News Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread IV

[Val Keating]

We are becoming a totalitarian country. If no one can’t see this, you need to wake the fu** up.

The issue is you give the powers to be a inch they take a mile. This is guaranteed to get worse.

We are all going down a very scary road.

As much as I don’t like whataboutisim, we’re not getting sent off to war without a choice

 

[Horizons_00]

It's choose your own adventure!

 

[Tectonic]

South Australia has begun a home-based quarantine trial which is tipped to expand to international arrivals.

Here's a look at the trial.

So how will it work?
It will start this week for people returning from New South Wales and Victoria.

Premier Steven Marshall said he hoped the trial would be expanded to international travellers in "subsequent weeks", making it a national first.

Those in home-based quarantine will need to download an app, developed by the South Australian Government, to prove they are staying home while required to.

People wanting to return to South Australia and home quarantine will have to apply to SA Health.

LIVE UPDATES: Read our blog for the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic
They will have to prove they have a place to isolate during their quarantine period and must also be fully vaccinated.

Those who are approved will have to download the South Australian Government home quarantine app, which uses geo-location and facial recognition software to track those in quarantine.

The app will contact people at random asking them to provide proof of their location within 15 minutes.

Steven Marshall says South Australians should be proud of running a national pilot program for home-based quarantine.(
ABC News
)

"We don't tell them how often or when, on a random basis they have to reply within 15 minutes," Mr Marshall said.

If a person cannot successfully verify their location or identity when requested, SA Health will notify SA Police who will conduct an in-person check on the person in quarantine.

People will still be required to quarantine for 14 days.

The Premier said people were also able to put in daily observations, which could trigger a visit from SA Health.

Mr Marshall said the government would not be storing any of the information provided to the app.

"We just use it to verify that people are where they said they were going to be during the home-based quarantine."

Why is SA doing this?
The Premier said it was "implausible" to continue to use medi-hotels for international arrivals as borders began to re-open.

The government hopes the use of technology during home-based quarantine would not only increase quarantine capacity, but also reduce the reliance on police officers having to knock on doors to check on people quarantining.

Read more about the vaccine rollout:

• Should the vaccine be mandatory for health workers? Doctors think so
• Singapore has reached 80 per cent fully vaccinated, putting it ahead of the pack
• Australians over 60 won't be able to get the Moderna vaccine

"We are trying to take some of the cost associated with home-based quarantine out," Mr Marshall said.

"In the past where we have had this option for people coming from interstate and in the early days from overseas, it required a very heavy police presence to go and check on them.

"Now we have had a great uptake of the QR code check-in app here in South Australia, people say it's the best in the country, I think they're right and now we are the national selected pilot for this home-based quarantine app."

He said if the trials were successful, international arrivals could be home-quarantining using the new app in the next few weeks.

WA and Tasmania have been using apps to quarantine people from interstate, but not overseas arrivals.

When is this starting?
Now. There are people using the home-based quarantine app from today.

People in home quarantine will have to prove they have not left the house.(
Pexels: Anna Shvets
)

"The very first person using the home-based quarantine app is now in place,' Mr Marshall said.

"This is part of a pilot of around 50 people.

"I think every South Australian should feel pretty proud that we are the national pilot for the home-based quarantine app."

The Premier said South Australia will report results back to National Cabinet in the coming weeks.

How did we get to this stage?
Mr Marshall said South Australia took the home-based quarantine idea to National Cabinet "in the month last month or two".

Ask us your questions about COVID-19

Do you have a question about Coronavirus/ COVID-19 you would like the ABC to investigate?
Read more

But in November 2020, West Australian based firm GenVis was selected as the successful tenderer for the $1.1 million contract to provide a COVID-19 home quarantine compliance app.

The company's G2G app uses facial recognition and GPS tracking technology to check-in on people in isolation.

The company already provides services to the WA Government with its G2G Now — a program developed in conjunction with WA Police.

Work began on adapting the platform for South Australia, but in February the deal with GenVis was scrapped.

"The development proposal with that company has not been successful and our relationship with them in relation to that program will not continue," Health Minister Stephen Wade told Parliament.

The new South Australian app has been developed by the State Government.

It's understood the same team who came up with the COVIDSafe check-in function has been involved.

"I'm pretty sure the technology that we have developed within the South Australia Government will become the national standard and will be rolled out across the country," Mr Marshall.

There's the full story


I love it- hotel quarantine is proven not to work, we come up with an idea on how to let people quarantine at home with minimal observation and this is the response it gets.
It's a good idea.

 

[Sillygit]

There's the full story


I love it- hotel quarantine is proven not to work, we come up with an idea on how to let people quarantine at home with minimal observation and this is the response it gets.
It's a good idea.

nah nah mate, we're pretty much china

 

[Tectonic]

nah nah mate, we're pretty much china

If the rich hillfolk had their way id probably be boarded up in my house

 

[Intothewind]

nah nah mate, we're pretty much china

Were pretty much like China in Tibet.

On Pixel 4a using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Swallow_Wood]

There's the full story


I love it- hotel quarantine is proven not to work, we come up with an idea on how to let people quarantine at home with minimal observation and this is the response it gets.
It's a good idea.

Hang on.

Are you telling me that if I find something on the internet that seems like it might be too crazy to be true that I might be able to find context for it by searching online for more info? But that means that I can't get all outragey straight away!!

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Hang on.

Are you telling me that if I find something on the internet that seems like it might be too crazy to be true that I might be able to find context for it by searching online for more info? But that means that I can't get all outragey straight away!!

You’re doing it wrong.

You’re a sheep.

Open your eyes.

The great awakening is coming!

 

[Gasometer]

House of Gasometer

 

[Hojuman]

House of Gasometer

Reckon you should quarantine for another 2 weeks, just to be sure

 

[big_e]

we’ll get there too..

IMF Calls for Credit Score to be Tied to Internet Search History

In a blog post courtesy of the International Monetary Fund, IMF researchers Arnoud Boot, Peter Hoffmann, Luc Laeven, and Lev Ratnovski called for internet search history to be tied to credit score.…

realitycircuit.com

The headline is incorrect - the IMF didn't call for anything. They DID, however, publish a discussion paper by four people - none of whom are working for the IMF.

The reasoning actually isn't bad:

Fintech resolves the dilemma by tapping various nonfinancial data: the type of browser and hardware used to access the internet, the history of online searches and purchases. Recent research documents that, once powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, these alternative data sources are often superior than traditional credit assessment methods, and can advance financial inclusion, by, for example, enabling more credit to informal workers and households and firms in rural areas.

Can't speak for the rest of the world, obviously, but banks in Australia have become increasingly reluctant to lend money, in case they are seen to be lending money to people who can't pay it back. They are scarred by the Royal Commission a few years back.

Also think of all of the people all over the world who don't have banks, or who use them only sparingly. If they wanted credit, how does a bank judge their credit-worthiness? It's probably ten years from coming to fruition (if it ever does), but it's an idea interesting enough to warrant testing, particularly if the data could be de-identified before being considered. So a bank doesn't get to consider John Smith's search history, all they know is the search history of Person 12GH5498xT@R.

Anyway, that's another tangent. Back to COVID.

 

[The acurate one]

May not like him but good watch IMO

He states you should get the vaccine. He is also correct they are using our freedom as a bargaining chip. Agree with a lot of what he says and I suppose his concerns are about where does their control end. That is a concern that I share.

What's next?

 

[big_e]

May not like him but good watch IMO

1. Get angry about laws that don't exist yet.
2. I'm not against XYZ, but....
3. Why is it that {insert cherry-picked example here}?
4. It doesn't even kill that many people anyway, and those that do are old and fat so they're gonna die anyway.
5. I'm just asking questions

Yawn.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

1. Get angry about laws that don't exist yet.
2. I'm not against XYZ, but....
3. Why is it that {insert cherry-picked example here}?
4. It doesn't even kill that many people anyway, and those that do are old and fat so they're gonna die anyway.
5. I'm just asking questions

Yawn.

Alternative facts....

 

[Wristo_]

Some outrageous melts over the last 24 hours, few of you could take a leaf out of my book, get on ya couch and have a fiddle!

 

[Groucho]

1. Get angry about laws that don't exist yet.
2. I'm not against XYZ, but....
3. Why is it that {insert cherry-picked example here}?
4. It doesn't even kill that many people anyway, and those that do are old and fat so they're gonna die anyway.
5. I'm just asking questions

Yawn.

Thanks,thought as much, saved me the trouble.

 

[DesertRoo]

The headline is incorrect - the IMF didn't call for anything. They DID, however, publish a discussion paper by four people - none of whom are working for the IMF.

The reasoning actually isn't bad:



Can't speak for the rest of the world, obviously, but banks in Australia have become increasingly reluctant to lend money, in case they are seen to be lending money to people who can't pay it back. They are scarred by the Royal Commission a few years back.

Also think of all of the people all over the world who don't have banks, or who use them only sparingly. If they wanted credit, how does a bank judge their credit-worthiness? It's probably ten years from coming to fruition (if it ever does), but it's an idea interesting enough to warrant testing, particularly if the data could be de-identified before being considered. So a bank doesn't get to consider John Smith's search history, all they know is the search history of Person 12GH5498xT@R.

Anyway, that's another tangent. Back to COVID.

Banks shouldn’t be lending money to people who can’t pay it back, that’s called predatory behaviour..
and yeah I do have a problem with the overreach of power. Financial institutions shouldn’t;
A) have access to the data
B) want to be creepy enough to search through our lives to decide how much money someone can receive.

you’re cooked if you think this is anyway ok..

 

[Lomas]

Some outrageous melts over the last 24 hours, few of you could take a leaf out of my book, get on ya couch and have a fiddle!

But you still look so angry....

 

[giantroo]

AFL 2021: North Melbourne up to remarkable Covid vaccination rate as AFL unlikely to enforce mandatory jabs
North Melbourne has recorded a remarkable uptake of Covid vaccinations as the jab reality sinks in for the competition. Will they be mandatory?

Jon Ralph

5 min read
September 3, 2021 - 5:12PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom


North Melbourne’s entire football department has a remarkable 92 per cent uptake in first-dose vaccinations as it becomes clear AFL players will only be able to ply their trade after being vaccinated next year.

The AFL is still discussing vaccination policies with players, but is likely to stop short of enforcing mandatory jabs given no other major professional in the world has taken that stance.

But the reality for reluctant players is that both airline carriers Qantas and Virgin are expected to require proof of vaccination for anyone flying interstate next year.

Community requirements regarding vaccination will eventually force players to be double jabbed without the need for strict AFL rules.

North Melbourne has a 92 per cent uptake of first-dose vaccinations. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Herald Sun can reveal only weeks after the end of the home-and-away season the Roos are already on track to have almost every member of the football department fully vaccinated by early October.

More than nine in ten have had their first jabs including AFL coach David Noble and AFLW coach Darren Crocker, with the club executive all vaccinated.

North Melbourne football boss Ben Amarfio told the Herald Sun a strong education program had seen the players and football staff flock to be vaccinated.

Only a handful of players and staff with health issues are yet to have their first dose as the club continues its education program for those not yet vaccinated.

“If you look at our football areas we have nearly 140 staff with all our mens and women’s players and football staff including permanent and casuals and of that cohort, we are at 92 per cent who have had their first dose and that 92 per cent will be (fully vaccinated) within five weeks,” Amarfio said.

“The other eight per cent includes some people with health concerns and some people who are pregnant so for those people we will continue our support and education.

“We didn’t do it to take a leadership stance, we did it because we know it’s the right thing to keep ourselves safe and healthy in the community.

Ben Amarfio (front) says the club will continue its support and education for those who haven’t been vaccinated. Picture: Mark Stewart

“It’s the only way out of our lockdowns to get vaccinated. We wanted to do our bit.”
The doses were a mix of Pfizer and AstraZeneca, with the Roos and their players having sourced them after being determined not to jump the queue earlier in the season.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Friday vaccine passports to attend AFL games next year are a “plausible possibility” but stopped short of a vaccination mandate for all AFL players in 2022.
Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale said on Thursday a mandate would have to be “carefully considered” by the league to make a community stand.
The AFL’s working group on vaccinations has now begun an information roll-out to AFL players and encouraged them strongly to become double-vaccinated when supply is available.
The Herald Sun understands a separate education seminar was conducted for indigenous players using indigenous doctors after the league worked with the National Covid Vaccine Taskforce.
Only a handful of AFL players are yet to receive the AFL’s “COVID vaccine education” program, headed by the league’s head of concussion and healthcare governance boss Rachael Elliott.
The program makes clear the health consequences of Covid and the virulence of the delta strain as well as the benefits of vaccines and the dispelling of myths around their usage.
McLachlan said on Friday it was natural the league would have to consider vaccine passports to safeguard the league when bumper crowds return.

“Forget what I think, the people in industry and the government are signalling it’s a possibility. Vaccine passports to restaurants, it’s a real thing in the frame. It has to be on the table here. Either to be vaccinated or have a negative PCR test, it’s what is going on in other countries, it’s been discussed. There is no position here but clearly it has to be something as a plausible possibility.”
But McLachlan stopped short of a vaccine mandate as the league considers the potential fallout of Covid positives in the league next year.
Many NFL teams are now 100 per cent vaccinated ahead of the season opener next week with a range of restrictions and incentives for teams who have that status.
“We have got to have that conversation with the key stakeholders,” McLachlan told 3AW.
“We have run a clear education program across the industry, all clubs have had that in the player cohort, we are really strongly encouraging everyone to get vaccinated - players and coaches - and the decision on the final settings will be made by the end of the season and we don’t need to have the final position until we have supply, which we don’t at the moment.
“I think I have been pretty clear. We need to be vaccinated as a community to get out of this tough position we are in. We need to work through the process with the clubs and player union on our final setting but we are pretty strong we need to be vaccinated.”

 

[big_e]

Thanks,thought as much, saved me the trouble.

I didn't even watch it.

 

[Horace]

We are becoming a totalitarian country. If no one can’t see this, you need to wake the fu** up.

The issue is you give the powers to be a inch they take a mile. This is guaranteed to get worse.

We are all going down a very scary road.

I've been hearing that view for as long as I have been around. It is not true and we have more freedom today than we have ever had in my opinion.

 

[Horace]

Totalitarianism is defined as follows:

"Totalitarianism is a proposed concept used in academia and in politics to describe a form of government and political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life."

If we are heading down that track, does anyone seriously think any of us would be allowed to espouse the diverse views that we all air here without any fear of intervention whatsoever? Of course not.

 

[Forever North]

Players will have to have the jab whether they like it or not I reckon. A bit of the usual AFL arm twi$ting no doubt. Going to look stupid to expect everyone but the players to be vaccinated inside footy stadiums.

 

[Horace]

Post World War 2, Australia was a much more respectful and compliant country than it is today. That all began to change in the 1960's when Conscription, called National Service to make it sound so much better, was re-introduced. Towards the end of that decade, we saw the great moratoriums, when over 200000 people marched through Melbourne in 1970.

Wonderful times they were and they awakened this country in a manner never seen before. Since then there has probably been some apathy creep in, But I firmly believe that if any future government attempted to maintain the restrictions imposed today beyond the time when the threat of covid has substantially subsided, we'd be back out there again.

The Third Phase: Mass Mobilisations & Moratoriums 1969-72 · Opposition to the Vietnam War in Australia · Australian Living Peace Museum

An online museum dedicated to presenting Australian narratives of peace-making, non-violent social change and alternative forms of resistance to war and violence.

www.livingpeacemuseum.org.au

 

[DesertRoo]

Totalitarianism is defined as follows:

"Totalitarianism is a proposed concept used in academia and in politics to describe a form of government and political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life."

If we are heading down that track, does anyone seriously think any of us would be allowed to espouse the diverse views that we all air here without any fear of intervention whatsoever? Of course not.

Politicians and police should’ve walked as soon as this story broke..


I agree though we’ll see mass protests soon enough.