Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcement?
 

It doesn't make sense. Why on earth did Dom Perrottet not have the NSW CHO present when he made the announcement about scrapping hotel quarantine?There's an overwhelming sense of dread that political decisions are over-riding medical opinion out of political expediency (Scomo's forthcoming announcement of a snap election - to be held before the NSW health system collapses under the burden of thousands of covid cases).

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...2176b39fd.jpeg

When questioned by a journalist why Dr Chant was absent from today's press conference. "Perrottet argued that there were various messages the “public needed to hear” on different days."

When politicians control the messaging and decide what the people who elected them (that's open to interpretation in Perrottet's case) "need to hear" that starts looking like Fascism 101 to me :unsure: .

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Don't worry .... the Queensland CHO had her say.

In Queensland, chief health officer Jeannette Young was notified via “a very brief text message” of the huge change.

“There has just been an enormous decision this morning that I haven’t been able to get my head around so I need to go and work out what that change means,” she said.

Poor lady ........ she needs to take a little lie down at lunch time.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

By the way, on this topic, I don't believe there is much difference to letting in double dosed vaccinated travellers to what is expected from our own citizens anyway in NSW. Everyone is expected to be double dosed vaccinated in NSW so you are just letting in the same protected people anyway, and NSW already has Covid circulating so letting the virus in becomes a moot point. Even better, international travellers need to be tested for Covid before departing and on arrival so there's an extra safeguard anyway. We don't run around testing all the double vaccinated citizens of NSW so why not, let the international travellers in. I don't think it needs a CHO's approval to do the maths on this one.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

and Twitter is proving that sometimes humour can be a good way of dealing with trauma. People are astonished at what they're seeing. This kinda

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Excellent news - NSW is leading the way as usual. It's consistent with what the majority of the western world is already doing - quarantine free travel for vaccinated people has been a reality in many parts of the world for months now. Sometimes with pre-departure Covid tests which provide an extra layer of protection.

Covid is circulating in NSW - like lots of other infectious diseases - so scrapping quarantine for the vaccinated makes sense.
Of course, this only works in jurisdictions which have moved on from zero Covid and where the vaccination rate is high (like NSW). But essentially, it's in line with medical evidence backed up by epidemiologists.
Vaccinated people are not the drivers of the pandemic. Everybody will get Covid at some point anyway. Get vaxxed.

It will be great for all those who have families overseas - and for those thousands of Aussies/residents who have been unable to return home for months.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Yes its very good new for those who have been unable to return home for months. Have you been able to book a flight? There's about 45,000 people registered with DFAT wanting to get back.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

I had a flight booked on 1 October but it was cancelled due to the current flight caps so airlines were severely overbooked and had to offload many passengers. I was unable to rebook as there were no available tickets back to Australia for the rest of the year.
Today's announcements are a true step forward - with caps for vaccinated people being lifted - and will allow so many Australians to resume their life back home.

I don't envisage case numbers to go up substantially after today's announcements as there is quite a strong safety net (vaccination, pre-departure tests and other public health measures e.g. masks). Also, the purpose of quarantine is to separate healthy people who have been exposed to the virus, and therefore, could become infectious, from other healthy people who have not been exposed to the virus. Greater Sydney is no different than e.g. Europe or the US where Covid is circulating so quarantine for incoming travellers who are vaccinated and tested negative doesn't really make much sense anymore. And it looks like NSW will hit >90% vaccination rate in November anyway so that's another reason to move on.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

That's rather concerning, maybe the airlines will start ramping up to meet the increased demand.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Yes, they will. My travel agent has just confirmed that Singapore Airlines will be opening SIN-SYD inventory for sale shortly.
Given that the planes were basically flying empty at just 10% capacity and some flights have turned into cargo-only flights, it will be relatively easy for the airlines to start freeing up more seats and tickets.
Nothing like pre-Covid but it's a start...

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Yes its a start, there's a few thousand Australians stranded in and around Singapore who will be eagerly waiting for those additional seats to become available.

TheStraits Times is saying this about SIA. If I were you I'd be waiting on the SIA website at 12pm Singapore time on Saturday just in case your agent isn't that quick off the mark, those tickets are going to sell out in minutes.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

It's a chicken and egg situation. The airlines aren't going to fly at a loss if there's caps, and those travellers wishing to return will remain stranded. If the caps get removed for Sydney, airlines will fly bringing both stranded and other travellers in. For Sydney and Melbourne, there is no goal of zeros anymore, they just need to open the international borders with no quarrentine. There is no need for it once the vax rate is at a certain level and we are living with the virus, which is where Sydney is at now, and Melbourne very soon.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

.....I forgot to add that Morrison is going to ensure that only those with Australian residency and citizenship will be allowed in to NSW. The Feds control the issuing of entry visas, not the states. That should allow people to return to NSW before its borders are open to tourists. Perrottet is all pi$$ and vinegar at the moment, but he'll get brought into line soon enough, just like Gladys was.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Perrottet planted the seed and boom, the feds reacted. Aim for everything, and get something. Perrottet got exactly what he wanted. It wasn't that long ago they made the agreement the "WHOLE" country must be at a certain level of vaccination before any international travel was possible. Well that changed swiftly. Won't be long now until the tourists are back in Sydney.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Good article here. I dare say the typical SMH reader won't be happy with it, but there you go.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/...16-p590hy.html

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

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Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Very good article which touches a sore point.

"The treatment some Australians have dished out to each other - and particularly to those overseas - has been shameful. We will not look back at this element of our pandemic management with any pride. No other country sought to treat its own in the way that every Australian political leader chose to. Sadly, their approach was by and large supported by the public. The bulk of society appeared unmoved by the trauma imposed by the border closures on ordinary Australians (...)."

It is obvious that the hotel quarantine system and the related flight caps resulted in great despair amongst those who tried to come back, often multiple times without luck.

I found it strange that a lot of people back in Australia seemed to believe that there were only 2 options: Let Australians come back (in a safe way) OR accept many deaths. There was nothing in between which completely ignored that fact that some other countries have also managed the pandemic relatively well without locking out their citizens. The failure was within inadequate infection control protocols - not returning Australians.

I once talked to an ex-ADF guy who had also been trying to return to Australia without success for many months - and he was appalled to be essentially being locked out of the country for which he once fought, saying that this is not what the Anzac spirit is about. You never leave a man behind.

I believe that there could have been a much more humanitarian approach.
If the government doesn't trust its people to home quarantine - then why was this app (for home quarantine) only developed so late in the pandemic? I am not an IT expert but I don't think it's that hard and could have been done a lot earlier. This would have allowed Australians to come back home in a safe way. Or why are many Queenslanders still stranded in NSW? Because the Qld government doesn't trust them to drive back to their homes and quarantine there - instead they need to catch a plane and burden the already overstretched hotel quarantine system.

Stranded Aussies (interstate and overseas) have been the casualties of the zero Covid pursuit.

Anyway, not going to dwell over spilt milk and I am glad that this dark chapter is hopefully over and NSW leading the way - again, excellent news. Thousands of available tickets have been made available and I will soon be able to come back home.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

All of the active outbreaks currently occurring in Australia stem from breaches of quarantine. Despite all of the security, the restrictions on movement and limited number of people entering confinement people have died because one or two people have done the wrong thing.

They're put into hotel quarantine because at least they can be daily monitored there, get fed so there's no need to risk a visit to the supermarket, they can't go to work and infect their co-workers or just pop-out to the chemist for a box of aspirin. There are only a limited number of hotels that are suitable for this use, and when infected people are found there are so few that they are able to be moved out of the hotels into local hospitals that are able to treat them without becoming overwhelmed.

All of the people who choose to travel during a pandemic do so at their own risk, when people choose to leave Australia there are measures in place to ensure that their departure is long term - that they're not going to come back after a few months and put extra pressure on the system at a time when genuine returnees are desperate to get home.

In my opinion people who 'game the system' and boast how they lied in order to leave Australia (i.e. said they were going away long term when they weren't) should get to the back of the queue when trying to get back in. To be honest it offends me when they bitch and moan about 'fortress australia' and a loss of mateship when they can't.

Everyone is doing it hard, some harder than others. There are people on this forum who are on their own and desperate to go back to the UK to be with family - they aren't able to 'game the system' and leave.

There are Queenslanders living in tents with young children just over the border because they left Queensland when the borders were open and got trapped when they slammed shut. They're living on the charity of strangers, having their benefits cut off because they're not in their usual place of habitation. Some are desperately sick with chronic illnesses and aren't able to get the medical attention they need. Some are finding out their homes have been broken into because they've been unoccupied for so long. They aren't able to stay with family and friends or find work in vaccination centres while they while away the time and travel around Europe

So don't you dare come here telling us how hard done by you are and how the Australian sense of mateship no longer exists because you can't get back in when you want to and have been forced to wait like you should. Believe me the mateship definitely exists in Australia and it has been strengthened during the pandemic, but some people's sense of entitlement prevents them from realising it.

No doubt in a few weeks you'll be back complaining how unfair it is that tickets to Australia are soooo expensive because of the demand and supply. How the airlines are making a killing at the expense of good honest hardworking Australians. I don't think you'll appreciate the irony of that.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

That's incorrect. The current Sydney outbreak which was not stopped from entering Victoria by Victoria was the result of a limo driver, who had been offered vaccine at the time due to his age, but had refused. The limo driver was transporting freight crew who aren't required to hotel quarrentine for 14 days due to their quick turn around for arrival and departure. Had this happen today, which probably is happening, we would be none the wiser as we are now living with the virus. There is no need for hotel quarrantine or quarrentine of any sorts now.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Qld is now trialling home Q for those stranded interstate. But with some strange conditions which are making it nearly impossible for many families.
They have eaten humble pie over the "no food deliveries" and in "extenuating circumstances" you can now do contactless supermarket deliveries. But you must fly in to Brisbane before driving to your home to quarantine. All those families stuck at the border have their vehicles with them, So they have to abandon their own vehicles, fly to Brisbane, Somehow arrange for a car to get to their quarantine premises and keep that car for two weeks so they can use it to get to the testing stations on 4 occasions. People are not being trusted to drive 50km across the border to their own homes.
The system is crackers, and it almost seems like they are putting as many obstacles in the way as possible.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

It's seems the rhetoric from The Palette and Sidekick Young has changed in the last week. They seem resigned to the fact that Covid is coming, either by accident or the pressure to open up, humanity/decency reasons, and the vaccination push from these two is ramping up.

Current projections for 80% in QLD is 38 days away. No doubt Brisbane will get there well before that but the rest of the state might be a struggle. Interesting times.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

As already mentioned, this is wrong. The Sydney outbreak originated in a limo driver who chose not to get vaccinated and didn't wear a mask - while transporting freight crew, not travellers. Until they invent planes that are able to operate without pilots and crew, there will always be ongoing risk. Australia is heavily reliant on imports such as medical supplies - including vaccines. So there will always be situations where people from outside need to enter Australia. Zero risk will never be possible.

Just proves my point that the system is based on the premise that "people can't be trusted". Allowing people to quarantine in their homes or AirBnBs would be much more suitable and they are readily available at scale. Combine this with provision of adequate services (e.g. contactless home delivery, phone support) and maybe an app that randomly checks your location for compliance, this would not lead to an overwhelmed hotel quarantine system. Hotel quarantine could still be offered to those who don't have a suitable place to quarantine.

Your comment implies that people just chose to travel for fun and trick the system. Very bold statement. Life events happen, with or without a pandemic. You apparently read an article and judge me (and others) on the basis of a catchy headline. I didn't trick the system nor did I lie. I stated that I would leave > 3 months (which I did) to care for a family member following surgery (which I did). Newspapers / editors need to sell their papers so they will usually choose a sensationalist headline but that's hardly the fault of anyone else.

Nobody has an issue to line up to get back in - but the system was never based on a fair first come first serve basis. There was no queue. People who had flights booked back months in advance were suddenly bumped off their flights while celebrities or people who could afford expensive tickets were able to jump the queue. I much prefer the NZ approach were you had to book your quarantine spot on a first come first serve basis in order to be eligible to book a flight back - rather than the "Hunger Games" which happened within the Australian system where airlines were essentially the ones running the system.

I am not complaining or whinging - I am aware that I am in a lucky position, having been able to stay with family and being able to work. I was speaking about all the others you have described who have found themselves in very dire situations. I really feel for them. But again, you take a low shot at me, implying that I am travelling around Europe while the reason for my trip was rather different.
And isn't it sad that Queensland locks out their own citizens like that? As Pollyanna has mentioned, the home quarantine criteria by the Qld goverment are ridiculously high so only a fraction of those people are eligible. I really feel sorry for them.

I prefer discussing ideas and topics - not taking shots at individuals.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

The standard fall back position when arguing the topic doesn't give them the desired outcome.

Don't feel you need to justify your life to those not looking to move forward. We are only in a position where we can't live our lives with freedom because of narrow minds. For me, stopping citizens from entering their own country or state is one of the most disgraceful acts of this pandemic. Find me another country in the world where their own citizens have been rendered stateless.

For us in Sydney and potentially Melbourne (however Dan said this morning he may open up and persist with hotel quarantine) hotel quarantine and flight caps should very soon be a thing of the past and with that brings the airlines back, giving everyone a choice of outward and inward travel freedom of movement and airline choice.

Thinking positive has got to be a far happier place than going backward.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

Good to see Jeanette Young at the Premier's side at the presser this afternoon answering questions from the floor during a key public health announcement. Both are remarkable women and a credit to the state.

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Re: Why on earth would a Premier leave out the CHO from a key health announcemen
 

.....and the icing on the cake is these dates could come sooner if we hit those targets earlier.