Coronavirus

[Smoking Aces]

They haven't. They have had lock downs.

They had a hotel quarantine cluster over December that spread across the state, mystery cases and all, which even spread here.

Which we managed. Then they managed.

SA had a hotel quarantine failure which they managed with a lockdown.

WA had a hotel quarantine failure they managed with a lockdown.

Queensland had a hotel quarantine failure they managed with a lockdown.

Get used to it people.

I won’t get used to repetitive errors made by the same people in charge.

The virus getting out of the hotel is one thing but minimising the damage is the crucial thing here. Once again the government has failed to appropriately act within the prescribed timeframe.

Close contacts in this latest outbreak were contacted after 48 hours of the primary person with COVID being detected. Well outside national cabinet standards. Hence why we are now in lockdown.

This failure has now occurred three times. Let’s hope this time around there aren’t 800 odd deaths.

 

[DjJazzyPete]

What ever happens , you don't want the South African strain in Australia .. I'm seeing first hand .. 5 ppl we know have now died in the past week of it .. spreading fast ..alcohol ban still on and curfew ( 8th week ) Challenging times .

 

[MB78]

What ever happens , you don't want the South African strain in Australia .. I'm seeing first hand .. 5 ppl we know have now died in the past week of it .. spreading fast ..alcohol ban still on and curfew ( 8th week ) Challenging times .

Sorry to read that. Gives some perspective.

 

[Sintiger]

And I wrote that, before I had read this:

‘I feel like a criminal’: Traveller says he told authorities about nebuliser

A returned traveller blamed for spreading coronavirus through the Holiday Inn says he was repeatedly given permission to use the medical device.

www.theage.com.au

Somehow, somewhere, somebody *smile* up

Inside the age article you can see the nub of the problem imo.
The nebuliser was replaced when he went to the health hotel after taking advice from infection control experts and these experts only provide advice at those hotels.
The decision to have non hot hotel quarantine run by Justice dept and the fact that they don’t consult real infection control experts is at the heart of the problem.

 

[TASSIETIGER2]

Why don't they use self-contained accommodation like a cabin park which would be similar to Howard springs quarantine facility

 

[Sintiger]

She seemed to just parrot Coatesworth. There was very little distinction from her between the previous virus & the new variants.

All I would say is have a look at the background and expertise of those people on the panel.
The reason she “parroted” Nick Coatesworth would be because she agreed with him.

 

[IanG]

It seems that the quarantine staff were not adequately trained to know, instruct, and then inspect what items are taken into the hotel quarantine system.

You're making assumptions here, expecting everything to be perfect when nothing ever is. Thats why you have better systems of checks and balances that minimise the consequences. Hotel quarantine as a system is flawed with minimal checks and balances by its very nature. Like I've said before even the normal strain has escaped from NSW and other states let alone the more infectious version. I really don't see the need to want to blame someone when the system itself is so flawed, unless egregious errors are uncovered.

 

[IanG]

Close contacts in this latest outbreak were contacted after 48 hours of the primary person with COVID being detected. Well outside national cabinet standards.

Source?

EDIT: OK found it, I agree not a good look given we have been within standards up until now although the article alludes to it being due to QR code systems being used by businesses not providing correct data:

Contact tracing faltered as ‘hyper-infectious’ COVID strain pushes state into lockdown

Victoria’s public health team is under pressure to explain why contact tracers took too long to get in touch with people exposed to the rampant British variant.

www.theage.com.au

 

[caesar]

Source?

EDIT: OK found it, I agree not a good look given we have been within standards up until now although the article alludes to it being due to QR code systems being used by businesses not providing correct data:

Contact tracing faltered as ‘hyper-infectious’ COVID strain pushes state into lockdown

Victoria’s public health team is under pressure to explain why contact tracers took too long to get in touch with people exposed to the rampant British variant.

www.theage.com.au

Victoria's tracing is substandard but re QR codes I had one of our own PRE posters think it was clever to provide false name and phone number when he uses QR codes

 

[Tigers of Old]

All I would say is have a look at the background and expertise of those people on the panel.
The reason she “parroted” Nick Coatesworth would be because she agreed with him.

I did read her background & I stand by what I said.

 

[Sintiger]

I did read her background & I stand by what I said.

Your prerogative but you are backing the wrong horse imo.

 

[MB78]

The Age reporting that the Chief Health Officer direction is for 2 weeks and not the 5 days. What’s going on with this difference?

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

The Age reporting that the Chief Health Officer direction is for 2 weeks and not the 5 days. What’s going on with this difference?

"Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews appears to have left the door open for his five-day 'circuit breaker' lockdown to be extended for up to two weeks, according to the state government’s stay at home orders.

The 'stay safe' period, which took effect at 11.59pm on Friday, does not expire until February 26.

'For the purposes of these directions, the stay safe period is the period beginning at 11:59:00 pm on 12 February 2021 and ending at 11:59:00 pm on 26 February 2021,' the orders read.

It does not mean that Victorians will be in lockdown for longer than five days, but gives the Victorian government scope to extend it.

Under these orders Victorians can only leave home for four essential reasons: shopping, exercise, essential work or caregiving.

It comes as Victoria recorded one new case of locally acquired coronavirus on Saturday, following more than 20,000 tests."

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/na...y/news-story/78923995f292a7b20c6577e0a0fa602a (paywalled)

 

[Brodders17]

Is it racist to call it the UK strain like it was to call it the China virus? Just asking for a friend.

Depends if it is said in a way that seeks to blame the UK for allowing the strain exist and spread. (which is reasonable considering if they had of done lockdown properly there wouldnt be a "UK" strain, and we wouldnt be in lockdown.)

 

[Tigers of Old]

Need a serious Australia wide re-calibration of HQ, it's not working. These new variants are a game changer.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1360065143267225600

 

[year of the tiger]

You're making assumptions here, expecting everything to be perfect when nothing ever is. Thats why you have better systems of checks and balances that minimise the consequences. Hotel quarantine as a system is flawed with minimal checks and balances by its very nature. Like I've said before even the normal strain has escaped from NSW and other states let alone the more infectious version. I really don't see the need to want to blame someone when the system itself is so flawed, unless egregious errors are uncovered.

My view is simple

Our national borders are a federal responsibility.

We have known since March last year that this pandemic would impact our way of life for 2 years minimum - the experts were saying back then that it would be 2 to 3 years before life gets back to normal with a vaccine fully developed, tested and roled out.

A long term solution was always needed, since watching the ruby princess debacle through to Victoria’s quarantine system breakdown last year we have always known this was Australia’s biggest weakness.

So where is the Federal Govt in all this......... they are asleep at the wheel at best, incompetent at worst and why does no one raise this.

My view also is that a nationally based, high quality quarantine system based away from the big cities is still desperately needed and why doesn’t Morrison do sometching.

Its called leadership and is desperately lacking.

 

[Ridley]

Need a serious Australia wide re-calibration of HQ, it's not working. These new variants are a game changer.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1360065143267225600

Yeah but this bloke’s boss was part of the national cabinet that agreed the states would handle quarantine of international arrivals. Whilst I agree that national quarantine facilities would be much more preferable it’s a bit rich for him to point the finger at the feds when his boss was a major player in the original decision.

 

[Ridley]

My view is simple

Our national borders are a federal responsibility.

We have known since March last year that this pandemic would impact our way of life for 2 years minimum - the experts were saying back then that it would be 2 to 3 years before life gets back to normal with a vaccine fully developed, tested and roled out.

A long term solution was always needed, since watching the ruby princess debacle through to Victoria’s quarantine system breakdown last year we have always known this was Australia’s biggest weakness.

So where is the Federal Govt in all this......... they are asleep at the wheel at best, incompetent at worst and why does no one raise this.

My view also is that a nationally based, high quality quarantine system based away from the big cities is still desperately needed and why doesn’t Morrison do sometching.

Its called leadership and is desperately lacking.

Agree with much of this but the fact is all of the state premiers are part of the national cabinet and were part of the decision making process that saw hotel quarantine handled at a state level. Now it has gone tits up again in Victoria all of the ALP states want to point the finger. Andrews has *smile* it twice; something needs to be done in Victoria.

I’m an advocate for national quarantine facilities away from the capital cities. However some posters on here have pointed out that such facilities may not have enough close access to hospitals in the event of an emergency and that is an obstacle to overcome.

 

[Ridley]

Depends if it is said in a way that seeks to blame the UK for allowing the strain exist and spread. (which is reasonable considering if they had of done lockdown properly there wouldnt be a "UK" strain, and we wouldnt be in lockdown.)

Fair call on the UK handling of the virus. It’s been very poor. However it’s also a fair call that if the Chinese government didn’t partake in complete subterfuge and cover up when the virus was first discovered then none of us would be in this position right now. Just saying.

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

Depends if it is said in a way that seeks to blame the UK for allowing the strain exist and spread. (which is reasonable considering if they had of done lockdown properly there wouldnt be a "UK" strain, and we wouldnt be in lockdown.)

More than double the population of Australia crammed into 0.03 of the area... They were always up against it.