Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

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SvennoJ said:

Hiku said:

I haven't kept track in a while, but didn't Australia have close to 0 daily cases for a while?
With quarantine required for people entering the country, how did it get to 675 in a week?

They state lax quarantine at the border
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australias-victoria-reports-10-local-covid-19-cases-first-day-lockdown-2021-07-15/

Officials reported 103 new cases on Friday, the bulk in Sydney with the remainder in Melbourne, taking total cases since the current outbreak began a month ago to above 1,000. Two people have died, 75 people are hospitalised with 18 in intensive care.

It's the delta variant together with low vaccination rate as of yet in Australia (28% first does, 11% fully vaccinated).

From Friday, 40% of the country's 25 million people - across Sydney, the outbreak epicentre, and the state of Victoria - were living under some form of lockdown conditions.

And who would have thought, Australians are just as stubborn as the rest of the world

Of major concern to health officials is the fact that the proportion of people out in public while infectious remains stubbornly high despite Sydney residents heading into a fourth week of lockdown.

Asutralia had only one Covid related death this year until last week.



I just got back in from our river exploring adventure (with my youngest). On the way back we came through the park and down town on our bikes. It's Sunday, very very busy. People all sitting close together in the park, huddled in the shade, queuing up for ice cream in town. Splash pads are back open and crowded. Mask use is down to 20% (still mandatory inside at least) but it just looks like a normal busy holiday, actually a bit more crowded than a normal summer holiday.

It's only a matter of time before our cases start rising again, although with near half the population now fully vaccinated, it should at least be a lot slower.

Basically all covid-19 transmission currently in Australia started from one unvaccinated person in Sydney who was driving international flight crews last month. From them it spread throughout Sydney, aided by the New South Wales state government's misguided and politically driven decision to not lock down until it was too late. 

From there it spread to other states. Last week a removalist who skipped interstate quarantine traveled from Sydney to Melbourne and worked at an apartment complex without wearing a mask. Another interstate arrival snuck out of home quarantine to go to the supermarket. Those two people seeded Delta throughout Melbourne and now we're in lockdown too.

Add to that our incompetent federal government refused to buy up enough vaccine when they had the chance; most people I know are desperate to get jabbed but there's just not enough to go around and for now only people over 40 or with special conditions are eligible, and most face wait times of months.

So yeah, basically idiot politicians and a few selfish people screwed us all.