Analysis Coronavirus - The Impact IV “Phasing into the New Normal”

[squashface]

If you can't get the benefit of exercise in a 60 minute duration you're not training hard enough.

Should be reduced to 45mins even

 

[Keys]

A week ago security guards weren’t required to wear masks at all times even when they were on the same hotel floor as a confirmed case of COVID

Overnight that changed to a city of 2 million people needing to wear masks as soon as they walk out their front door

This was entirely preventable

 

[dewcefault]

A week ago security guards weren’t required to wear masks at all times even when they were on the same hotel floor as a confirmed case of COVID

Overnight that changed to a city of 2 million people needing to wear masks as soon as they walk out their front door

This was entirely preventable

We probably should have implemented some mask protocols a little while ago, our city of 2million has been one of the only cities in the world where you wouldn't have thought there's a pandemic given our hospitals and morgues are empty and we could do basically everything we used to with no visible restrictions.

Unfortunately a lot of procedures for this type of event are updated after a breach despite being pretty obvious.

At the end of the day, the model of hotel quarantine with subcontracted casualised security guards is suboptimal. It's what we're using nationally and it's still performing extremely well relative to basically every other country but there's massive room for improvement.
In an ideal world we'd have by now built or utilised an isolated federal facility that would have all international flights diverted to it. Highly trained guards / military and well trained medical and support staff.
After serving quarantine travel and restriction between states could be non existent and issues like this wouldn't happen. Every state has had a failure in quarantine and it's the biggest risk to us from a covid breach perspective.

 

[Forward Press]

We probably should have implemented some mask protocols a little while ago, our city of 2million has been one of the only cities in the world where you wouldn't have thought there's a pandemic given our hospitals and morgues are empty and we could do basically everything we used to with no visible restrictions.

Unfortunately a lot of procedures for this type of event are updated after a breach despite being pretty obvious.

At the end of the day, the model of hotel quarantine with subcontracted casualised security guards is suboptimal. It's what we're using nationally and it's still performing extremely well relative to basically every other country but there's massive room for improvement.
In an ideal world we'd have by now built or utilised an isolated federal facility that would have all international flights diverted to it. Highly trained guards / military and well trained medical and support staff.
After serving quarantine travel and restriction between states could be non existent and issues like this wouldn't happen. Every state has had a failure in quarantine and it's the biggest risk to us from a covid breach perspective.

There is no feasible way to have a facility for tens of thousands of people in a remote area (with associated staffing and logistical issues), so there's no point in wishing for one. We have to make do with what we have - perhaps a remote quarantine facility for those who test positive and their families?

In any event we (as in WA and Australia) are still in an enviable position compared to how the rest of the world is going. From what I can tell everybody I've talked to in Perth has been happy to deal with the 5 days to crush the virus again.

 

[RookiePick]

A week ago security guards weren’t required to wear masks at all times even when they were on the same hotel floor as a confirmed case of COVID

Overnight that changed to a city of 2 million people needing to wear masks as soon as they walk out their front door

This was entirely preventable

You think a mask would have prevented the infection? I think that would be a reach. Reduced the risk further? Possibly. Eliminated the risk? Improbable. The system has worked well for 10 months. Why, unnecessarily make people's jobs harder if the evidence isn't there? 2 days of wearing a mask and I'm over it.

I'm entirely of the belief that the mask protocol is more about creating a trigger or signal to social distance/take the matter seriously after a long period of the population not having to think about it [/myownreach]

 

[Rowan18]

I'm pretty certain the guard broke the protocol in some way. Was either getting up to something against the rules in the room or stopped to have a chat for ten minutes at the door.

I'm not a fan of mass public masks as I don't think the public can utilise them properly (due to poor fit and lack of supply). People in quarantine hotels should definitely wear them or other PPE though. We saw from Melbourne that security guards are risks but didn't bother learning the lesson.

It would also make sense to have one dedicated quarantine hotel rather than spreading infected travellers in with other travellers (obviously on different floors).

 

[mcfazza28]

I'm pretty certain the guard broke the protocol in some way. Was either getting up to something against the rules in the room or stopped to have a chat for ten minutes at the door.

I'm not a fan of mass public masks as I don't think the public can utilise them properly (due to poor fit and lack of supply). People in quarantine hotels should definitely wear them or other PPE though. We saw from Melbourne that security guards are risks but didn't bother learning the lesson.

It would also make sense to have one dedicated quarantine hotel rather than spreading infected travellers in with other travellers (obviously on different floors).

I think it makes sense to dedicate the majority of hotel capacity in Perth to quarantine and the only logical way to do this is to use the military. I think the priority for hotel capacity should be:

1- West Australians returning from seeing sick family or attending funerals in other parts of Australia
2- West Australians who live in WA who are trapped overseas
3- West Australians living overseas who's foreign national partners have an approved Partner Visa (faster processing of Partner Visa applications as well)
4- West Australians returning from holidays in other parts of Australia
5- Sportspeople

Australia is built on mateship and what better way to show that than caring for mates in distress overseas. Holidays aren't important right now.

 

[larrikin]

It would also make sense to have one dedicated quarantine hotel rather than spreading infected travellers in with other travellers (obviously on different floors).

Isn't that exactly what has happened? My understanding is there are a number of dedicated quarantine hotels around Perth at the minute.

 

[mcfazza28]

Isn't that exactly what has happened? My understanding is there are a number of dedicated quarantine hotels around Perth at the minute.

I am in London so not so close to it. What I do know is that it is extremely difficult to get into WA. I am saying that they need to increase the entry cap to a much larger amount to resolve the issue.

We are on a Facebook support group and hear from the impacted people.

One family sold their house in London, quit their jobs, moved out and stayed in a hotel for the last week. The day prior to departure their flight was cancelled. They now have no home, no jobs and are stuck in a hotel. This was due to Singapore not accepting flights from London as their connection was there.

Remember these people had already paid circa £5000 for the Australian Partner visa.

The real problem is the cancellation of flights, often due to the cap on arrivals. On the support group, people claim there are flights arriving in Perth with 18-20 people on them due to distancing regulations.

The Australian Government had stated they were sending some repatriation flights to rescue Western Australians who reside in WA and are stuck in London. This is great but doesn't cover Western Australians with non Australian partners who have received their Partner visa. Many of these are financially secure professionals who will make a tangible contribution to Western Australia with no financial support.

The real kick in the guts is that full flights have been arriving in London from the middle eastern hubs with many of the passengers from South Africa. The South African variant is taking hold and this may extend any lockdown. The UK government stated last week that restrictions on flying from high risk countries will take 3 weeks to implement!

This is sadly typical of the amateur UK government response. Too cautious and too slow. I know the WA government have made mistakes but they are small compared to the diabolical government response here.

 

[Keys]

I am in London so not so close to it. What I do know is that it is extremely difficult to get into WA. I am saying that they need to increase the entry cap to a much larger amount to resolve the issue.

We are on a Facebook support group and hear from the impacted people.

One family sold their house in London, quit their jobs, moved out and stayed in a hotel for the last week. The day prior to departure their flight was cancelled. They now have no home, no jobs and are stuck in a hotel. This was due to Singapore not accepting flights from London as their connection was there.

Remember these people had already paid circa £5000 for the Australian Partner visa.

The real problem is the cancellation of flights, often due to the cap on arrivals. On the support group, people claim there are flights arriving in Perth with 18-20 people on them due to distancing regulations.

The Australian Government had stated they were sending some repatriation flights to rescue Western Australians who reside in WA and are stuck in London. This is great but doesn't cover Western Australians with non Australian partners who have received their Partner visa. Many of these are financially secure professionals who will make a tangible contribution to Western Australia with no financial support.

The real kick in the guts is that full flights have been arriving in London from the middle eastern hubs with many of the passengers from South Africa. The South African variant is taking hold and this may extend any lockdown. The UK government stated last week that restrictions on flying from high risk countries will take 3 weeks to implement!

This is sadly typical of the amateur UK government response. Too cautious and too slow. I know the WA government have made mistakes but they are small compared to the diabolical government response here.

I think our governments here, State and Federal, have gotten most things right in their covid response - not perfect but more good than bad

Their efforts to get Australians back home is one thing they’ve done poorly- I understand the risks associated with people returning but it must be a nightmare for anyone needing to come home. There needs to be a better way

 

[Rowan18]

Isn't that exactly what has happened? My understanding is there are a number of dedicated quarantine hotels around Perth at the minute.

From what I read, they have dedicated floors for quarantine and others for non quarantine guests. The head of the AMA was banging on about it for months as a risk

 

[Rowan18]

I think our governments here, State and Federal, have gotten most things right in their covid response - not perfect but more good than bad

Their efforts to get Australians back home is one thing they’ve done poorly- I understand the risks associated with people returning but it must be a nightmare for anyone needing to come home. There needs to be a better way

I think it's just risk management. The Governments know that since the first lockdown, the only way the virus is getting back in is through overseas arrivals. We've since had outbreaks in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and now Perth from flaws in the system. Imagine if we were accepting three times the amount of people?

It sucks for ex-pats trying to return but I'm not sure what the answer is. It is a huge number of people who have already returned and still more to come nearly 12 months after the pandemic started.

 

[larrikin]

From what I read, they have dedicated floors for quarantine and others for non quarantine guests. The head of the AMA was banging on about it for months as a risk

Pretty sure Sheraton Four Points is a quarantine only as an example, but that may have changed since domestic home quarantine has kicked in.

 

[mcfazza28]

Pretty sure Sheraton Four Points is a quarantine only as an example, but that may have changed since domestic home quarantine has kicked in.

Thanks for the info. Thanks for being understanding. This is no ones fault but it’s hard when you can’t see an end to it

 

[Dazzler9]

We can add another efficacious vaccine to the list -

Russia vaccine's surprising result

Benjamin Graham
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, according to results published Tuesday that independent experts said allayed transparency concerns over the jab, which Moscow is already rolling out.
Sputnik V — named after the Soviet-era satellite — was approved in Russia months before results from its final-stage clinical trials were published, leading to scepticism among experts.
But the new analysis of data from 20,000 Phase 3 trial participants, published in the medical journal The Lancet, suggests that the two-dose vaccination offers more than 90 percent efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19.

“The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency,” said a joint independent commentary by Ian Jones of the University of Reading and Polly Roy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of COVID-19.”
Words and picture by AFP

 

[Biggie]

efficacious

Can’t lie - looked this word up

 

[larrikin]

I am in London so not so close to it. What I do know is that it is extremely difficult to get into WA. I am saying that they need to increase the entry cap to a much larger amount to resolve the issue.

We are on a Facebook support group and hear from the impacted people.

One family sold their house in London, quit their jobs, moved out and stayed in a hotel for the last week. The day prior to departure their flight was cancelled. They now have no home, no jobs and are stuck in a hotel. This was due to Singapore not accepting flights from London as their connection was there.

Remember these people had already paid circa £5000 for the Australian Partner visa.

The real problem is the cancellation of flights, often due to the cap on arrivals. On the support group, people claim there are flights arriving in Perth with 18-20 people on them due to distancing regulations.

The Australian Government had stated they were sending some repatriation flights to rescue Western Australians who reside in WA and are stuck in London. This is great but doesn't cover Western Australians with non Australian partners who have received their Partner visa. Many of these are financially secure professionals who will make a tangible contribution to Western Australia with no financial support.

The real kick in the guts is that full flights have been arriving in London from the middle eastern hubs with many of the passengers from South Africa. The South African variant is taking hold and this may extend any lockdown. The UK government stated last week that restrictions on flying from high risk countries will take 3 weeks to implement!

This is sadly typical of the amateur UK government response. Too cautious and too slow. I know the WA government have made mistakes but they are small compared to the diabolical government response here.

The issue on getting Australian nationals (and their families) home is clearly a complicated and contentious one.

We had friends stuck in the middle east for most of the year who are now thankfully home, but had many cancelled flights and just general uncertainty. I honesty think the govt could have chartered more repatriation flights given what we spent on other things and used facilities such as Christmas Island and Rotto for bulk quarantines but that is probably pretty simplistic, and once you got past the first few months probably not all that practical.

After that arrival caps became a real issue (rightly so to an extent, given the imperfections of hotel quarantine).

I think generally the govts of Australia have done a reasonable job given the systems we have, save for some obvious blunders - Craig Kelly I'm looking at you.

 

[RookiePick]

We can add another efficacious vaccine to the list -

Russia vaccine's surprising result

Benjamin Graham
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6 per cent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, according to results published Tuesday that independent experts said allayed transparency concerns over the jab, which Moscow is already rolling out.
Sputnik V — named after the Soviet-era satellite — was approved in Russia months before results from its final-stage clinical trials were published, leading to scepticism among experts.
But the new analysis of data from 20,000 Phase 3 trial participants, published in the medical journal The Lancet, suggests that the two-dose vaccination offers more than 90 percent efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19.

“The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency,” said a joint independent commentary by Ian Jones of the University of Reading and Polly Roy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of COVID-19.”
Words and picture by AFP

Makes you wonder what other amazing leaps forward in medicine or other worthwhile fields could be made if there was appetite from world leaders to do so.

 

[Dazzler9]

Makes you wonder what other amazing leaps forward in medicine or other worthwhile fields could be made if there was appetite from world leaders to do so.

 

[kane249]

Pretty sure Sheraton Four Points is a quarantine only as an example, but that may have changed since domestic home quarantine has kicked in.

A lady on the radio said they had been at a function at the hotel in the week leading up to the outbreak.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

i just find it rich that mcgowan kept saying keeping the borders shut for months was the way to go yet we got a case from a hotel quarantine system that has failed a couple of times over east and yet we didnt improve it.

the fact guards didnt have to wear a mask on the infectee floors and that they can deliver medicine to infectee doors demonstrates the sheer incompetence of the agencies managing this hotel quarantine. further more, the government has been so lax compared to the east coast over implementing daily testing (took us three weeks) and used the border as an excuse of demonstrating his success.

look mcgowan has been relatively successful managing covid but at times has acted at times really irrational and even buffoonish. he will win the next election but once a vaccine is implemented, i cant fathom the amount of hell his party will get with any * up they do.

he wont win the 2025 election. book mark it

 

[Carbine Chaos]

I'm not sure why it wasn't the military in charge of these quarantine areas rather than private security firms.

 

[DanWCE]

i just find it rich that mcgowan kept saying keeping the borders shut for months was the way to go yet we got a case from a hotel quarantine system that has failed a couple of times over east and yet we didnt improve it.

the fact guards didnt have to wear a mask on the infectee floors and that they can deliver medicine to infectee doors demonstrates the sheer incompetence of the agencies managing this hotel quarantine. further more, the government has been so lax compared to the east coast over implementing daily testing (took us three weeks) and used the border as an excuse of demonstrating his success.

look mcgowan has been relatively successful managing covid but at times has acted at times really irrational and even buffoonish. he will win the next election but once a vaccine is implemented, i cant fathom the amount of hell his party will get with any fu** up they do.

he wont win the 2025 election. book mark it

He made the right call with the borders, but he's also blessed to be leading one of the most isolated places in the world.

That we reviewed our quarantine procedures and policies after other states had mishaps, and an outbreak still occured, is embarrassing if not incompetent.

He's burning up a considerable amount of runs on the board he earned in 2020, in my opinion.

 

[Ok Boomer]

Lockdown over one case with no actual evidence of the virus being spread to another member of the community.

Serious hotel quarantine failings that should have been stamped out after the Victorian tragedy.

Kept families and friends apart through unnecessary and purely political border closures (except Victoria and early stages of the pandemic) which has also caused significant damage to business confidence.

Poor poor poor.

Lets hope that the local media does its job for a change and actually informs the public on some of the failings we have seen.

 

[squashface]

Lockdown over one case with no actual evidence of the virus being spread to another member of the community.

Poor poor poor.

You've got to be kidding. I know you enjoy complaining about every step our government takes but this is just ridiculous. We have the lockdown after one case so that we don't get it spread into the community. So you think that a positive case parading around Perth is no cause for alarm and we should stay open? Give me a spell. How many community cases and deaths until it is acceptable to lockdown?