COVID-Zero is cracking.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...alls-for-circuit-breaker-20210806-p58gm6.html

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state must learn to live with COVID-19 as the number of people in hospital with the virus doubled within a week and the nation’s chief medical officer called for a circuit-breaker to halt the spread across Sydney.

As NSW reported a record 291 new cases on Friday, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said low vaccination rates, non-compliance and the speed of diagnosis highlighted the need to reconsider the state’s strategy.

“There is no sense that it is heading rapidly towards zero which is what remains our national approach at the moment. There is clearly a need for a circuit breaker,” Professor Kelly said.

Ms Berejiklian, who at the start of the latest outbreak said zero or as close to zero cases was the goal of the lockdown, on Friday said that target was now an “aspiration.”

 

The feeling throughout Australia is that NSW is failing because they waited too long to implement a hard lockdown.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/co...ke-covid-19-outbreak-more-seriously-c-3509731

Everyone is very frustrated with that one state who has a history of making poor decisions when it comes to Covid

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08...navirus-inquiry-findings-handed-down/12557714

It's also frustrating that the people in Victoria who said that we couldn't get back to 0 and had to "learn to live with it" were never held accountable after we went from 700 per day back to 0.

 

The feeling throughout Australia is that NSW is failing because they waited too long to implement a hard lockdown.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/co...ke-covid-19-outbreak-more-seriously-c-3509731

Everyone is very frustrated with that one state who has a history of making poor decisions when it comes to Covid

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08...navirus-inquiry-findings-handed-down/12557714

It's also frustrating that the people in Victoria who said that we couldn't get back to 0 and had to "learn to live with it" were never held accountable after we went from 700 per day back to 0.

https://www.scmp.com/video/coronavi...-19-lockdown-rules-expanded-cope-spread-delta

That's the ticket. Sounds a little like the US. We would be fine, if it wasn't for Florida (NSW). My wife's sister lives in Altona Victoria so I hope you guys stay safe.

The key for everyone is vaccination, vaccination, vaccination. The lack of vaccination in OZ is the root cause of the current issues.

High vaxx

Low vaxx

 

The key for everyone is vaccination, vaccination, vaccination

Absolutely agree - Now that more people are becoming eligible, we should see numbers going up.

From what I am hearing, everyone is holding out until the Pfizer becomes available again because it is more effective after 1 shot, and the wait time between 1st and 2nd shot is shorter when compared to the only other choice we have (AZ).

 

All this is just my opinion. Do not take my advice with your healthcare.

I'm one of those people your all talking about that aren't going to take the vaccine "till" I know it's safe. I will not poke something in my body that hasn't been tested to see what side effects might happen. They don't know either and if say they do they're lying there has been NO clinical trials ran on it, not enough time to see what happens after you take it.
We were told children didn't need it because they were immune. Now they're talking about vaccinating my child who is suppose to not need it. If children can't get it why are we putting masks on their faces and wanting to give them a shot. Don't make sense.
We all have values and morals (?) just wait till someone comes along and tells you to do something that crosses those morals and values and you say "NO". I'm not going to go to blaming you for believing the way you do...Just as you have no right to question my beliefs. I'll take it when "I" deem it safe, It's "MY" body, my choice.
They won't tell you what's all in it and it could be no more than a flu vaccine or a plocebo and you wouldn't know the difference.
They put "Something" in your body and called you cured....Really (?)
How do you know it really worked...YOU DON'T!
Someone told you and you believed it.



My way of looking at it is:
if you don't want to be around me because I won't take something I know nothing about ......Leave!
I don't remember asking you to be around me.
I could tell you why this is happening but it breaks forum policy.
I have not ran across anyone where I live that's even said they've had it... go figure.

 

All this is just my opinion

Noted.

What makes you think that kids can't get Covid? It wasn't being observed at first, but cases in children have definitely been observed.

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/covid-19-cases-by-age-group-and-sex

You are correct in saying that the Covid-19 vaccine is not 100% safe, but no medicine is. This is a classic "nirvana fallacy" (The nirvana fallacy is when someone says that if something isn’t perfect, it’s worthless. This is untrue because something can be better than nothing even if it isn’t perfect). Another medicine that has similar side effects is antibiotics, but I bet if the doctor says that you need some you won't jump up and down yelling "big pharma"...

They won't tell you what's all in it and it could be no more than a flu vaccine or a plocebo and you wouldn't know the difference.

This is a classic argument from ignorance (An argument from ignorance is a logically fallacy which states that a belief is true because we don’t know that it isn’t true)

They put "Something" in your body and called you cured

Who said that? That is not how vaccines work. A vaccine helps the body create antibodies to fight a particular illness without the person/animal being exposed to the risks of catching the illness naturally.
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/HealthyLiving/vaccines

I understand that this is something that you feel very strongly about, but I want to say that you'd be happy taking much greater risks in other parts of your life, like driving to an antivax protest

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-58182419

The Australian capital Canberra is going into a snap one-week lockdown after recording its first case of Covid-19 in more than a year.
It will come into effect at 17:00 local time on Thursday (07:00 GMT).
The lockdown was called for the whole of the Australian Capital Territory - home to around 400,000 people - because authorities do not know how the infected person caught the virus.
Residents will only be able to leave home for essential reasons.
Queues were reported at supermarkets as the lockdown approached.
Australia is struggling to get on top of the highly infectious Delta strain, which has resulted in two of its largest cities - Sydney and Melbourne - going into strict lockdowns.

 

With all due respect to the australians... (or the australian government, in this case) ... I think their medicine is doing more harm than the actual illness.

 

How many people are lost to the flu in an year in Australia? It would be interesting to compare that figure with the total number of Covid-19 deaths and detected infections.

 

How many people are lost to the flu in an year in Australia? It would be interesting to compare that figure with the total number of Covid-19 deaths and detected infections.

That's a bit of a "strawman argument" and is also "begging the question", but let's look at the data...

In Australia (at the time I am typing this), we have had 37,754 cases and 947 deaths.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/australia/

This is a mortality rate of about 2.5% - i.e. If we let 100,000 get covid we can expect 2,500 deaths

For influenza it is a lot harder to get a number because of reporting.

But this study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7125633/#!po=43.2692) has estimated a mortality rate of 157 per 100,000 in over 65s (the most at danger group)

That is a mortality rate of 0.157%

On the flip side: The flu rates are a lot lower because of covid measures...

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/physical-distancing-and-good-hand-hygiene-australi

 

Shutting down the entire capital down for one (a few contact cases also) Delta case is a logical response in the Covid-Zero policy that until now has been very effective in OZ. The problem is you're in a ever increasing battle with people who have the virus when it's a war with nature that eventually you will lose because only a world-wide elimination of the virus will prevent that one case from happening over and over until you decide to take the risk of letting it in with some level of acceptable cases and losses. It's going to be a rocky road ahead for OZ until that happens IMO.

 

Australia just before COVID...

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/national-flu-toll-tops-250

 

Shutting down the entire capital down for one (a few contact cases also) Delta case is a logical response in the Covid-Zero policy that until now has been very effective in OZ. The problem is you're in a ever increasing battle with people who have the virus when it's a war with nature that eventually you will lose because only a world-wide elimination of the virus will prevent that one case from happening over and over until you decide to take the risk of letting it in with some level of acceptable cases and losses. It's going to be a rocky road ahead for OZ until that happens IMO.

We don't need to win, we just have to keep the numbers under control until herd immunity is reached via vaccinations.

It's a shame that we didn't achieve world wide elimination when the numbers were small, but it is the way it is.

 

It's a shame that we didn't achieve world wide elimination when the numbers were small, but it is the way it is.

I blame the government of one of the world's most populated countries for that ... in this age of worldwide economic interdependence, I find the lack of transparency and cooperation (on vital subjects) stupid and retrograde ...

 

We don't need to win, we just have to keep the numbers under control until herd immunity is reached via vaccinations.

It's a shame that we didn't achieve world wide elimination when the numbers were small, but it is the way it is.

I was initially pretty attached to vaccinations as the way to herd immunity and elimination (preventing infection) of the virus but recent events have shattered that for me. It's looks to be around for via mutations for as long the 1918 flu. We can prevent sickness and death via vaccination but IMO we are unlikely to eliminate the virus anytime soon. Most of the world has accepted that in their responses to the virus.

https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended

 

I was initially pretty attached to vaccinations as the way to herd immunity and elimination (preventing infection) of the virus but recent events have shattered that for me. It's looks to be around for via mutations for as long the 1918 flu. We can prevent sickness and death via vaccination but IMO we are unlikely to eliminate the virus anytime soon. Most of the world has accepted that in their responses to the virus.

https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended

Maybe, but we have to remember that although covid shares a lot of similarities with the Spanish flu epidemic, it is not the exact same thing and exists in a different time.

I agree that it is unlikely to be eliminated, but that is not the only goal that we should be aiming for.

Looking at how we treat the flu with modern medicine there are a few antiviral drugs, such as oseltamivir phosphate (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/treatment/whatyoushould.htm)

As covid sticks around I imagine that different treatments will start being discovered that will help bring the mortality rate down and/or relieve people of their symptoms.

Here is a current snapshot of the current treatments (writen 12/7/2021) -
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/treatments-for-covid-19

 

https://apnews.com/article/canada-b...rus-pandemic-460afab866006f92ebd1e3916b024246
The Latest: Australia capital’s lockdown until no more virus

Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the lockdown would last until all new cases had been in isolation throughout their entire infectious period.

“We would want to see no additional community transmission, we want to go back to zero,” Barr said.

 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/aus...ne-passport-plans-emerge-20210814-p58ipb.html

NSW will enter a snap, statewide lockdown after it recorded more than 460 cases on Saturday as the coronavirus continues to spread across the regions.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro told regional NSW MPs that the entire state would enter a lockdown from 5pm via an online call on Saturday afternoon for at least seven days, an MP unauthorised to speak on the issue told the Herald.

FROM HEALTH NSW: To protect the people of NSW from the evolving COVID-19 outbreak, new restrictions will be introduced for all of regional NSW, effective from 5pm tonight until 12.01am Sunday 22 August 2021.

This means the whole of New South Wales will be under stay at home restrictions from 5pm today.

This new order will replace any existing orders in regional NSW.
Everyone must stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave. They also cannot have visitors in their home from outside their household, including family and friends.
People still can have one visitor at one time to fulfil carers' responsibilities or provide care or assistance, or for compassionate reasons, including where two people are in a relationship but do not live together.

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/a...sydney-as-australia-battles-covid-19-outbreak

SYDNEY (REUTERS) - Hundreds of unarmed defence personnel joined thousands of extra police to set up roadblocks and enforce Covid-19 lockdown rules in parts of Sydney on Monday (Aug 16), while dozens of new venues were added to a list of exposure sites in Melbourne.

Stay Off the Roads!

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/17/asia/new-zealand-lockdown-one-case-intl-hnk/index.html

New Zealand announces it's locking down the entire country ... over one Covid case