Covid 19 -

[ute83]

Originally Posted by leesa

How can you say that given there are some warning signs that this virus leaves permanent damage which is looking like it will affect peoples' life expectancy?
Previously-healthy people are reporting ongoing complications that they may never recover from, athletes included.

And how is that any different to the seasonal flu, whatever strain it might be. Lasting effects of the flu is quite common.

Originally Posted by ute83

And how is that any different to the seasonal flu, whatever strain it might be. Lasting effects of the flu is quite common.

How often do you see the flu result in someone needing a lung transplant 'cause it's turned their lungs into rissoles?

[MITCHAY]

FFS when does the seasonal flu overwhelm the hospitals. Why can't people understand that simple fact?

We don't have a huge problem here because we have prepared for it and put in measures to prevent it.

[ute83]

When exactly did the covid overwhelm the health system? Do you know how many contract the flu every year. Do you know how many people died of the flu last year? Or even this year?

[CoupeKing]

Originally Posted by leesa

How often do you see the flu result in someone needing a lung transplant 'cause it's turned their lungs into rissoles?

image

For a second there I thought I was in the bakery thread.

[zilo]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

FFS when does the seasonal flu overwhelm the hospitals. Why can't people understand that simple fact?

Having a flu vaccine helps.......

[MITCHAY]

Originally Posted by zilo

Having a flu vaccine helps.......

Yes it does. I actually got one for the first time this year.

Never bothered before but thought it would be a good time to do it given this whole mess. One less thing to worry about.

Only mistake is I got the shot in my dominant arm because that was the closest to the nurse and thought nothing of it but it was sore for a couple of days after that.

Nothing big but next time I will do the other arm

[Tickford.]

Originally Posted by PhilT2

Normally 15min of sunlight with your shirt off is enough.

Does this also apply to the ladies?

Originally Posted by GasoLane

True, I use the cheap method, sunlight.

Well... not much cheap vitamin D available down Melbourne way lately. Will have to wait a few more weeks to get our shirts off.

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Now we need to see how the duty manager infected the security guards.

Apparently, some + was going on inside the hotels.

[Charliewool]

A BILLION dollars per death?
https://youtu.be/XrDZec8-X3Q

[russellw]

Originally Posted by ute83

When exactly did the covid overwhelm the health system? Do you know how many contract the flu every year. Do you know how many people died of the flu last year? Or even this year?

It didn't in this country thanks to (1) the way it was managed by the various governments even if they didn't do a perfect job (2) the fact that we were fairly quickly able to ramp up ICU capacity and (3) the fact that we had decent amounts of ICU capacity to start with.

Italy, Spain, Belgium and the UK are three of the countries whose health systems did get overloaded in the early phases and one of the consequences of that was a higher than average CMR - and not just by a little with the UK over 15%, Italy at 14%, Belgium at 13% and Spain at 7%.

Estimates for the number of flu cases globally vary as it's often not reported or even reportable but the generally quoted figure is 700-800M cases; 3-5M serious cases and 300K deaths. Just as an FYI that's a 0.04% CMR (based on 700M) which is way below the CMR even in Australia for COVID19. I actually posted the Australian figures (where it is reportable) several pages back but here is a summary of 2019 -

2019 was a bad Influenza year in Australia with 310k diagnosed cases and 804 deaths which is a CMR of 0.27% (COVID19 is 1.6% in Australia currently) but the diagnosed cases only represent a fraction of the total case numbers anyway.

[ford71V8]

Originally Posted by gooseneck

I'm just looking to help people. Genuinely helpful and nice person (when not abused or intimidated).

I can't see how a plug for Vitamin D would in any way make me any money and I'm not entirely sure if people out there are getting enough, I mean unless you work outdoors with a shirt off I don't think we get enough, quite a few people spend most of the time watching tv or in front of a computer or inside a shed.

You can act like a tool and pretend that the only Vitamin D you need is free and comes from the sun or you can face the facts that most people don't work outdoors with their shirt off and want to post on a forum about how manly they are to other men. Or you can just grow up and pop a pill.

It could very well be that a deficiency in Vitamin D could be the thing behind most peoples depression anxiety and anger toward others and I was hoping to help people with that. and now it looks like from that article that I posted that there might be a link between a higher mortality and Vitamin D deficiency. I honestly don't see how what I'm doing is in anyway evil. I personally have had great results.

I mean sure if I start acting like a supplement plugger then please feel free to whack me one, until then hold your horses.

and thanks for the warning! Have a good night.

For reference I work in an office thorugh the day but am always outside, shorts singlet and thongs every time possible and the weather allows it.
With a half decent tan my Vit D number was almost none existent, zero.
I started using tablets to get a number and should really keep taking them but somehow got out the habit.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by ford71V8

For reference I work in an office thorugh the day but am always outside, shorts singlet and thongs every time possible and the weather allows it.
With a half decent tan my Vit D number was almost none existent, zero.
I started using tablets to get a number and should really keep taking them but somehow got out the habit.

Same scenario here except I avoid outside like the plague, the only time I go outside is from my door to the car then my car to the office door, I'm virtually a vampire but my vitamin D levels are good and I don't take supliments

My most pressing problem is I'm losing me hair at a rate of knots but not gaining wrinkles fast enough to pull off the shaved head look without looking like a neo Nazi

Baby face with a shaved head isn't a great look

[ute83]

Thanks russellw, I already knew what the numbers were. I put the question to the other member. I guess the covid deaths would be overstated and the flu deaths understated. Argue all you like covid is a flu a sars actually. Perhaps one could say that it is a touch more contagious and deadly. Still 800 odd deaths from the flu and nobody blinks an eye. And this happens every year. Strange....

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by prydey

And yet it continues to get referenced

Because it is interesting.
They are interesting because they consistently did something different to most others.



Rolling 7 day Daily new infections are at the same level as late march after a peak in June. Slow increase, sudden drop, steady then slight bounceback.



There is virtually no social distancing, virtually no masks - so why does the rate drop suddenly through July ? - is it a summer thing ? (the UK, and USA did not get a summer reprieve)



Rolling 7 day Deaths peaked April 16 at 99, then virtually steady decline until 1 per day rolling 7 day average.


Why ?


I have not said that they got everything right, but there are some answers or at least some questions to be found in their figures.


Note - they are very consistent with how they count deaths over time, arguably moreso than many other countries with a significant Covid-19 problem -



They look at every death, if the person had a positive COVID-19 test in the 30 days before death, then it is counted as a COVID-19 Death.


I don't know how to objectively compare economies.

[PooDog]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

I thought one of the original 4 worked at the warehouse, and I thought I read one of them had contact with up to 300 people, which triggered the panic, and hence straight back into lock down. Otherwise what triggered the testing at the site? Ack my brain hurts thinking about the possibilities.

Yep that was the initial hype sent out by the media , it was later released that he worked the nightshift where there was around six others working ....hes supposed to be the first case they've found so far , well thats what you get told ......who knows what to believe?

[prydey]

Originally Posted by EgoFG

Because it is interesting.
They are interesting because they consistently did something different to most others.
.

Bear in mind that what is happening here is only one state so it's a bit unfair to say Australia is having a resurgence.

The rest of the country have done ok.

[five 7]

As NZ Govt seems "unable" to find the source of latest Covid infection, so i'll make up a hypothetical scenario how about the 20 year old girlfriend of a gang 501 depotee (Who has Covid) some how breaks in his quarantine facility at night for a meet and greet, (these are Hotels not Prisons) some how this poor beneficiary and her child ends up with a wad of cash then does a tour of the North Island staying at a high end $$ Rotorua resort and doing every attraction in town, plus Taupo lake cruise, and because of who she associates with she would not be very cooperative with the Police in interviews. The End..

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by five 7

As NZ Govt seems "unable" to find the source of latest Covid infection, so i'll make up a hypothetical scenario how about the 20 year old girlfriend of a gang 501 depotee (Who has Covid) some how breaks in his quarantine facility at night for a meet and greet, (these are Hotels not Prisons) some how this poor beneficiary and her child ends up with a wad of cash then does a tour of the North Island staying at a high end $$ Rotorua resort and doing every attraction in town, plus Taupo lake cruise, and because of who she associates with she would not be very cooperative with the Police in interviews. The End..

You could get a job on Trumps media team,by making up stories like that.

[Jack91]

I am on work sites every day, most have implemented the temperature checks by now in some shape or form. Even seen a computerised one last week that recognises if you've got a mask on and yells at you if you dont.

Ive come accross probably 3 people that ive seen not wearing masks. Has anyone on here had a go at someone not complying yet? Ive wanted to so badly but havent

[Franco Cozzo]

We're not supposed to have visitors to site but I've had probably 15 people turn up in the last week even after being told no.

[T3rminator]

Curious. In what is supposed to be an open and transparent system, why is the government allowed to stop important witnesses and documents from being examined in relation to the pandemic response? I can understand if this was related to "national security" matters, such as those linked to serious crimes or defence, but this about an inquiry into a pandemic response.
How do they expect people to trust when all this secret squirrel stuff is going on?

National cabinet documents might not be available to state hotel inquiry
https://www.theage.com.au/national/v...14-p55lu3.html

Appreciate it says might not be available.

There are a lot of rumours flying around about Ruby. Rumours that a member of Dutton's office had their parents on board, and that a contingent of Hillsong members were also on the ship. Hence why officials were keen to get people off the ship asap. ABF officers were not permitted to testify. Why? Are these just rumours or is there some truth? We need answers.

[russellw]

385 new cases for Australia and 14 deaths sees the CMR rise to 1.649% and active cases rise to 9,018. NSW recorded 9 cases, Queensland 3, WA and SA 1 each with the balance in Victoria.

22 new cases and no deaths for NZ so CMR is 1.373% and active cases rise to 49.

The UK has done another one of their magical recounts which increased the number of deaths early in the pandemic - about an extra 2k in March/April) but then reduced the number of deaths between May and July by about 5k. They had 1,440 new cases and 11 deaths yesterday for a CMR of 13.073%.

Just over 55k new cases in the USA yesterday and 1,284 deaths sees CMR down to 3.147% and active cases at 44.4% with the raw numbers rising again. Note that the USA is actually minus one day due to time differences.

Other notable points:
The USA completes 69M, India 27M and France 6M tests;
Asia recorded a record high for new cases with 94,310;
S America joins N America in having >40 deaths per 100k of population;

Greece (251), Lebanon (334), Venezuela (1,281), Ukraine (1,732), Iraq (4,013) and Peru (9,441) all recorded new daily highs, those in blue for the second consecutive day and those in red for a third or more consecutive day.

[Tickford.]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

There are a lot of rumours flying around about Ruby. Rumours that a member of Dutton's office had their parents on board, and that a contingent of Hillsong members were also on the ship. Hence why officials were keen to get people off the ship asap. ABF officers were not permitted to testify. Why? Are these just rumours or is there some truth? We need answers.

This "rumour" was around in April. The LNP member in question is Assistant Defence Minister, Alex Hawke. Alex Hawke's wife Amelia's parents were on board (this was fact checked and proven to be true). The in-laws were part of a group of Pentecostal Christian members (Hillsong Church) on board. Coincidently, the same Church that our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison attends.

The NSW Gov were blaming the Border Force for the debacle. The inquiry has now 100% cleared the Border Force from any wrong doing.

Not a word yet from the NSW Premier, or the Health Minister on the findings.

edit: If anyone is up for some reading, click HERE for the report, released yesterday. All 320 pages of it!

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Same scenario here except I avoid outside like the plague, the only time I go outside is from my door to the car then my car to the office door, I'm virtually a vampire but my vitamin D levels are good and I don't take supliments

My most pressing problem is I'm losing me hair at a rate of knots but not gaining wrinkles fast enough to pull off the shaved head look without looking like a neo Nazi

Baby face with a shaved head isn't a great look

You will have to grow a big ZZ Top beard then bro, but you may be mistaken for a Jew then.
I seen this on the Simpsons. Bart mistook 3 Jews for ZZ Top and said you rock man ! as he went past.

[Yellow_Festiva]

7 new cases in NZ. Some of these linked to the family of 4 found to have it last week.

303 new cases in Melbourne, 4 deaths.

A handful of new cases in NSW.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by Jack91

Ive come accross probably 3 people that ive seen not wearing masks. Has anyone on here had a go at someone not complying yet? Ive wanted to so badly but havent

No, purely because I don't know their own personal circumstances, they may have a legitimate reason.

I was grocery shopping the other day at Coles and a young woman working there was not wearing a mask, where as every other worker was, I figure it's not really my place to judge nor look at her with disappear as she could very well have a valid reason.

[Franco Cozzo]

Paying for an epidemic of stupidity

We’ve handed control of our lives to a clown car packed with idiots who have wasted billions trying to defeat this virus. They will never admit it was all for nothing.

Back in the good old days, the average person used to take pride in having a robust grasp of basic maths: enough mental arithmetic not to be overcharged at the shops, enough skill with pen and paper to make more complex calculations.

Not any more, it seems. Many of our finest minds are infected with a new innumeracy that, in today’s fevered environment, distorts our understanding of, and response to, the coronavirus threat.

In early April, as the disease was just beginning to bite, the team manning the ABC’s coronavirus news website promised to answer questions about the pandemic.

When a reader asked for help in interpreting some infection-rate statistics, it provoked a cheerful response, broadcast to the world: “This just sparked a heated newsroom discussion in which we all outed ourselves as being terrible at maths.” You don’t say.

They’re only — some might say barely — journalists, however. They don’t need the mastery of figures that our leaders display so magnificently. So for a moment of light relief, let’s examine the numbers that currently unnerve them. If we cancelled Victoria’s lockdown immediately, and its cases were permitted to grow at 1000 a day, the whole state would be infected in no time. By “no time”, of course, I mean 18 years. No wonder they’re frightened: at that rate it could sweep through the entire country in little more than 70 years. Luckily, in recent times we have been adding 1000 people to our population every day. Phew. Dodged a bullet there.

Worldwide, excess deaths from COVID-19 (generously assuming every victim died from, rather than just with, the virus) are around 700,000. Given the roughly 60 million deaths the world records each year, it’s as though 2020 had 369 days in it, rather than 366.

If that thought chills you, congratulations! A lavishly pensioned, undemanding and unaccountable career in politics beckons.

The ultimate showcase of political innumeracy is the quasi-religious ritual of The Reading of the Cases. Witnessed and recorded by the faithful in the media (who love to have their work handed to them on a plate), it has become a farce within this bigger farce. The sombre, priestly arch-buffoon blesses reporters with fodder for their blog updates, sprinkling them with numbers that look like information but withstand no scrutiny.

Cases, as a moment’s reflection reveals, do not equal sickness, much less hospitalisations. Until we are entrusted with the knowledge of how many are the results of tests on people who show no symptoms, they serve only to strike terror into the innumerate.

Indeed, why do we need to hear these figures at all? We don’t get daily updates for any other diseases. They serve no useful purpose, as we are not given sufficient detail to make our own assessment of their significance, decide on the level of risk they represent and tailor our activities accordingly.

Their primary purpose seems to be to post-rationalise our leaders’ devastating, simple-minded lockdowns and border closures, and to panic people into sporting their masks of obedience should they be sufficiently reckless as to leave their homes.

Perhaps the announcements, if they must continue, could give us real information: “There have been 637 new cases today, but happily 480 were young people who had no symptoms and didn’t know they’d been infected. Oh, and only two of today’s cases were serious enough to need to go to hospital.”

Maybe for context they could dilute their irresponsible scaremongering by including details of the other 450 people who die in Australia each day, including the victims of lockdown: the suicides and those who, too frightened to visit a doctor or hospital, are dying avoidable deaths through lack of screening and treatment (Britain anticipates as many as 35,000 extra deaths in the next year from cancer sufferers presenting late with correspondingly advanced tumours); and the people tumbling into despair, depression and other mental and physical illnesses.

Perhaps the premier could hand over to the state’s treasurer, who would read out the number added daily to the jobless lists, the businesses forced into bankruptcy, the mortgages foreclosed.

Then someone from social services could talk about the growth in homelessness, the “huge increase” in domestic violence reported by victim support groups, the marriage breakdowns.

But they won’t because of a mathematical and behavioural curiosity we’re all familiar with, if not by name: the sunk costs fallacy.

Imagine that last month you bought a ticket for a concert tonight. You’re tired, it’s pouring with rain, and you dread dragging yourself into town. The money’s gone whatever you decide, so logic says you should cut your losses and stay in, but instead you pull on your raincoat and call a taxi. The urge is irrational, but almost irresistible. The whole vile pokies industry is built on it.

Now imagine how much harder to alter course if your investment was enormous and everyone was watching, poised to ridicule you for changing your mind.

Here’s where our politicians find themselves, unable to admit their response to the virus — the ultimate blunt instrument of lockdown, brutally enforced — hasn’t worked, and will never work.

They can’t do so because it would mean all they have done up to this point has been in vain. How could anyone who had wreaked damage on this cataclysmic scale ever admit to themselves, let alone to the nation, that it was all for nothing? Instead, like the pokie addict, they have doubled down to unleash a runaway epidemic of stupidity. They’ve destroyed our economy and put thousands out of work; they’ve refashioned many of our famously easygoing population into masked informers; and we’ve handed control of our lives to a clown car packed with idiots.

If there is a clearer demonstration of the insidious overreach of the nanny state, infantilising and sinister, and the shameful acquiescence of its legions of time-serving bureaucrats, I’m not aware of it.

What’s more insulting, each day we are chastised for “disappointing” our leaders, as though they are our superiors and it is the citizens’ duty to please them. The infected are singled out, vilified and shamed as sinners, their scandalous movements — three pubs on a Saturday night! — tracked and condemned. It recalls the attitude towards AIDS victims in the 1980s, a divine judgment visited on wicked libertines.

But attempt to argue that the cost of our response has in any way outweighed the impact of the virus and expect to be labelled a virus denier. Then expect to be asked, accusingly, how many deaths you would find acceptable. No matter how often or how emphatically you declare “We should protect the vulnerable”, some will hear those words as “Let’s throw the old people to the wolves”.

On April 4 in these pages I wondered when life moved from being precious to priceless. An exaggeration, but more than four months on we’ve set the opening bid pretty high. Turn the question around and ask what we are prepared to pay to protect the elderly with comorbidities. Let’s assume we’d let the disease run its course, as Sweden did, and had suffered the same death rate. We might have lost 10,000 of the old and sick earlier than in a normal year. We’ve kept that figure down, but at what cost?

On this week’s numbers our governments have spent more than $220bn and put 750,000 people out of work; some of that burden would have been incurred whatever path we had followed, but most of it is self-imposed.

Is it callous to suggest that’s too high a price to prolong what in some cases were lives of no great joy? What good might we have done with just a fraction of that $220bn, artfully applied? Would it not have been far better to spend a smaller, but still significant, sum on protecting and caring for the vulnerable and elderly to the very best of our abilities, and then, crucially, offering them the choice whether to accept that care?

We could allow them, like sentient adults, to make a simple calculation: do I live a little longer in safe but miserable isolation, or do I spend my remaining days at some risk but embraced by the warmth of family and friends?

That’s not a decision for any politician, even a wise one, to make. It’s a matter of choice for the individual, or, if incapacitated, for those responsible for them.

Governments don’t exist to tell us how or when we can die; but if life is measured only by length, not quality, this is where we end up: imprisoned, supposedly for our own good, on the basis of flawed statistical modelling and even worse interpretations of that modelling.

Undismayed by the models’ failure to predict the future when the virus first appeared, self-styled experts have now contorted their fears into absurd, illogical predictions of a parallel present: if we hadn’t acted as we did, they say, then tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands more would have died. How can anyone possibly know?

As the statistics, and yes, bodies, pile up around the world, we are getting a clearer picture of the virus’s course and virulence, and the more data we have, the more similar the curves appear. If we accept Australians are not exceptional in their resistance to disease, then it appears we have some heartbreak ahead of us, no matter how hard we try to avoid it.

New Zealand is lauded as the perfect example of how to crush the virus, but would anyone be surprised if it too has to pay the price somewhere down the line? Four new cases locked down the 1.6 million inhabitants of Auckland this week in a monstrously excessive overreaction that would be comical were it not so destructive.

Meanwhile, the rest of New Zealand has shut down so completely it has effectively removed itself as a nation from the international community. It’s as though the country had never existed. Soon it will be reduced to a fading Cheshire Cat image of its Prime Minister’s saintly sad face.

Let’s hope for the Kiwis’, and everyone else’s, sake a vaccine is found soon, although the World Health Organisation now warns we may never have one. It’s a tired line to repeat, but even after 40-odd years of searching we don’t have one for HIV-AIDS.

Which, if anyone needs reminding, still kills 2600 people a day.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inq...a80d8e5c7aa6f0

[PhilT2]

Can someone help me out here. I don't recall the WHO warning us that we may never have a vaccine. Not saying they didn't but given that quite a few researchers are making good progress it seems like a silly thing to say.
Was this true or did you read it in The Australian?

[russellw]

Originally Posted by Tickford.

edit: If anyone is up for some reading, click HERE for the report, released yesterday. All 320 pages of it!

It's worth reading for those who really want to gain an understanding.

It has an interesting introduction, describing (in a classic piece of understatement) the whole fiasco as a 'mishap'.

The intro further goes on to make this comment about operators of the Ruby Princess:

Princess Cruises or Carnival, as the cruise ship business responsible for the passengers and crew is variously named in the Report, was notoriously the object of considerable blame and criticism in public discussion leading up to, and indeed during, this Commission. For the reasons that are explained in the body of this Report, such issues are not central to the course of conduct that brought about so many infected people departing relatively unrestrained that unfortunate morning
from the ship, into the community – in New South Wales, other parts of Australia, and overseas especially in the United States of America.
But it is not sensibly possible to pass over Carnival’s part in this episode...

Further, about the public health response:

..it must be understood that the shortcomings in the public health response that are found in detail in the body of the Report are by no means to be regarded straightforwardly as causes of the suffering that has followed.

.. and:

As explained in the body of the Report, the proper approach to the COVID-19 threat posed by the Ruby Princess’s nearing the Heads on 18 March 2020 called for the travellers on board to be regarded, in the absence of test results being known, as presenting a real possibility – not remote, not fanciful – that they included one or more infected people who could transmit the virus and perhaps spark an outbreak of infection, if no steps were taken to prevent or limit that outcome.

.. and:

On the whole, the State public health officials did adequately attempt to protect the public health against COVID-19 on cruise ships, by reference in particular to the need to check for human error. However, and it is a big however, their attempts sadly miscarried in this event.

The fact is that the Expert Panel knew, as well as Ms Ressler as a senior epidemiologist knew, that during the voyage the class of possibly suspect cases of COVID-19 had substantially expanded by inclusion of the criterion of any recent presence overseas (such as arrival from the USA for the cruise).

Members of the Expert Panel, not only Ms Ressler, failed to realise and act on this information. Combined, it was a serious mistake that contributed to the relatively unrestrained scattering of passengers on 19 March 2020.

... the failure to await test results on 19 March is a large factor in this Commission’s findings as to the mistakes and misjudgements that caused the scattering of infected passengers. As it happened, two other factors
in relation to testing were also significant, if not so causally important.

First, the avoidable delay in testing and notifying its results could have had real public health consequences – although the hypotheticals are quite beyond confident reconstruction.

Second, the small number of swabs taken on board the Ruby Princess and available for testing early on 19 March represented a woeful shortcoming in the stipulated number.

Somewhat more damningly (after acknowledging that what 'might' have happened is impossible to determine:

What can confidently be concluded is that we – New South Wales and
the broader community – would have been very likely considerably better off with respect to COVID-19 had those mistakes not been made.

Here is the review of the countervailing factors (excuses basically) to see what impact they might have had, including:

Was expense, public or private, a reason not to await results in order to consider eg quarantine arrangements rather than scattering? No – and the massive knock to public and private wealth as a result of every outbreak of COVID-19, including from the Ruby Princess, explains why concern about expense would never have justified a passive response.

Was a disinclination to inconvenience returning passengers, especially our
overseas guests, an explanation for the Expert Panel’s assessment of low risk and not awaiting test results? No, again. Although personal liberty was properly considered, the evidence does not suggest that some misplaced preference for an individual’s freedom from restraint over the community freedom from further infection motivated the course taken.

What about the risk of infection posed to passengers kept on board? Was the then recent experience of a rapidly and widely spread outbreak on the Diamond Princess in Japan a reason that drove a decision to get passengers off the Ruby Princess as soon as possible? It has to be said immediately that members of the Expert Panel did not say so, and the finding is that this fear did not motivate their decision.

The ABF was cleared of any culpability given that the decision (despite their name) was well out of their bailiwick:

Given its lack of medical or epidemiological expertise, it is well for the public good that the ABF (and, for that matter, the Department of Home Affairs) do not bear any responsibility for the Ruby Princess mishap.

The Department of Agriculture, Water & Environment (DAWE) and State Health Dept. didn't fare quite so well:

It was the State’s Expert Panel that made the operative decision, relayed accurately (if by a clumsy means) to the DAWE Biosecurity Officer.

I find the comments in relation to Ministerial responsibility, interesting:

Perhaps those making calls for the Minister to appear at a Commission hearing during the Inquiry had in mind some version of the rather nebulous so-called Westminster theory of ministerial responsibility. This
report is not the place to expatiate on the unsatisfactory nature of this idea, that does not really warrant being called a doctrine. Of course a Minister should resign in some circumstances, but as this Commission sees it, without wading into the partisan politics, this case would not appear to fit that outcome. The failures were professional – failures in decision-making by experts. They are not, as to their expert judgements, subject to Ministerial direction. Nor should they be, unless our system
of government were to become farcical.

Most of the 'serious' errors were by the Expert Panel and the summary of that Chapter reads:

In light of all the information the Expert Panel had, the decision to assess the risk as “low risk” – meaning, in effect, “do nothing” – is as inexplicable as it is unjustifiable. It was a serious mistake.

.. but Carnival didn't escape either:

Carnival should have ensured that Dr von Watzdorf was made aware of the change to the CDNA “suspect case” definition on 10 March 2020. They should also have ensured that passengers and crew aboard the Ruby Princess were informed that there were suspect cases of COVID-19 on board. Those persons meeting the definition of a suspect case should have been required to isolate in their cabins.

.. or NSW Health

The directive to allow passengers to onward travel interstate and internationally after disembarkation on 19 March did not appropriately contemplate or comply with the terms of the Public Health Order that came into effect on 17 March, which required all cruise ship passengers entering the State from any other country to isolate themselves in suitable accommodation for 14 days.

and further..
The fact sheet linked to an email sent to passengers at 10:46am on 20 March incorrectly advised that they were permitted to continue with onward travel, despite being identified as “close contacts” of a confirmed COVID-19 case. Although this advice was corrected by NSW Health by the evening of 21 March, it was at that stage too late to prevent a considerable number of interstate and international passengers from
onward travelling, including some passengers who were symptomatic during transit.

That's about the key salient points from my reading except to say that, as is normal with these reports, no real culpability is placed on public servants for doing their job:

as noted in this Chapter and throughout the body of this Report. It is accordingly right that I acknowledge as Commissioner that these imperfections in the State’s public health work on 18-19 March 2020 in
relation to the Ruby Princess should not be taken as damning condemnation of the individual public servants involved. The lapses identified are not in some way typical or characteristic of them or their colleagues. Some of these estimable individuals, as the evidence showed, remain in charge of weighty aspects of the State’s frontline response to the pandemic. I have to say that my confidence in their good faith and
skilled diligence in these continuing efforts was not dented by the criticism I have expressed about the Ruby Princess episode. Everyone makes mistakes, and when we judge one another we should bear that in mind.

[Franco Cozzo]

Australia's oldest micronation, Hutt River is no more thanks to Covid-19

(CNN) — The 50-year reign of an Australia-based micronation formed by a "prince" has come to an end.

Hutt River, a self-declared principality, issued its own passports and once even declared war on Australia. In recent years, however, it's been known as a quirky tourist attraction.

But the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with a giant tax bill, have forced the principality to announce it will finally surrender to Australia.

Hutt River's origins as a micronation date back to 1970, when the late Prince Leonard Casley claimed he'd exploited a legal loophole to create the principality in an isolated part of Western Australia, 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of state capital Perth.

Set on 75 square kilometers of farming land, it was more than twice the size of Macau but populated by less than 30 people.

The principality -- though not officially recognized by the Australian government -- acted like an independent nation.

Its government granted visas and driver's licenses, issued passports and currency, produced its own stamps, flew its own flag and reportedly operated 13 foreign offices in 10 different countries, including the US and France.

Now its rollicking journey is over.

When Prince Leonard died in February last year he left behind a US$2.15 million tax bill, which forced his son and successor, Prince Graeme Casley, to announce last week the principality would sell its land to pay the debt.

Casley told CNN Travel he was devastated to dissolve the micronation.

"It's very sad watching your father build up something for 50 years and then you have to close it down," said Casley. "They're very harsh times economically and health wise around the world due to Covid and we're feeling that too."

Australia's most famous micronation

Micronations are entities that claim to be sovereign states but aren't legally considered independent, as opposed to microstates like Vatican City, which have internationally recognized sovereignty.

Australia has spawned far more micronations than most countries.

Over recent decades, dozens of its citizens have declared independence from Australia, and set up their own nation within a nation.

None, however, are as renowned as the Principality of Hutt River -- also known as Hutt River Province -- which has created headlines across the world for the past 50 years.

While Prince Leonard originally decided to secede from Australia over his disagreement with farming regulations, he turned the principality into a unique tourist attraction, with visitors arriving to buy passports, currency and stamps.

But, like tourism destinations around the world, the principality had been left vulnerable due to the economic impact of the pandemic.

Tourism was one of Hutt River's key sources of income, particularly over the past 15 years, as the Internet helped spread its odd tale across the world.

It's been closed to travelers since January but, previously, Hutt River's self-proclaimed "Royal Family" went to great effort to make their micronation intriguing to tourists. Visitors who arrived at the property were greeted by a member of the family, who first helped them secure their entry visa, which cost US$2.50.

For many visitors, just getting a Hutt River Principality stamp in their passport made the trip worthwhile.

Once this process was completed they were escorted through the principality's main buildings by a staff member who explained the local history. Travelers could visit the principality's Post Office to send a letter or buy Hutt River stamps, then peruse the Memorabilia Department and Historical Society, before enjoying a light meal in its tea rooms.

There was currency, too. Visitors could buy and spend the Hutt River dollar, which was traded one-to-one for the Australian dollar.

Other attractions included a non-denominational chapel and Princess Shirley's Sacred Educational Shrine. Named after Prince Leonard's wife, it displayed findings relating to religion and physics and was established with the help of academics of the principality's "Royal College of Advanced Research".

And then there was the Royal Art Collection, made up of 300 pieces scattered through these buildings, as well a giant bust of Prince Leonard, carved from rock by a Canadian artist.

The walls of these buildings were also adorned by documents, news clippings and photos related to the principality and its history -- including the time in 1977 when Prince Leonard declared war against Australia.

When he learned the Australian government was pursuing the principality over unpaid taxes, he reportedly consulted his own government and, rather than pay, decided to declare war. How he intended to wage battles was not clear, given the Royal Hutt River Defence Force was not established until 11 years later.

This force included an army, a navy and a military college, which developed artillery manuals and training programs so impressive they were adopted by affiliates of the US Army, claims Hutt River's official website.

Prince Leonard's war against Australia lasted only a few days, and this brazen show of force did nothing to deter the Australian Taxation Office.

The ATO continued to pursue the Principality over unpaid bills, which belatedly prompted its surrender last week.

Though disappointed, successor Graeme Casley says he's "very proud" of what his father achieved and hoped its story would be remembered for generations to come.

"I have so many wonderful memories of living here (in the principality)," he said. "Once mum passed away (in 2013) I spent five years full time working alongside my father and it was more than just a father-son relationship we had a very deep working relationship.

"What he created here over the last 50 years is amazing, it's really a unique story that people around the world have read about, and it won't just be forgotten about now."

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/artic...ity/index.html

I think that whole thing deserves a 'lol wtf'