Covid 19 -

[T3rminator]

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews nominated for political leadership award

https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-...ward-c-2172220

"The selection panel said Andrews scored the nomination because he displayed “firm, decisive and courageous leadership”.

“Throughout the crisis, he based key decisions on expert health advice — a brave approach which led to some less popular decisions,” the nomination statement said.

“Although Andrews was criticised for the devastating failings of Victoria’s hotel quarantine system, he was acknowledged for swiftly calling an inquiry into the system, and for committing to act on its recommendations.”"

Boy oh boy.... please go easy.

In other news, it appears dear supreme leader will be going full steam ahead with building a dedicate quarantine site in a remote location, likely Avalon airport, using Howard Springs style huts. Howard Springs is the only facility that has not had any leaks, so sounds sensible to model off.

[russellw]

Data valid as at 00:00 GMT February 15th, 2021.

Note: As not all Australian States report at the same time, the data below is based on the previous full day reporting.

2 new cases for Australia and no deaths so the CMR is 3.145%.

6 new cases and no deaths for NZ so CMR is 1.070% and active cases 47.

The UK had 9,765 cases yesterday and 230 deaths. That's the first day under 10k cases since October 4th last year.

Just under 68k new cases in the USA yesterday and 1,186 deaths sees CMR steady at 1.759%. Note that the USA is actually minus one day due to time differences.

Other notable points:
None.

No countries (for the fifth consecutive day)

... recorded new daily highs; those in blue for the second consecutive day and those in red for a third or more consecutive day.

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

[B][SIZE="3"]

In other news, it appears dear supreme leader will be going full steam ahead with building a dedicate quarantine site in a remote location, likely Avalon airport, using Howard Springs style huts. Howard Springs is the only facility that has not had any leaks, so sounds sensible to model off.

Lindsay Fox will be rubbing his hands together...

[car10002]

Hi everyone

Have you’d noticed that shops are getting busier than same time last year and one before because of border closures, just wondered when shops especially cafes restaurants and pubs will go back to what it was before or will it likely be same for as long as particular people are working in it for.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews nominated for political leadership award

https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-...ward-c-2172220



Boy oh boy.... please go easy.

In other news, it appears dear supreme leader will be going full steam ahead with building a dedicate quarantine site in a remote location, likely Avalon airport, using Howard Springs style huts. Howard Springs is the only facility that has not had any leaks, so sounds sensible to model off.

Kill over 800 people, deny knowing who did what, and then win a leadership award. Clown world. Honk honk.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Kill over 800 people, deny knowing who did what, and then win a leadership award. Clown world. Honk honk.

As someone who's not a big Dan Andrews fan I think he's doing fairly well.

He just seems to have a lot if idiots working for him.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

As someone who's not a big Dan Andrews fan I think he's doing fairly well.

He just seems to have a lot if idiots working for him.

Can’t argue with that. But if they screw up and prove incapable of doing their job, why are they still employed?

[Tickford.]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Can’t argue with that. But if they screw up and prove incapable of doing their job, why are they still employed?

Why don't you hand in your resume and show them how it's done??

Honk. Honk.

[T3rminator]

Paparazzi outside the Holiday Inn as sick patients were being transported just shows how low these "journalists" will go to, to get that "gotacha" moment.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/v...16-p572u0.html

Patients having to cover their faces using garbage bags to hide their identity, despite gov's best efforts to block the views using additional buses. What country are we in again?

Whats worse, certain journalists this morning tried to imply that these were PPE provided by the gov. How low can you go?

This whole thing is starting to sniff of sabotage to me. I'd like to know more about the bloke that was so sick he had to go to ICU, but was still able to do an interview from his bed. And somehow journalists got hold of his medical records to confirm his identity. Tin foil hat on. Disgusted.

[zilo]

An interesting website showing virus progression.

https://nextstrain.org/ncov/global?dmin=2020-03-01

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

As someone who's not a big Dan Andrews fan I think he's doing fairly well.

He just seems to have a lot if idiots working for him.

Its not like he is Cuomo ... 800 is 1/10th of cuomo's rounding factor.

[Citroënbender]

So… Will the latest Victorian lockdown end today, or will there be a “Wait, there’s more!” infomercial style extension added? I’m tipping an extension, but I’m usually wrong.

As to Victoria’s leadership, if they put FTE217 and Mitch in place of Dan & Brett, it would be awesome. Blunt, entertaining and (IMO) better!

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

So… Will the latest Victorian lockdown end today, or will there be a “Wait, there’s more!” infomercial style extension added? I’m tipping an extension, but I’m usually wrong.

As to Victoria’s leadership, if they put FTE217 and Mitch in place of Dan & Brett, it would be awesome. Blunt, entertaining and (IMO) better!

I prefer FairmontGS. Has anyone heard from him?

Unless there are unlinked cases, or new cases introducing 100+ more close contacts, then I'll bet my left testicle it won't be extended. However some restrictions will remain, as with all states when they lifted their lock downs, then gradually taper off.

If you think it will be extended with no new cases then you've been hook, line and sinkered by the media. Its been a great sabotage effort, trying to stoke anger and fear, but once again looks to have failed.

I really feel for the hotel quarantine staff, having to put up with the tripe written about them day in day out, despite putting in a pretty decent effort.

[FTE217]

Your a bad man Citroenbender
Unfortunately I would stand down after the number of failures my Team had incurred (people forget like they did with information) and the cost my fellow Victorians have bared and in the future !
I might take the award as a consolation prize showing my supporting blinded Karens I did something right and pass on the baton to Mitch and Fairmont the mighty GS lol......
I must go for the burley has been let out they will come.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Tickford.

Why don't you hand in your resume and show them how it's done??

Honk. Honk.

But i have a job i’m competent at already. Unlike vic’s hotel quarantine managers who keep screwing up. Maybe they should throw another party to celebrate their success at going one day without new cases, just like the party they threw for “successfully” managing the hotel quarantine for the tennis players and staff, days before they had another outbreak

[russellw]

Data valid as at 00:00 GMT February 16th, 2021.

Note: As not all Australian States report at the same time, the data below is based on the previous full day reporting.

5 new cases for Australia and no deaths so the CMR is 3.145%.

1 new cases and no deaths for NZ so CMR is 1.070% and active cases 46.

The UK had 10,625 cases yesterday and 799 deaths.

Just over 52k new cases in the USA yesterday and 955 deaths sees CMR steady at 1.759%. That's the first day under 1,000 deaths since November 30th last year. Note that the USA is actually minus one day due to time differences.

Other notable points:
Global cases pass 110M, the last 1M in 3 days;
South America passes 17M cases.

Only:

Jamaica (468)

... recorded new daily highs; those in blue for the second consecutive day and those in red for a third or more consecutive day.

[cs123]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

I really feel for the hotel quarantine staff, having to put up with the tripe written about them day in day out, despite putting in a pretty decent effort.

100% agree with that!

[smoo]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Is the NZ hotel quarantine being managed by the central gov? So far you gotta say having NZ PM managing the crisis seems to have worked quite well. There seems to be a consistent message from right up the top. There is no nashing of teeth or biffs whenever you guys go into lock down.

Comrade Ardern is bloody lucky this thing isn't truely deadly or contagious because there have been dozens of slip ups from the border & quarantine facilities which would have seen mass infections & deaths if so.
For example, a woman who was positive with the supposed highly contagious, killer South African mutant toured most of the region north of Auckland last week. Visited over 30 stores and shared a bed with her partner & the result.... no community transmission.

No gnashing of teeth or biffs - it's probably smoother not having individual states, the extra bureaucracy and I suppose any comparison or reflection that creates among the people in each state.
Although then real reason is that Ardern is protected. We can thank a **** weak sycophantic media who gushes over Ardern and will not ask one hard question of her. This media bias made more secure due to Ardern throwing them a $50million lifeline a month after covid struck.
On top of that, a blind and dedicated fan base ready to launch vitriol at anyone brave enough to go against the narrative, point out Arderns hypocrisy or her blatant lies.

Originally Posted by PooDog

Housing prices are going crazy because of all the people coming home and it being the only way investors can get any gain , even places where housing was cheap small towns etc are getting gobbled up and thats causing rents to rise .....if your a 1st home buyer or renter your up sh#t creek

Returning citizens and residents are no doubt exacerbating the issue. But investors are the scapegoat more than ever now due to broken government promises and unintended consequences of excess tenancy red tape and anti land lord legislation. Resulting in a shortage of rentals, a record level of homelessness, emergency housing and price of rents. It is easier for the Govt to blame investors instead of their own failed policies. There is no investigative & impartial journalism to 'fact check' the Govt so they run with it.
Investors only make up 25-30% of residential borrowing, less than FHB. Total investor borrowing declined over the past three years and flat lined in 2020, despite record house prices and higher equity to leverage off. More and more investors are leaving the game due to significantly higher risk. Considering over 85% of rental stock are private rentals, that is the last thing this government who cannot organise a **** up in a brewery needs.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by cs123

100% agree with that!

Its always the 1%ers the media focus on which paints an industry with a bad brush. Regardless of what industry, trade, whatever, the media will never focus on the 99% of people who are honest and do their job properly. If a current affair did a segment on joe the honest carpenter for example, no lounge lizard would stay watching that. So yeah, a few hotel quarentine staff did the wrong thing, but there are thousands who did the right thing.

[T3rminator]

Well it appears the basket case of a gov in Vic may have managed to incompetently contact trace and isolate ~3400 close contacts in 5 days. They just can't be trusted. I say "may" because there is still an incubation period to get over from the most recent positive case.

Since the hotel quarantine inquiry....

SA, QLD, WA, VIC - UK strain detected in 3 of the 4, patient zero quickly identified, snap lock downs of 5 days or less = total cases across all FOUR states put together, less than 30 (so far).

"Others" - 4 leaks in 4 weeks, can't track patient zero, can't disclose how it escaped from quarantine, take weeks to mop up = 151 cases including leakage into other states, and an economy none the better.

Anonymous Mr Nebuliser whose name is not yet known is not happy and wants an independent inquiry. Looks like Mr Hunt might oblige. Good luck. It'll likely cost one lowly paid, hard working medical staffer his/her job.

Originally Posted by smoo

Although then real reason is that Ardern is protected. We can thank a **** weak sycophantic media who gushes over Ardern and will not ask one hard question of her. This media bias made more secure due to Ardern throwing them a $50million lifeline a month after covid struck.

That sounds awfully familiar. The dollar amount is almost identical, but not per month.

[Tickford.]

Case zero for Northern beaches, apparently "unknown". Case zero for Berala BWS, incorrect/falsified reporting of "friend of infected airport worker".

We will investigate how the Berala cluster spread happened at the BWS, and report back they said. STILL waiting for that report. Wouldn't hold your breath waiting for the NSW government to release any accurate and truthful report. It's just not their way. The document shredder has been working quite a bit in GB's office lately.

[MITCHAY]

It is a joke to even compare contact tracing between NSW and Vic. NSW wins that every day of the week and the evidence is numbers of cases and deaths and the fact it has been managed without locking down.

There is an element of luck of course but there is obviously confidence in NSW contact tracing and so far events bear that out. May not be the case in the future but it is now.

How can anyone argue any different is beyond me but each to their own. Some cases will hit a dead end, it is just reality.

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

It is a joke to even compare contact tracing between NSW and Vic. NSW wins that every day of the week and the evidence is numbers of cases and deaths and the fact it has been managed without locking down.

There is an element of luck of course but there is obviously confidence in NSW contact tracing and so far events bear that out. May not be the case in the future but it is now.

How can anyone argue any different is beyond me but each to their own. Some cases will hit a dead end, it is just reality.

Don't think anyone is disputing that the gold standard contact tracing trophy belongs to NSW, Mitchay. My post wasn't intended to be a ****ing contest. Was just comparing the result of the whole system. Contact tracing is just one piece of the puzzle. The whole gamut includes quarantine controls, testing, public health orders etc. If you look at the outbreaks / leaks since the hotel quarantine inquiry, its pretty black and white which method has worked better.

Anyhow, whats worrying now is that there is a weak positive detected at an aged care facility. So we (vic) may not be out of the woods yet.

The thing is, science and odds tell us there WILL be another hotel quarantine leak in the future. Even ranked 1 standard NZ has had breaches. So round and round in circles we go.

[T3rminator]

If you look at the outbreak model posted at 5.36pm in the article below, you will see Victoria dodged a BIG bullet at the coburg cluster. If they did not go back and retest and retest the initial coburg seeder, this could have been a flash point. This is why I will always support 3-5 day breakers if needed. But easy for me to say, as I'm not a business owner.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/c...17-p57361.html

edit: chart here
https://public.flourish.studio/visua...sation/5299320

[Tickford.]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

The thing is, science and odds tell us there WILL be another hotel quarantine leak in the future. Even ranked 1 standard NZ has had breaches. So round and round in circles we go.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all states and territories in favour of moving away from the hotel quarantine model, bar one state? A state that has had repeated hotel quarantine breaches?

Now tell me this is not a political move by said state.

[MITCHAY]

I agree it shouldn't be a ****ing contest at all. The states should work together to understand the lessons learned and take what works best. You can't eliminate risk, you have to manage it.

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by Tickford.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all states and territories in favour of moving away from the hotel quarantine model, bar one state? A state that has had repeated hotel quarantine breaches?

Now tell me this is not political.

Yes. So apparently the builders that built Howard Springs say they can replicate that at Avalon for a cost of $120-$170m. That would be a 850 unit facility. But I don't trust builder's estimates, so lets double it and say $340m. Then lets add another $200m to operational costs, that's pretty conservative?

Given that the 5 day lock down in Vic estimated to have cost $500-$1b, seems like a no brainer to me.

The facility will be semi permanent, and can be reused for things like bush fire response etc.

[PHANTMXR6]

The Howard Springs facility is a 3500 person facility.
It’s only being used for less than 1k currently though.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by PHANTMXR6

The Howard Springs facility is a 3500 person facility.
It’s only being used for less than 1k currently though.

which is odd, Govco should be upping it and use Darwin as the main pass point.

If there is an outbreak in the NT it is a lot less disruptive tot he nation than SYD or MEL.

Unfortunately a lot of "not in my backyard" syndrome going on.

[PHANTMXR6]

I suspect it'll be to do with funding as to why it isn't being used to a larger capacity.
I believe Gunner has already said something along the lines of being able to up the numbers to around the 2k mark, but don't quote me on it.

It seems to work well, and the odd one who tries to climb the fence out of there get apprehended pretty quick before they can get anywhere.