COVID-19 updates comments and concerns

[G1Optimal]

Some fool jumped on a train from Victoria to NSW knowing they had been tested and had to isolate, but decided to travel. As dumb as it gets.

Turns out it was someone from rural nsw
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/P...200705_00.aspx

A passenger tested for COVID-19 after arriving in Sydney by train on Saturday morning has returned a negative result. This person was a NSW resident who got on the XPT train in regional NSW, not Victoria, and then self-presented with influenza like illness at Central Station.

Or am i talking about another person

[DELTAprime]

Apparently the Victorian bassed V8 Supercars teams are going to be racing to the NSW border to try and get over into NSW before midnight. Sport before people's health I guess.

https://au.motorsport.com/v8supercar...paign=widget-6

[1AZRAEL1]

Turns out it was someone from rural nsw
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/P...200705_00.aspx


Or am i talking about another person

Different cases.

https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/healt...toms-c-1140192

On Wednesday a woman was intercepted by health authorities, also at Sydney’s Central Station, after arriving from Melbourne. She had travelled to Sydney despite showing symptoms of the virus and had also failed to wait to receive her pending test results.

[griffin]

It's a no-win situation though... if they make the closures and lockdowns take effect immediately it catches out people who need to be prepared for it, but if they make the closures and lockdowns take effect in a day or two it gives people time to travel to areas knowing that they are infected and would be stopped.

[Autocon]

What about the towns that split between both boarders.

[griffin]

There are calls to have the road closures outside the border towns... but on which side? Since this looks to be NSW enforcing the border closures, they have no jurisdiction on the Victorian side of the border town, and if they close the roads on the NSW side of the border town, they would be restricting the travel of their own people, based on the possibility that they are continuing to mingle with Victorians who could be infected, they would need to be quarantined for 2 weeks if they wanted to travel further into their own state.

It's a shame that this was a decision being taken by Victoria to consolidate resources and limit the spread to other states, and not something chased up by the NSW premier or prime minister (they have agreed to support it, but have spent weeks refusing to do it, and frequently chastising other states for doing it and not re-opening). It's a bit like someone wearing a mask to protect others, not just to protect themselves from others. Victoria is "wearing a mask" to limit the spread to NSW, because NSW doesn't want to wear one.

This comment of mine was based on the press conference yesterday of the Victorian premier actually stating that he was instigating the closure of the border with NSW, and that he was getting support from the NSW premier and the prime minister.
That appears to be wrong.
At least according to today's news, and the NSW premier, who is saying that she is the one closing the border to Victoria, due to most of the virus numbers being "community spread" and that was too much of a risk to her state.
Soooo.... it was okay to be constantly demand QLD to open its border to NSW when there were still community spread cases of the virus in NSW, but now when it is another state with community spread cases, she wants her state protected. A bit of a hypocrite there, not caring about other states trying to protect themselves from her state when they were one of the hotspots (by publicly accusing them of being selfish against the national interest, hoping to gain support from NSW voters who may have state rivalries to other states).


I didn't realise that we had such massive "American styled" public housing buildings in Australia, cramming in thousands of people of lower socio-economic demographics, with quite a few immigrants who are yet to learn english. (we don't have public housing buildings of that massive size in Brisbane, and unless Sydney has them, no other city in Australia thought it was a good idea to densely cram thousands of people of low economic standing, into one massive building) If the migrant numbers are as high as the media are claiming, it's a contemporary example of the classic tale of Babylon, in which there was no common language by all of the people, so the community collapsed before it could adapt to the language barrier.
As one of the medical people had commented on the news yesterday, these towers of thousands of people in cramped conditions are like vertical cruise-ships, and just like in New York, once the virus entered the building, it was going to spread like wildfire.


I'm beginning to think that the severity of symptoms could be based on the number of times you come into contact with the virus... so if you only pick up one dose or particle of the virus, your body has a better chance to suppress it with all of your immune system tackling it before it can multiply too much and be too contagious to others. However, if you are in an environment of constant exposure to the virus (like in a densely packed environment with multiple infected people, eg. New York, prisons, nursing homes, high density & low income residential towers), and your body's immune system has to tackle multiple virus particles within your body at the same time, which can overwhelm the body and replicate, making you more contagious and more likely symptomatic and need hospitalisation.
It could help explain how the American case numbers are at record highs, but their death rate is still falling... as the virus is increasing in parts of their country that are significantly less densely packed than New York, which is where most deaths occurred in the first couple of months.

[1AZRAEL1]

Gladys is an absolute hypocrite. She's proven that on many occasions.

[griffin]

191 cases in Victoria yesterday... so it is definitely spreading freely like before.

As people are rushing to get into NSW before the border closes, apparently there were at least 2 cases found in Albury (on the NSW side of the border), that are being re-tested.
And there is potential carrier in Newcastle, who was a returned traveller who did the 14 day quarantine in Sydney when he arrived, but since he tested negative on day 10, he was allowed to leave. When he started getting symptoms a few days later while in Newcastle, he tested positive. That's now several days of travelling from one major city to another, and interacting with other people. So either the day-10 test was a false negative (which happens), or this person caught the virus from someone else in the quarantine hotel in the final few days who was infected, and wasn't re-tested at the time of leaving.


On the plus side, with all states now closing their borders to Victoria until the virus is re-contained, the rest of the country can re-open up to each other, to stimulate the economy with tourism (one of the biggest direct and indirect employment industries)... and NZ has even noted that it could open up a non-quarantine "bubble" with all but Victoria, as soon as September. (which we may desperately need, if the federal government cuts off, or heavily winds back, the jobkeeper program in 3 months time)

[1AZRAEL1]

I have a cruise booked for November to NZ. Will be interesting to see if not only the borders open up to do so, but if P&O will go ahead with it.

[DaptoDog]

I have a cruise booked for November to NZ. Will be interesting to see if not only the borders open up to do so, but if P&O will go ahead with it.

You couldn't pay me to get on a cruise ship given all that has happened. Assume you can't get your money back?