Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[lovetravellingoz]

, but not the double standards that says that a South Australian resident - someone who actually lives in South Australia and already calls the place home - can't return from Victoria, even in quarantine.

Neither am I. If a quarantine is required by the state for returning residents, then so be it. But they should be allowed to return.

 

[jakeseven7]

Breaking: City of Sydney declared COVID-19 hotspot


NSW Health has declared the City of Sydney a COVID-19 hotspot as cases continue to grow in the area's east with multiple unknown sources having been identified in the LGA.

The LGA covers from Circular Quay all the way to East Lakes and includes more than 240,000 residents.

Anyone who lives in the City of Sydney or has visited there in the past two weeks has been urged to get tested, even if they only have mild symptoms such as a runny nose or scratchy throat.

It comes as NSW reported seven new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours. One case is in hotel quarantine, six were locally transmitted and the number of cases with no known sources continues to increase, indicating untracked community spread in Sydney

NSW labels six more 'hotspots'

NSW Health has put another six areas under "increased surveillance", calling on thousands of people to get tested for coronavirus.

www.news.com.au

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Absolutely disgusting behaviour from QLD government.

Updated for those up thread.... seems every state government is now feeling the brunt of these ridiculous border closures.

——-
Queensland rejects entry to NSW mother of sick newborn over coronavirus quarantine

....

Queensland hospital rejects entry to NSW mother of sick newborn

A young mother from northern New South Wales is refused entry into a Queensland hospital where her newborn baby is receiving medical treatment.

mobile.abc.net.au

To be fair, not sure whether this is a Qld government or a Qld health issue

 

[jakeseven7]

To be fair, not sure whether this is a Qld government or a Qld health issue

Disgusting either way. Tone is set from the top and is deplorable.

 

[SydneySwan]

I personally am in favour of re-activating those parts of the economy, but not the double standards that says that a South Australian resident - someone who actually lives in South Australia and already calls the place home - can't return from Victoria, even in quarantine.

Yes it is the double standards that I can't abide. I am fully in favour of re-activating the economy where it is possible / safe to do so.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Breaking: City of Sydney declared COVID-19 hotspot


NSW Health has declared the City of Sydney a COVID-19 hotspot as cases continue to grow in the area's east with multiple unknown sources having been identified in the LGA.

The LGA covers from Circular Quay all the way to East Lakes and includes more than 240,000 residents.

Anyone who lives in the City of Sydney or has visited there in the past two weeks has been urged to get tested, even if they only have mild symptoms such as a runny nose or scratchy throat.

It comes as NSW reported seven new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours. One case is in hotel quarantine, six were locally transmitted and the number of cases with no known sources continues to increase, indicating untracked community spread in Sydney

NSW labels six more 'hotspots'

NSW Health has put another six areas under "increased surveillance", calling on thousands of people to get tested for coronavirus.

www.news.com.au

A bit alarmist by the news article......

The link below indicates s they are just trying to find the source in City of Sydney (East) and all current cases by adding it to increased surveillance

COVID-19 (coronavirus)

Official information about COVID-19 (coronavirus) for residents, businesses and visitors to New South Wales.

www.nsw.gov.au

It’s only relying on the usual symptoms requirements to go for testing, not different to the rest of the city, State, country??? Perhaps they feel the testing is low in that area as well?

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Disgusting either way. Tone is set from the top and is deplorable.

Agree in terms of the case specifics but the issue it brings to me is who is actually responsible for exemptions in each jurisdiction.

So many public servants / Ministers would be scared of giving exemptions in light of any failures that have arisen from past instances around the country. It’s almost a case of one person should need to be solely responsible. I’m guessing all such cases need final sign off from the unelected CHO.

 

[RooFlyer]

Sky news - a fountain of knowledge. Rowan Dean likes to quote fictional, non sensical studies like hcqtrial.com. He does not understand how flawed the evidence that he has put forward.

I don’t know about that. He sourced his quotes and materials; he didn’t hold himself out as an expert, just used others that do. As with many things in this debate, it’s contestable, so go ahead an contest them, but point by point, please.

You can't catch Coronary heart disease, Dementia including Alzheimer disease, Cerebrovascular disease, Lung cancer, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Colorectal cancer, Diabetes, Prostate cancer, Heart failure and complications of heart disease.
They are not infectious.

You cant catch them. Hmmmm . No, not infectious, but for many that you list, behaviour and lifestyle contribute greatly to their prevalence ( yes?) and so, when considering threats to society and its well being, are certainly comparable to the concern over COVID ( the Cartoon). There have been major public campaigns against smoking ( cancer) and some others, but we are yet to see a proportionate response to the others as we have for COVID. Maybe that will change.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Disgusting either way. Tone is set from the top and is deplorable.

It’s QLD health and in particular the hospital that the baby is receiving treatment.
Agree x a million it’s totally wrong but it’s not a QLD Govt border closure issue.

 

[Lynda2475]

As you are not in favour of re-activating these parts of our economy, where do you instead propose to get the money from?

As others have said i am against the double standards and discrimination against other Australians and other industries. If SA can allow foreign students from high risk destinations to self fund quarantine to enter SA they could at least extend the same courtesy to their own residents currently stuck in Victoria and other Australians interstate.

There are many many Aussies willing to spend tourism dollars usually spent overseas in Australia. There are many busineeses who have staff that need to be able to leave/enter/reenter SA to do business, make money, create jobs pqy taxes. Why are international students more important than these people?

The tourism industry employs more people than professional sports in Australia, i would be working to enable domestic tourism, before worrying about AFL or Netball competions who employ far fewer people. Why are a handful of sports people more important than our tourism industry?

Footballers and coaches afforded exemptions not availble to others, have demonstrated by their recent behaviour in breaching their bubbles (although easy to predict given low IQ, over inflated egos and crazy salaries) that they are undeserving of the privilege, and it is a kick in the guts for those denied interstate travel who would comply and tourism businesses denied customers.

I would invest in industries performing more essential services and those innovating in challenging conditions to fill genuine need. There is urgent need to fix aged care, ensure more onshore manufacture of medical supplies and PPE, to name two things. We also need our government to identify investment that will create jobs for women who have been disproportionally impacted by lockdown job losses. The infrastructure stimulus announced to date overwhelmingly advantages male dominated sectors such as construction.

I understand Universities are struggling, in my job I manage a partnership program where we fund research and engage university teams to solve real business problems and deliver projects. This means i talk with 6 different Australian universities every week. At times we have struggled to find a Uni to engage when security require Australian citizens and the universities can only offer Chinese students or other foreign staff. Its time for an overhaul when our universities cant attract local students to undertake post graduate programs or to work on staff. There is an opportunity right now to innovate and also look at the price of prioritising income from foreign students over education standards.

Many of us, having undertaken post grad studies have had to chooe between doing more work to compensate for international students in a group assignment who do not have proficient english skills to pull their weight or nkt and risk receiving a failing grade. Surely the value of education is devalued when universities are under pressure to award degrees to paying students, who if were local would fail.

My primary point was about equity, i oppose special treatment for a handful at the expense of the many.

If we can accept the risk of allowing international students and celebrities to enter Australia and accept the risk of professional athletes moving about the country and competing overseas, we can also manage/allow Aussies to return to their home state from another state and find ways to allow domestic tourism.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

As others have said i am against the double standards and discrimination against other Australians and other industries. If SA can allow foreign students from high risk destinations to self fund quarantine to enter SA they could at least extend the same courtesy to their own residents currently stuck in Victoria and other Australians interstate.

There are many many Aussies willing to spend tourism dollars usually spent overseas in Australia. There are many busineeses who have staff that need to be able to leave/enter/reenter SA to do business, make money, create jobs pqy taxes. Why are international students more important than these people?

The tourism industry employs more people than professional sports in Australia, i would be working to enable domestic tourism, before worrying about AFL or Netball competions who employ far fewer people. Why are a handful of sports people more important than our tourism industry?

Footballers and coaches afforded exemptions not availble to others, have demonstrated by their recent behaviour in breaching their bubbles (although easy to predict given low IQ,

Wow, no bias there. I don't know about all sports but in AFL quite a number of the players have very high VCE results and go on to complete various degrees.

over inflated egos and crazy salaries) that they are undeserving of the privilege, and it is a kick in the guts for those denied interstate travel who would comply and tourism businesses denied customers.

Like FIFO it is not a privilege, it is part of the work.

How many business or individuals are prepared to live in a permanent bubble cut off from most family and friends and get swabs up their noses at least twice each and every week, and to meet all of these costs including charters flights with no other members of the public on them? If they were they may get a travel exemption too. Though do remember that sports people only have that exemption in some states and in other states it is 14 day quarantine.

There are quite a number of industries where those that have a defined work reason to travel, can do so. But yes obviously it is all a lot tighter at present.

I would invest in industries performing more essential services and those innovating in challenging conditions to fill genuine need. There is urgent need to fix aged care, ensure more onshore manufacture of medical supplies and PPE, to name two things. We also need our government to identify investment that will create jobs for women who have been dis proportionally impacted by lockdown job losses. The infrastructure stimulus announced to date overwhelmingly advantages male dominated sectors such as construction.

I understand Universities are struggling, in my job I manage a partnership program where we fund research and engage university teams to solve real business problems and deliver projects. This means i talk with 6 different Australian universities every week. At times we have struggled to find a Uni to engage when security require Australian citizens and the universities can only offer Chinese students or other foreign staff. Its time for an overhaul when our universities cant attract local students to undertake post graduate programs or to work on staff. There is an opportunity right now to innovate and also look at the price of prioritising income from foreign students over education standards.

Many of us, having undertaken post grad studies have had to chooe between doing more work to compensate for international students in a group assignment who do not have proficient english skills to pull their weight or nkt and risk receiving a failing grade. Surely the value of education is devalued when universities are under pressure to award degrees to paying students, who if were local would fail.

My primary point was about equity, i oppose special treatment for a handful at the expense of the many.

If we can accept the risk of allowing international students and celebrities to enter Australia and accept the risk of professional athletes moving about the country and competing overseas, we can also manage/allow Aussies to return to their home state from another state and find ways to allow domestic tourism.

So your solution to some problems on equity seems to be to create equity problems for others.

The solution to one problem is not by creating other problems, but solving all the problems.

The border town problem can and should be solved. It is not that hard to create bubble zones.

Parents visiting hospitals is more problematic if there is a risk to infecting intensive care wards and other problematic settings. The parents can already get exemptions to cross borders.

People should be able to return to their home states, but may need to foot the quarantine bill.

Foreign students can be allowed as a trial, to see if it can be expanded. If that goes well it can then be expanded.

Movies and TV shows can be filmed in Australia to to create work.

Netball, AFL, NRL, Basketball, Tennis and other professional sports should all be allowed. Favoured treatment of the athletes is not so, as they need movement to ply their trade. Remember that their "favoured" treatment also means that most of them are physically cut off from their family and friends and have to mainly live within bubbles much harsher than locals living around them. This is not currently so for everyone else bar Victorians. I fail to see how professional sport is being conducted at the expense of the many. Who are in deficit? Who is it denying? It is employing tens of thousands of people.

Tourism is not an either/or to the above. Tourism and the other sectors are but some of many that all need addressing. But much of tourism is not coming back till free interstate travel including flights is resumed international tourism returns and that is a long way off, and much more is not coming back till . Now favoured treatment to sports people you may say again. Well if the average tourist was prepared to live in a permanent bubble cut off from most family and friends and get swabs up their noses at least twice each and every week, them they may get a travel exemption too. Though do remember that sports people only have that exemption in some states and in other states it is 14 day quarantine.

With respect to innovation, and also pivoting. Companies, organisations and people innovate and pivot on an ongoing basis. The ones that do not get left behind. The pandemic is just increasing the problem. But you cannot just wipe out whole sectors and expect that income is just going to appear elsewhere. Also as I stated before we need to find ways as a country to increase what foreign income we earn.

And on your primary point
"My primary point was about equity, i oppose special treatment for a handful at the expense of the many."

How are exactly are the the handful gaining special treatment at the expense of the many?

Nicole and Danni certainly seemed to gain special treatment. Not a good look that is for sure, but how was it at the expense of the many? Most of the other actors and crew coming in such as Jane Seymour have just gone through the normal hotel quarantine. Make everyone do hotel quarantine if you wish, but do not close down an entire industry just because a few celebs managed to be allowed to pay for their own quarantine.

I personally do not believe that the various professional sports people are getting "special treatment". They have gained what was necessary to keep their industry alive. FIFO workers have had like treatment. Crayfish exporters have had support to allow them to keep their industry going with international exports.

Keeping these industries going, including sport, helps to keep the nation going. It helps to create jobs in service sectors. It helps to keep some taxes being collected to pay for all the Jobkeeper, Jobseeker and other government payments. Not to mention all those employed in the public sector who without revenue from the private sector would ultimately not be employed either.


To me the best way to make things more equitable is to address all the problems, and to get those who can work, back to work.

Eventually as more and more get back to work, and as Covid 19 eases, others will also will be able get back to work, to travel, to pastimes etc.

Hopefully before long I will get to move more than 5km from my home again, and hopefully I will get to re-activate my business which is down 99% on revenue since mid-March. But in the meantime I am not going to begrudge those who can work, or those who live in an unrestricted state that can go for a weekend drive or visit friends etc . Indeed I am pleased that they have the ability to do so. And I know way too many people at present who without the ability to work are going through very bad times.

 

[Pushka]

Serious question.

If the vaccines do not work, or just take some time to be deployed (and given the size of the world's population this second point seems most likely) how does the Australian economy survive, and how do we as a country earn enough to pay for the imports we need as a country (medicines, technology, machinery etc) if we do not take measures to start re-activating as much of the economy as can safely be done so.

International students , sport and entertainment (including the making of movies and tv shows etc) are all sectors struggling at present. All employ many people. We need to get these sectors and other sectors re-activated where possible as so as we can reasonably do so in a reasonably safe manner.

ScoMo and the Federal Government can only subsidise things for so long, and the debt that is building is going to have to be paid back from future earnings. The longer the reactivation takes, the greater the debt. And that is just the $$$. The mounting toll in human misery is mounting.

As you are not in favour of re-activating these parts of our economy, where do you instead propose to get the money from?

It isnt the International students coming per se. I'd be fine with that. The issue is that SA residents are locked out of SA just for being in Victoria and they do not have the right even to pay for quarantine, let alone self iso. They will be turned around at the Vic border.

 

[gty222]

It isnt the International students coming per se. I'd be fine with that. The issue is that SA residents are locked out of SA just for being in Victoria and they do not have the right even to pay for quarantine, let alone self iso. They will be turned around at the Vic border.

This sums it up pretty well:

SA opens border to international students, locks border to Aussies

Last week, the South Australian Government tightened its border restrictions to residents from Victoria: From 12.01 am Friday 21 August, cross border community members will not be able to enter South Australia from Victoria unless they can apply under a different category of Essential Traveller…...

www.macrobusiness.com.au

 

[jakeseven7]

NSW still struggling with mask advice it seems... A huge majority of people still not wearing them as *encouraged*

—-

Sydney bus drivers plan strike over lack of masks and social distancing

Sydney bus drivers have warned they will strike for 48 hours next week if the state government does not improve the enforcement of social distancing measures and mask use on public transport during the coronavirus crisis.

In a letter from the NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union, sent to Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday, division secretary David Babineau accused the government of failing to provide and enforce legitimate regulations for commuters.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance on Monday said rates of face mask use had not lifted since last week, with about 30 per cent of commuters seen to be wearing them, despite encouragement from the state government.

As the day unfolded: Victoria records 222 new COVID-19 cases as Sydney hotel quarantine guard contracts virus; Australian death toll jumps to 438

Victoria has recorded just 222 new coronavirus cases today, its lowest total in a month. In NSW, just three cases were recorded.

www.smh.com.au

 

[jakeseven7]

Whoops.....Perth security napping on the job too? Seems no state can get it right and all residents have a number among them that just don’t care.

——-

Flaws exposed in Perth hotel quarantine: man uses window escape to visit girlfriend multiple times

A man who was ordered to quarantine at Perth’s Mercure Hotel has been accused of fleeing through a window and climbing down a ladder on four occasions to visit his girlfriend.

A witness took pictures of an unknown man who he said repeatedly left Perth's Mercure hotel.


It has been alleged Mr Karakaya then squeezed through the hotel window and used a ladder an acquaintance had brought to scale down to the ground before driving to his girlfriend’s house.

As the day unfolded: Victoria records 222 new COVID-19 cases as Sydney hotel quarantine guard contracts virus; Australian death toll jumps to 438

Victoria has recorded just 222 new coronavirus cases today, its lowest total in a month. In NSW, just three cases were recorded.

www.smh.com.au

 

[jakeseven7]

Victoria cases continue downward trend:

 

[Lynda2475]

Ive made no secret that i have no interest in sport, doesnt change facts though. The AFL players were permitted to take their families with them, a privilege again not afforded to FiFO nor the many people who cant return to their home state to be with their families, some who then broke bubble rules, hardly a hardship. Plus they have been able to escape winter - something denied to 60% of the population. They have received great privilege. Flouting these privileges sets a bad example, younger fans see these footballers being able to travel and hang with their friends/colleagues/families and don't take restrictions as seriously. Its sad that some people are influenced by someone who runs around and kicks or throws a ball for a living over scientists and medics working to quash this thing.

I also believe this limited benefit to QLD in hosting so many sports is also contributing to AP's motivation to lock NSW and ACT out. It is not helping to open our domestic economy, it is creating resentment and limiting the incomes for tourism operators, restaurants, hotels etc.

There are mango farmers in NT who cant get the workers they need to pick crops before they spoil, why cant they get exemptions to allow interstate workers in? Why is it more important to keep footy alive, but not primary industry? It is isn't.

Kidman (who doesnt pay tax in Aus as is a US resident for tax purposes) and Minogue should have been forced into same supervised hotel quarantine as everyone else, its not like they couldnt afford to pay, and this would have set a positive compliance example. It was neither fair nor necessary for her job to get to iso at her luxurious waterfront mansion. No where did I say the film/tv industry should be shut down, i said the special exemptions should be denied - one rule for all.

States need to give all aussies the option to pay to quarantine so they can travel for leisure/tourism/family/medical not only athletes or celebrities who can better afford than most to work less right now.

To give privilege to overseas students, over Aussies who want to return home is the biggest injustice of all, those 300 seats on flights are not in addition to the arrival restrictions, so that is 300 Aussies who have to wait longer to come home. And an insult to SA or WA residents denied permission to return home from Vic and other states.

A good Aussie friend of mine who has been living and working in USA planned to wait out the pandemic, but her father suddenly became seriously ill so she decided to return to Aus permanently and will be bringing her successful business with her (so tax for Australia). She was fine to pay to do quarantine and pay a premium for a seat, but waiting for travel approval and then limited flights meant her father died (3 weeks later) before she could even get on a flight. Im sure if she was a celebrity or Sonny Bill Williams she would have been able to travel sooner. She is currently in hotel quarantine in Sydney, funeral scheduled for day after her iso completes which is a bit over 5 weeks since his death). So when i see someone do everything right and miss out saying goodbye to her father having lost her mother last year, i have no empathy for those who get privileges like being able to work and travel and then are so arrogant as to disrespect their privilege and break rules that benefited them, when others are denied the opportunity to do their jobs or see their families.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, but special treatment for athletes, celebrities and non citizens doesn't pass the fairness test. The AFL and NRL have had multiple bubble breaches, why dont the offenders (players and coaches) get fired and sent home immediately? A fine or missed game isnt deterring others not to breach, because these guys feel entitled. If the premiers really cared they would force the codes to remove any coach or player or player whose family member breached the conditions, if they felt vulnerable and replaceable maybe they would value their privilege and work to keep it.

 

[jase05]

I dont pretend to have all the answers, but special treatment for athletes, celebrities and non citizens doesnt pass the fairness test. The AFL and NRL have had multiple bubble breaches, why dont the offenders (players and coaches) get fired and sent home immediately? A fine or missed game isnt deterring others not to breach, because these guys feel entitled.

There will always by a few that stuff things up in any industry and the number of breaches by football clubs is about on par with the general population despite the footballers having much tougher conditions. We get that you don’t like sport but there is a reason why sports are one of the first industries to get back underway in every country. The AFL for example are contributing $4m per week out of their own pocket to the QLD economy and have fully booked many resorts and hotels. That’s without the extra money spent via shops, food etc. Many external people employed in the industry, sports and entertainment is a huge industry.

Post automatically merged: Aug 18, 2020

It isnt the International students coming per se. I'd be fine with that. The issue is that SA residents are locked out of SA just for being in Victoria and they do not have the right even to pay for quarantine, let alone self iso. They will be turned around at the Vic border.

That is the only thing I’d change. I’d let residents return to SA if they choose to pay quarantine costs.

 

[Lynda2475]

The AFL for example are contributing $4m per week out of their own pocket to the QLD economy and have fully booked many resorts and hotels. That’s without the extra money spent via shops, food etc. Many external people employed in the industry, sports and entertainment is a huge industry.

I believe if you crunch the numbers, allowing NSW and ACT residents living in LGAs with zero community cases to travel to Queensland would be worth much more than $4m per week to the tourist industry in accommodation, restaurants, tour activities etc too.

You mention importance of the entertainment industry but we cant go see comedian, a play, musical or concert - things that are lower risk for performers than sports as are non contact and do not require the performers to be travelling to other regions. If you can have a footy match with stadium at 20% capacity - you could easily have a concert with a local line up at a stadium with same capacity - our entertainment workers for the most part aren't eligible for job keeper, We may not be able to have international acts tour right now, but there are a stack of quality aussie bands who deserve just as much right to earn a quid as a footy player, and just as many fans who would go to a live gig as would go to a footy match.

That is the only thing I’d change. I’d let residents return to SA if they choose to pay quarantine costs.

The federal government shouldn't approve any visas for international students to enter SA until the SA government (and WA government for that matter) are forced to allow their own residents to return form Vic (in the case of SA) and all states (in the case of WA) - if an Aussie is willing to quarantine at their own expense there is just no justification for denying them to return home.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

It isnt the International students coming per se. I'd be fine with that. The issue is that SA residents are locked out of SA just for being in Victoria and they do not have the right even to pay for quarantine, let alone self iso. They will be turned around at the Vic border.

I agree.

As I have stated we need to fix both problems.