News Coronavirus Thread

[ferball]

Hassled possibly. Fined, doubtful. Fuel is essential.

As for Lorne et al the mayor of the Surf Coast was on the telly this morning saying coastal communities have a proliferation of elderly residents combined with a shortage of ICU facilities, pleading with city folk to stay away for their sake.

That's fair enough.

Part of what got me was the shack thing in Tassie.

Growing up there we had a shack down the south. Shit place for a holiday but we'd often go, drive all the way, camp for a few days and come home without seeing anyone or stopping. Its not like the distances are so far you need petrol.

Up north my cousins had a spot on the at Bass Strait that was less than half an hour away. Might be different on the East coast tho, that's well over an hour from Hobart.

We live on a reasonably major rd these days. It was dirt when we first moved here but after it was sealed we get hundreds of bikes on the weekends. Not lately tho.

This morning someone took advantage of the empty roads to go for a ride at racing speeds. They were flying. Hope when they crash its far enough away that someone else is scraping them up.

: head shaking look

 

[ferball]

Is the curve too flattened to develop herd immunity within 6 months?

Herd immunity won't matter if there is no virus in the country and the borders are shut. We can wait for a vaccine or even develop it by having controlled exposures (cos what could go wrong with that...).

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Coronavirus vaccine could be ready by September. Leading scientist ‘80 per cent’ sure drug will work.

A vaccine against coronavirus could be ready as soon as September, the British scientist leading one of the world’s most advanced efforts has said.


Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, told The Times she was “80 per cent confident” that the vaccine being developed by her team would work, with human trials due to begin in the next fortnight.


The government signalled that it would be willing to fund the manufacture of millions of doses in advance if results looked promising. This would allow it to be available immediately to the public if it were proven to work.


With ministers struggling to find a strategy to exit the lockdown, long-term hopes of a return to normality rely on a vaccine.


Even if measures to stop the spread of coronavirus are eased in the coming weeks, officials are expecting that without a vaccine some element of social distancing, such as shielding of the vulnerable or working from home, would remain in place for a long time.


The development came as:


• Downing Street said that Boris Johnson was walking for the first time since leaving intensive care and watching films and doing sudoku puzzles as he continued to recover from Covid-19.


• The number of UK deaths from Covid-19 reached nearly 9,000, with a further 980 reported yesterday, the highest daily total so far.


• Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that there was enough personal protective equipment for NHS staff if doctors used “no more” than necessary. More than 742 million pieces have been delivered since the outbreak began.


• More than 19,000 coronavirus tests were carried out on Thursday as Mr Hancock said there was capacity for “all key social care staff and NHS staff who need to be tested to get those tests”.


• Downing Street urged police against being “heavy-handed” during the lockdown over the Easter weekend as officers patrolled supermarkets.


• The worldwide death toll reached 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States.


Professor Gilbert’s team is one of dozens around the world trying to find a vaccine and is the most advanced in Britain. She has been working seven days a week to rush through the development stages.


“I think there’s a high chance that it will work based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine,” she said. “It’s not just a hunch and as every week goes by we have more data to look at . . . I would go for 80 per cent, that’s my personal view.”


Initial safety trials are due to begin soon, with further studies following around the world to see if the vaccine reduces the risk of catching coronavirus.


Lockdown makes it harder to test a vaccine when the virus is not spreading, Professor Gilbert said. However, if one of the countries in which it is trialled “turns out to have a high rate of virus transmission then we will get our efficacy results very quickly, so that is the strategy for reducing the time”.


Asked if the most optimistic scenario for a working vaccine was September, she said: “Yes and we have to go for that.” Success by the autumn was “just about possible if everything goes perfectly”.


However, she added: “Nobody can promise it’s going to work.” Manufacturing millions of doses can take months and Professor Gilbert said she was talking to the government about going into production before final results were in.


Winter flu vaccines are typically 40-60 per cent effective, although this varies depending on the annual strain. Ministers think that if a vaccine looks viable it will be worth spending tens of millions of pounds to have it ready for use given the economic cost of lockdown.


The US philanthropist Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, says that he will “waste” billions of dollars manufacturing vaccines, even though most will fail, in order to avoid a delay for any that prove successful.

 

[7577969923]

Coronavirus vaccine could be ready by September. Leading scientist ‘80 per cent’ sure drug will work.

A vaccine against coronavirus could be ready as soon as September, the British scientist leading one of the world’s most advanced efforts has said.


Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, told The Times she was “80 per cent confident” that the vaccine being developed by her team would work, with human trials due to begin in the next fortnight.


The government signalled that it would be willing to fund the manufacture of millions of doses in advance if results looked promising. This would allow it to be available immediately to the public if it were proven to work.


With ministers struggling to find a strategy to exit the lockdown, long-term hopes of a return to normality rely on a vaccine.


Even if measures to stop the spread of coronavirus are eased in the coming weeks, officials are expecting that without a vaccine some element of social distancing, such as shielding of the vulnerable or working from home, would remain in place for a long time.


The development came as:


• Downing Street said that Boris Johnson was walking for the first time since leaving intensive care and watching films and doing sudoku puzzles as he continued to recover from Covid-19.


• The number of UK deaths from Covid-19 reached nearly 9,000, with a further 980 reported yesterday, the highest daily total so far.


• Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that there was enough personal protective equipment for NHS staff if doctors used “no more” than necessary. More than 742 million pieces have been delivered since the outbreak began.


• More than 19,000 coronavirus tests were carried out on Thursday as Mr Hancock said there was capacity for “all key social care staff and NHS staff who need to be tested to get those tests”.


• Downing Street urged police against being “heavy-handed” during the lockdown over the Easter weekend as officers patrolled supermarkets.


• The worldwide death toll reached 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States.


Professor Gilbert’s team is one of dozens around the world trying to find a vaccine and is the most advanced in Britain. She has been working seven days a week to rush through the development stages.


“I think there’s a high chance that it will work based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine,” she said. “It’s not just a hunch and as every week goes by we have more data to look at . . . I would go for 80 per cent, that’s my personal view.”


Initial safety trials are due to begin soon, with further studies following around the world to see if the vaccine reduces the risk of catching coronavirus.


Lockdown makes it harder to test a vaccine when the virus is not spreading, Professor Gilbert said. However, if one of the countries in which it is trialled “turns out to have a high rate of virus transmission then we will get our efficacy results very quickly, so that is the strategy for reducing the time”.


Asked if the most optimistic scenario for a working vaccine was September, she said: “Yes and we have to go for that.” Success by the autumn was “just about possible if everything goes perfectly”.


However, she added: “Nobody can promise it’s going to work.” Manufacturing millions of doses can take months and Professor Gilbert said she was talking to the government about going into production before final results were in.


Winter flu vaccines are typically 40-60 per cent effective, although this varies depending on the annual strain. Ministers think that if a vaccine looks viable it will be worth spending tens of millions of pounds to have it ready for use given the economic cost of lockdown.


The US philanthropist Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, says that he will “waste” billions of dollars manufacturing vaccines, even though most will fail, in order to avoid a delay for any that prove successful.

The Australian woman driving the global search for a COVID-19 vaccine has warned that there is no guarantee of success and the government must have a “plan B” to end the pandemic.
The sobering assessment by Jane Halton, a former federal mandarin who chairs the Bill Gates-backed Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, will dampen hope that a vaccine could be available early next year.

Puncturing the optimism fired by first-stage human trials of a vaccine in the US and accelerated progress towards others here, in China and Israel, Ms Halton said it was “heroic” to assume an answer to the virus would emerge so soon.

Some scientists involved in the CEPI-sponsored program insist that a 12- to 18-month timeline is realistic, but Ms Halton told The Weekend Australian: “If you said we pulled out all the stops and a vaccine was approved and deemed efficacious by the middle of next year, that would be unbelievably quick … we would be ecstatically overjoyed, delighted.

“But I do think it is important not to create unrealistic expectations. No one has ever successfully developed a coronavirus vaccine, and we still don’t have a vaccine against HIV.

“I would never say never. But this is my point about an 18-month timeline: it is heroic, really tough.

NoCookies | The Australian

www.theaustralian.com.au

 

[7577969923]

Victorian super spreader linked to dozens of virus infections

Health authorities are racing to try to stop 52 separate COVID-19 clusters now spreading through Victoria. At least four of the clusters have been linked to a super spreader identified and tracked down by the state’s pandemic detectives. The Herald Sun can also reveal three large weddings led to clusters of Victorians being infected with coronavirus.

Mounting evidence about the nature of coronavirus circulating within Victoria is also raising fears among public health experts that COVID-19 may be infectious earlier in many patients than they realise — potentially causing a wider spread of community transmissions than suspected.

Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen said the largest COVID-19 cluster has already infected 30 patients. But the 1000-strong team of contact-tracing health detectives was limiting the spread of clusters by imposing strict isolation on those closely connected. “This is the war of our generation,” Dr van Diemen said.

While typical COVID-19 patients only spread the virus to two or three other people, Victoria’s contact-tracing team has uncovered a so-called super spreader believed to be the source of dozens of cases. Although the Melbourne hospitality worker never developed strong symptoms himself, he was discovered when complex investigations into infections at three separate events revealed he had worked at all of them. A fourth cluster was also linked back to the worker, who had no reason to suspect he was infectious prior to the investigations.

“Initially we thought there was a cluster of cases who had all been to that venue on a particular night and we thought somebody in that place had it,” Dr van Diemen said. “A bit later there was another cluster from an event at the same place. Now there are at least three clusters linked to that venue and at least one of them has seeded off another cluster.”

Several other large gatherings have also been revealed as the source of multiple cases, including a wedding where 300 guests and staff had to be placed in isolation after eight guests became ill and tested positive.

Important to remember that these outbreaks all relate to before social distancing and lockdown measures were put in place. It appears that the authorities have these ones well under control if the new infection rate is anything to go by.

 

[Snake_Baker]

The Australian woman driving the global search for a COVID-19 vaccine has warned that there is no guarantee of success and the government must have a “plan B” to end the pandemic.
The sobering assessment by Jane Halton, a former federal mandarin who chairs the Bill Gates-backed Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, will dampen hope that a vaccine could be available early next year.

Puncturing the optimism fired by first-stage human trials of a vaccine in the US and accelerated progress towards others here, in China and Israel, Ms Halton said it was “heroic” to assume an answer to the virus would emerge so soon.

Some scientists involved in the CEPI-sponsored program insist that a 12- to 18-month timeline is realistic, but Ms Halton told The Weekend Australian: “If you said we pulled out all the stops and a vaccine was approved and deemed efficacious by the middle of next year, that would be unbelievably quick … we would be ecstatically overjoyed, delighted.

“But I do think it is important not to create unrealistic expectations. No one has ever successfully developed a coronavirus vaccine, and we still don’t have a vaccine against HIV.

“I would never say never. But this is my point about an 18-month timeline: it is heroic, really tough.

NoCookies | The Australian

www.theaustralian.com.au

Fine.

Eradicate it here, build up a supply of CPA, and then place all persons entering the country in quarantine for a period of 14 days. This includes shipping and air freight materials, that do not meet quarantine criteria (sterilization & immune handlers).

We can actually cash IN on this big time, as a source for high quality, readily available, non contaminated food produce.

 

[Zondor]

Victorian super spreader linked to dozens of virus infections

Health authorities are racing to try to stop 52 separate COVID-19 clusters now spreading through Victoria. At least four of the clusters have been linked to a super spreader identified and tracked down by the state’s pandemic detectives. The Herald Sun can also reveal three large weddings led to clusters of Victorians being infected with coronavirus.

Mounting evidence about the nature of coronavirus circulating within Victoria is also raising fears among public health experts that COVID-19 may be infectious earlier in many patients than they realise — potentially causing a wider spread of community transmissions than suspected.

Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen said the largest COVID-19 cluster has already infected 30 patients. But the 1000-strong team of contact-tracing health detectives was limiting the spread of clusters by imposing strict isolation on those closely connected. “This is the war of our generation,” Dr van Diemen said.

While typical COVID-19 patients only spread the virus to two or three other people, Victoria’s contact-tracing team has uncovered a so-called super spreader believed to be the source of dozens of cases. Although the Melbourne hospitality worker never developed strong symptoms himself, he was discovered when complex investigations into infections at three separate events revealed he had worked at all of them. A fourth cluster was also linked back to the worker, who had no reason to suspect he was infectious prior to the investigations.

“Initially we thought there was a cluster of cases who had all been to that venue on a particular night and we thought somebody in that place had it,” Dr van Diemen said. “A bit later there was another cluster from an event at the same place. Now there are at least three clusters linked to that venue and at least one of them has seeded off another cluster.”

Several other large gatherings have also been revealed as the source of multiple cases, including a wedding where 300 guests and staff had to be placed in isolation after eight guests became ill and tested positive.

Dr van Diemen = The Land :stern look

 

[nelroo]

Heaps of casuals are going to get a guaranteed $1500 per fortnight which will be a pay increase for them. Who cares if they don’t get paid super for 6 months?

Not me. I’m bloody stuck overseas and don’t know when I can get back. I work casual for local government so my workplace doesn’t qualify for the $1500 a fortnight. And I have to be in Australia to claim the other one.. whatever it is, the $1,100 one?

 

[Ry009]

Our workforce has heaps of casuals.

Same here.

Both my work and my wife's work cut casuals (wife was one of the casualties) as the education sector is part of the public sector, she doesn't qualify for Jobkeeper.

Don't blame the government, just her employer who never had the forward thinking to get her at least on part time as she's a hard worker who's been there for ages and they're going to miss.

Not overreaching and getting a manageable mortgage has been a wise decision as my pay for the short to medium term should look after it.

Shit time but people worse off than us.

Hopefully any campaigner doing the wrong thing pulls their head in so we can return to normal and kill off this prick of a virus in Aus ASAP.

 

[Snake_Baker]

I will state it again. Folks need to make themselves as independent of the system as possible.

 

[blackshadow]

Victorian super spreader linked to dozens of virus infections

Health authorities are racing to try to stop 52 separate COVID-19 clusters now spreading through Victoria. At least four of the clusters have been linked to a super spreader identified and tracked down by the state’s pandemic detectives. The Herald Sun can also reveal three large weddings led to clusters of Victorians being infected with coronavirus.

Mounting evidence about the nature of coronavirus circulating within Victoria is also raising fears among public health experts that COVID-19 may be infectious earlier in many patients than they realise — potentially causing a wider spread of community transmissions than suspected.

Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen said the largest COVID-19 cluster has already infected 30 patients. But the 1000-strong team of contact-tracing health detectives was limiting the spread of clusters by imposing strict isolation on those closely connected. “This is the war of our generation,” Dr van Diemen said.

While typical COVID-19 patients only spread the virus to two or three other people, Victoria’s contact-tracing team has uncovered a so-called super spreader believed to be the source of dozens of cases. Although the Melbourne hospitality worker never developed strong symptoms himself, he was discovered when complex investigations into infections at three separate events revealed he had worked at all of them. A fourth cluster was also linked back to the worker, who had no reason to suspect he was infectious prior to the investigations.

“Initially we thought there was a cluster of cases who had all been to that venue on a particular night and we thought somebody in that place had it,” Dr van Diemen said. “A bit later there was another cluster from an event at the same place. Now there are at least three clusters linked to that venue and at least one of them has seeded off another cluster.”

Several other large gatherings have also been revealed as the source of multiple cases, including a wedding where 300 guests and staff had to be placed in isolation after eight guests became ill and tested positive.

In my day a super spreader was for the dissemination of fertiliser.

 

[Tas]

They can access the info anyway, don't need and informant.

You can access other people's usage?

 

[Tas]

This will just fast track UBI,

The last time I checked, if you got rid of all the bureaucratic spending on micromanaging the social security system. plus what we spend, you would have enough to pay every adult a pension without the need for any income or asset testing. The cost of micromanaging it costs more than what we save.

 

[7577969923]

The last time I checked, if you got rid of all the bureaucratic spending on micromanaging the social security system. plus what we spend, you would have enough to pay every adult a pension without the need for any income or asset testing. The cost of micromanaging it costs more than what we save.

If you assume our adult population is circa 15 million and the UBI would be $2,000 per adult, then you are looking at a total annual cost of $360 billion or approximately 30% of GDP give or take. Total government spending runs in the ballpark of 35% of GDP. I am not sure the numbers do add up.

 

[Gasometer]

Am down on the Mornington Peninsula ra ra

Did you move or were you from Kilmore?

 

[DrZaius]

The casuals who aren’t entitled to it will get job seeker which is twice as much as it’s ever been thanks to the $550 per fortnight bonus. Combine that with the fact that there are less places to spend money on and some people don’t have to pay rent or are paying cheaper rent then it’s actually the best time ever to be unemployed from a pure financial point of view.

Ahh yes, spoken like someone who has never had any experience with modern day Centrelink bureaucracy.

You don't just stick your hands out and get free money - it can take weeks or even months just to even get through the application stage, assuming there are no **** ups on their end (spoiler alert: they happen quite frequently)

 

[muttley45]

Fine.

Eradicate it here, build up a supply of CPA, and then place all persons entering the country in quarantine for a period of 14 days. This includes shipping and air freight materials, that do not meet quarantine criteria (sterilization & immune handlers).

We can actually cash IN on this big time, as a source for high quality, readily available, non contaminated food produce.

Do you reckon those planes bringing in medical supplies from China are returning home empty ? I think not

 

[Gasometer]

This is the daily news cycle

We are flattening
Well sort of
Vaccine coming
But not for 18 months
So six months lock down
But maybe less
But the worst is to come

Go back to top, repeat, rinse wash and all that

 

[ferball]

You can access other people's usage?

Police can.

Its one of the ways the look for hydro crops in warehouses. I knew someone who worked for an electricity company. They said there were times the police would access their short term usage records and compare them or something.

I presume they'd need warrants. Maybe not any more tho.

 

[Tas]

Police can.

Its one of the ways the look for hydro crops in warehouses. I knew someone who worked for an electricity company. They said there were times the police would access their short term usage records and compare them or something.

I presume they'd need warrants. Maybe not any more tho.

Yeah, they wouldn't be allowed to check, not illegal for them to be in a holiday house.

 

[ferball]

Dr van Diemen = The Land :stern look

Dr van Diemen = The Map

 

[ferball]

Yeah, they wouldn't be allowed to check, not illegal for them to be in a holiday house.

I thought it was now.

There were cops on TV yesterday saying if they found people in holiday places they would be asked to return home and arrested if they didn't.

 

[ferball]

Unless the places are isolated themselves it sounds like there will be plenty of dobbing in anyway. So they won't need to look thru electricity records.

 

[ferball]

The last time I checked, if you got rid of all the bureaucratic spending on micromanaging the social security system. plus what we spend, you would have enough to pay every adult a pension without the need for any income or asset testing. The cost of micromanaging it costs more than what we save.

A lot of people hate dole bludgers.

Its why the system is so puritanical. Most of those people get some level of family tax benefit too so their hypocrisy is ridiculous.

This year my ftb is more than the dole cos I'm not working!! At least it was. I can't imagine how anyone gets by on the dole. There must have been a hell of a lot of minor cash in hand work going on beforehand.

Probably was and that's probably why the government doubled the dole immediately.

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

This country is cooked.

While many churches across the nation plan to hold their Easter services online Sunday, a Louisiana pastor says his church near Baton Rouge is expecting a crowd of 2,000 or more despite federal coronavirus guidance advising social distancing.
“Satan and a virus will not stop us,” Rev. Tony Spell told Reuters. “God will shield us from all harm and sickness. We are not afraid. We are called by God to stand against the Antichrist creeping into America’s borders. We will spread the Gospel.”