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Coronavirus
- Thread starter Tigers of Old
- Start date
Dan Andrews flags talks about slashing number of returned travellers allowed back
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged he is willing to lead national talks on whether the number of Aussie citizens allowed back into the country should be drastically slashed.
Speaking at a press conference where he announced a snap five-day lockdown in Victoria after the virus again escaped from hotel quarantine, Mr Andrews suggested the number of people coming home needed to cut.
“There needs to be a cold, hard discussion, and I’m happy to lead it,” the Premier said.
“With this UK strain – and we haven’t even got on to South Africa yet, because it’s just as bad – should we be having the total number of people coming home?
“Or should it be a much smaller program that’s based on compassionate grounds?
“That’s a conversation we should have, particularly given that we’re so close to being able to vaccinate those who, if they get this, will become gravely ill.”
Mr Andrews flagged that instead of Victoria receiving about 1200 returned Australian citizens each week, maybe only hundreds should be allowed back.
“We’re currently taking 1200 odd. We were going to go to 1310,” he said.
“The point I’m making is instead of doing 1310, maybe we should be doing hundreds.
“We should have a mature discussion about just how many people are coming back and the circumstances in which they are coming back.”
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By Jove, I think Dan is starting to get it!
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged he is willing to lead national talks on whether the number of Aussie citizens allowed back into the country should be drastically slashed.
Speaking at a press conference where he announced a snap five-day lockdown in Victoria after the virus again escaped from hotel quarantine, Mr Andrews suggested the number of people coming home needed to cut.
“There needs to be a cold, hard discussion, and I’m happy to lead it,” the Premier said.
“With this UK strain – and we haven’t even got on to South Africa yet, because it’s just as bad – should we be having the total number of people coming home?
“Or should it be a much smaller program that’s based on compassionate grounds?
“That’s a conversation we should have, particularly given that we’re so close to being able to vaccinate those who, if they get this, will become gravely ill.”
Mr Andrews flagged that instead of Victoria receiving about 1200 returned Australian citizens each week, maybe only hundreds should be allowed back.
“We’re currently taking 1200 odd. We were going to go to 1310,” he said.
“The point I’m making is instead of doing 1310, maybe we should be doing hundreds.
“We should have a mature discussion about just how many people are coming back and the circumstances in which they are coming back.”
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By Jove, I think Dan is starting to get it!
He was close. I think he meant to say Fool’s Gold Standard
If anyone else is wondering why a nebuliser is such a bad idea, here's a snippet that explain it better
A guest in Melbourne's hotel quarantine system was positive with COVID-19 when they used a nebuliser, believe experts, who say every second they used the machine they would have been releasing up to 10,000 times more aerosol particles than if they were breathing normally.
And that would have given SARS CoV2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — millions more droplets to "hitch a ride" on.
According to senior lecturer in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Monash University Daniel Duke, a nebuliser does not make the virus more potent, travel further or hang around in the air longer.
"There is simply more opportunity for the virus to be transmitted by aerosol," he said.
A guest in Melbourne's hotel quarantine system was positive with COVID-19 when they used a nebuliser, believe experts, who say every second they used the machine they would have been releasing up to 10,000 times more aerosol particles than if they were breathing normally.
And that would have given SARS CoV2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — millions more droplets to "hitch a ride" on.
According to senior lecturer in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Monash University Daniel Duke, a nebuliser does not make the virus more potent, travel further or hang around in the air longer.
"There is simply more opportunity for the virus to be transmitted by aerosol," he said.
It just shows how dishonest people are when they want to have something, they will be xraying bags from now on
Then why has NSW been able to manage it? They have had almost 3 times more return travellers. Yet no lockdowns.
I agree the Federal Government needs to take control of this because our incompetent Government has no idea on what they are doing.
Holiday Inn quarantine hotel cluster grows to 13 amid N95 mask rollout
The Age
The coronavirus outbreak linked to the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport has swelled to 13 cases as the state government bows to pressure to roll out N95 masks to more hotel quarantine workers in an effort to close dangerous gaps in infection control.
A total of five new cases linked to the cluster were announced on Thursday, including two disclosed at 11pm that the Health Department said were both household primary close contacts of previously announced cases.
The announcement came as Brunetti cafe at Terminal 4 of Melbourne Airport was added to the list of exposure sites. Anyone who was there between 4.45am and 1.15pm on Tuesday, February 9, must get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
The growing cluster has intensified calls from health experts to beef up protections for quarantine workers. In recent days, Victorian hotel quarantine workers who transport coronavirus-infected returned travellers from “cold” hotels to “hot” medi-hotels have been ordered to replace their surgical masks with hospital-grade N95 masks, face shields and goggles.
COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Commissioner Emma Cassar has met health officials to discuss rolling out N95 masks more broadly across the state’s hotel quarantine program after it was hit by a spate of infections at the Grand Hyatt, Park Royal and Holiday Inn.
A senior health source, who spoke to The Age on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said more hotel quarantine workers would start wearing the masks in coming weeks so they had the same protection as doctors and nurses exposed to coronavirus in hospitals.
At the moment, N95 respirators are mandated only for staff working in “hot” medi-hotels, which house confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Those working in “cold” hotels, with returned travellers who do not initially test positive for the virus, are only required to wear face masks.
It was revealed on Thursday that another Holiday Inn worker, the spouses of two other staff members and two other primary close contacts had tested positive for coronavirus. The female assistant manager was tested on Wednesday and had been isolating as a close contact of a fellow Holiday Inn worker.
One of the new cases is believed to have had some contact with Camberwell Grammar School but it was not yet known if the school was at risk, Department of Health COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said.
All cases linked to the hotel are presumed to be the more infectious British variant of coronavirus, which scientists say poses increasing challenges to contain.
“We are still trying to get a sense of how far transmission has already occurred, and we need to be sure we keep running faster than the virus to ensure we run it to ground,” Mr Weimar said.
The outbreak has prompted several states to tighten their borders to travellers from Greater Melbourne.
South Australia snapped its border shut to travellers from Melbourne at midnight on Thursday, while Queensland will ban entry to visitors to the city’s exposure sites from 1am on Saturday. Western Australia also announced its hard border to Victoria would be extended for at least another seven days. NSW remains open to all Victorians, but incoming passengers are being screened.
Professor Jason Monty, who spent months analysing airflow in hospital wards in Victoria to track the movement of COVID-19, said while authorities had done a great job stopping high-risk transmission, their attention now needed to focus on low-risk, airborne transmission.
“The low-risk transmission is what is causing us problems right now,” the head of mechanical engineering at the University of Melbourne said.
Professor Monty uses theatrical fog to track the movement of air and said it often took a “surprising and scary” path.
“Sometimes it is from a room to a hallway, sometimes it’s from a room to another room and sometimes it’s up through the ceiling through light fixtures.”
Why the *smile* hasn't EVERY quarantine worker been issued with N95 masks, face shields and goggles. This is an extremely simple and important safety measure. The mind boggles at the incompetence of the Victoria state government.
I've used nothing but, although on one hospital visit they insisted the mask wasn't very good and that I wear one of their blue cheapies.
Nonsense, if it was Ebola we were dealing with I can guaranteed it would have been contained. You currently have quarantine workers going from hot to cold hotel sites and vice versa (without wearing appropriate PPE) and then knocking off and going to the pub and back home to their families. You think Dan would have learned from his initial *smile* up.
I don't have a problem with the tennis, now that the tournament has begun. No crowds, and the players are in a bubble anyway. Not that I've watched a minute of it.
Actually, with everyone locked down, having the tennis to watch is a good thing.
Essential workers.
If the government isn't taking the rona seriously with it's hotel quarantine, why should the rest of us?
Haven't NSW been taking the bulk of quarantined travellers?
Yes. But don't compare Vic with NSW, compare us with the US and Europe and thank your lucky stars. Gladys & NSW has simply been lucky. A number of times.
Good money in takeaway, I know because I had one and times like this is when you can do well because you need less staff.
And all of the Dan Andrews cheerleaders always quick to point out Gladys failings.
