COVID-19 updates comments and concerns

[griffin]

The situation with Indonesia is worrying, as they haven't had the best political system in place to control the population, and if their social systems collapses under the strain of a full outbreak of the virus, a lot more people will hop on boats to make the short journey to "safety" in Australia, and our border force boats can only intercept a small number at a time. Not to mention all of those people who are transiting through Indonesia from other countries, they might become more desperate to make the final journey to Australia, and the Indonesian authorities might be too busy dealing with their own problems to stop them.

A positive side effect from the virus in this country (according to some stats on the ABC today), is that since the peak of the virus numbers about 3 weeks ago, total patient numbers in Emergency Departments have fallen by 40%, from a usual 90-110% rate, down to about 60% this week... probably because less people are out in public getting hurt, from things like work or leisure related injuries, alcohol fueled violence, and car accidents, as well as a big drop in annual flu virus infections that would normally see hundreds being hospitalised during the winter months.
If we suddenly had another spike of cases, at least we have more capacity in our hospitals at the moment to handle it.

[dirge]

A positive side effect from the virus in this country (according to some stats on the ABC today), is that since the peak of the virus numbers about 3 weeks ago, total patient numbers in Emergency Departments have fallen by 40%, from a usual 90-110% rate, down to about 60% this week... probably because less people are out in public getting hurt, from things like work or leisure related injuries, alcohol fueled violence, and car accidents, as well as a big drop in annual flu virus infections that would normally see hundreds being hospitalised during the winter months.
If we suddenly had another spike of cases, at least we have more capacity in our hospitals at the moment to handle it.

I would expect this to have a lot to do with reduction in idiotic alcohol-fuelled violence, but I suspect the rate of serious car accidents probably helps. We'll be recording the lowest Easter road toll in decades, I reckon.

[Unicran]

The situation with Indonesia is worrying, as they haven't had the best political system in place to control the population, and if their social systems collapses under the strain of a full outbreak of the virus, a lot more people will hop on boats to make the short journey to "safety" in Australia, and our border force boats can only intercept a small number at a time. Not to mention all of those people who are transiting through Indonesia from other countries, they might become more desperate to make the final journey to Australia, and the Indonesian authorities might be too busy dealing with their own problems to stop them.

Hey griffin. Did you come up with this doomsday scenario while having tea with Pauline Hanson? Expect a call from Cory Bernardi to appear on his show on Sky News.

[GoktimusPrime]

This moron broke out of his hotel where he was being quarantined to visit his family... and now he's looking at either paying a $50k fine or spend a year in gaol.
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/healt...rules-c-977452
<slow.clap>

[Zippo]

New Zealand is due to end its lockdown in a weeks time; with a decision due on Monday. I am really hoping it is not ended (as much as I want certain things) as I don't feel that we have the testing side of things sorted yet - there are too many "well how did that happen" cases in the last few days.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Japan has finally called a state of emergency for the whole country. What does that mean? They will ask people to stay inside and ask businesses to close. Apparently legally that's the best they can do.

Of course some haven't, like the pachinko parlours that stayed open and were packed with people. Now some of them have closed. I really fear what is going to happen, because the graphs look extremely similar to America's...

Hopefully SOE for the whole country will make people wake up here. So far people have been using it almost as a day off. Lots of kids gathering in parks and playing, mum's clubs etc etc. Crazy.

[GoktimusPrime]

Was doing grocery shopping this morning and saw:
* an old lady having a sneaky nibble on a grape. Ordinarily I wouldn't care about this, but given the current pandemic -- who knows who's touched that grape before. And as a senior citizen, she's in the vulnerable range!
* an old man coughing without covering his mouth. His hands were empty - so it wasn't like he was holding something and the cough came along too suddenly for him to raise an arm. And heck, when that's happened to me the very least I do is cough into my shoulder.
* an old disabled lady in front of me at the checkout telling the cashier that this was the first time she's bought toilet paper in 8 weeks.

Of course some haven't, like the pachinko parlours that stayed open and were packed with people. Now some of them have closed.

(－‸ლ) それどころかパチンコのような賭博場を閉鎖したら、賭博者たちはそんな金の無駄遣いが止められて、別な経済 活動を促進できるんだ。しかしまた問題は、パチンコが法律的に賭博に分類されていない。
<The stupid thing is that by shutting down gambling outlets, they could stimulate other parts of the economy by the fact that gamblers are now wasting less money through slot machines. But then again, pachinko's not technically classified as gambling.>

[Unicran]

Japan has finally called a state of emergency for the whole country. What does that mean? They will ask people to stay inside and ask businesses to close. Apparently legally that's the best they can do.

Of course some haven't, like the pachinko parlours that stayed open and were packed with people. Now some of them have closed. I really fear what is going to happen, because the graphs look extremely similar to America's...

Hopefully SOE for the whole country will make people wake up here. So far people have been using it almost as a day off. Lots of kids gathering in parks and playing, mum's clubs etc etc. Crazy.

For a country that’s supposedly intelligent & obedient, that’s crazy alright.

[drifand]

Many of these countries IMO FAIL to act because they think of economics FIRST than eliminating the virus cases and situation. From my perspective, this is the down fall of many.
1.Closing borders late
2. closing business late < those that have huge groups like pubs night clubs, restaurants and so forth.
3. Not getting clinics prepared, despite hearing of this virus since December. < hey Australia is just as guilty just to be fair.

Many issues involved are due to lifestyle changes that people DO NOT wish to adapt or accept. Refuse to listen to stay in doors.
IMO the faster everyone cooperates and comply, the faster we constrain and restrict who really has the virus and is contained.

Once this is controlled, we know that all new cases are just from cruise ships and overseas flights. I also disagree that flight crew should be exempted, thats garbage, and is no different. (some arrangement are required but in no case they should be walking like everyone else on the streets)

once things are highly contained, we can restart our business. If the country selects Economics as priority, it will not yield any good outcome.