS and the Spanish Flu. The Spanish Flu is thought to have started in China and transmitted to the soldiers in WW1.

China has no defence. It has nothing. It is currently the world's scum for failing to prevent it again after being the source of previous pandemics travelling from animals to humans.

And this whole saving face culture. There will never be an apology nor an effort to curb the evil ways

GarryP

Something to take into account, with that whole 'flattening the curve' thing?

When they started on this the rule of thumb was 20% of those that get it end up in hospital, and 5% end up in intensive care. From that came the idea that you needed to cut the infection rate such that the ICU could cope with the numbers.

Later the statement was that 50% of those that went onto forced ventilators wouldn't make it.

Actually, turns out that was more hope than anything, and wasn't based on the evidence. They just thought that they should be able to manage that. The reality is that 90% of those that go onto force ventilation die of this disease. It really doesn't make much difference.

Upshot is all that focus on building more ventilators, and the emphasis on keeping the infection rate low enough that the ICU could cope (flattening the curve), are all red herrings. If you get it, there is a certain probability you are going to die, and there's not much they can do about that.

You want to save people, stop them catching it in the first place.