The Reality of Living in Australia and Covid

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

The Brisbane River catchment area (and likely soon the Logan River catchment) is having a significant event.

Boats and pontoons (and boats still tied to pontoons) are being ripped away from the shore of the Brisbane River by flood waters in the Brisbane R.

Debris is littering the rivers and streams, starting with the Caboolture River in the north, flowing into Moreton Bay. So the Moreton B will very likely again be littered with everything from floating pontoons and logs to a big mob of single use plastics.

A quick summary of the situation since that significant rain event:


* flood debris is littering shorelines including on K'gari (the island white 'pfellas used to call Fraser).

See: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...16-p5a53a.html

* partly because of inadequate work by local govts dominated by landlubbers (with their narrow view of the world and their disinclination to do anything to mitigate global heating and its effects) to stabilise river banks, Moreton Bay is dealing with a more massive load of silt than the previous 1-in-100 year flood of just a decade ago.

See:
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...15-p5a4sl.html

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

now have a new bogeyman down here - Japanese encephelitis (sp).

New Scientist magazine has this take on JEV:

https://www.newscientist.com/article...limate-change/

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

New Scientist magazine has this take on JEV:

https://www.newscientist.com/article...limate-change/

Ho Hum

Out at a 70th the other day someone said 'we have never had a year as wet as this before'
I sez 'yes we have - two of 'em back to back 73/74'
Didn't I get the 'but that was a long time ago' look.

I then tried to steer the conversation to the Agadir Crisis but that was an utter waste of time.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

A quick summary of the situation since that significant rain event:


* flood debris is littering shorelines including on K'gari (the island white 'pfellas used to call Fraser).

Most white fellows and pretty well all the locals still call it Fraser Island and the local mainland district is called the Fraser Coast.

See: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...16-p5a53a.html

* partly because of inadequate work by local govts dominated by landlubbers (with their narrow view of the world and their disinclination to do anything to mitigate global heating and its effects) to stabilise river banks, Moreton Bay is dealing with a more massive load of silt than the previous 1-in-100 year flood of just a decade ago.

The major source of silt in SE Queensland is from poor agricultural practices whereby the fines from the fields are allowed to wash into and settle in the stream beds. During a flood event the sediments are washed downstream into the sea where they tend to settle at the mouth and form bars. In the Mary river, where extensive sugar cane farming is carried out it is estimated to average hundreds of thousands of tons per year. The up side is that the sea grass beds where sedimentation takes place tend to be very well fertilized and healthy. The down side is that ones you remove all these mineral fines as silt you are left with barren sand.

See:
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...15-p5a4sl.html

Once upon a time a reactionary old reprobate political leader, after the state capital city had suffered a devastating flood, decided to build a flood mitigation dam at the headwaters of the culprit river. Also seeing a future need for greater water storage he scheduled a new water storage dam to the south of the city in another river valley. His political opponents, seeing an opportunity to harvest the NIMBY (not in my backyard) votes resulting promised to cancel the dam should they win the election. Which happening came to pass.

At a later date the NIMBY harvesters went to fill their coffee pots at breakfast time one day and no water came out, what to do. AHAA cried the chief harvester we have an empty dam on our very own river which we can use for storage which they promptly proceeded to do.

The flaw in this brilliant innovation was that a deluge dropped an another dam volume of water into the former flood mitigation dam and, which said dam already being full, they had to open the flood gates and let all go to flood the capital city again.

Such is life in the great south land.

[Alan Mighty]

All major QLD ports open to cruisers remain infected with Covid-19, according to wastewater analysis, on Sunday 27 March.

Wastewater analysis is late for a few ports, but the infected status of those ports is not expected to change.

See: https://www.qld.gov.au/health/condit...tus/wastewater

This continues the reversal of what had been accepted as normal for centuries by sailors and cruisers: ports once demanded that vessels applied for pratique and demonstrate a clean bill of health for crew. Now the populations of the port are infected, but healthy and infected cruisers alike are welcome to enter, infect, and be infected at their own choice.

Covid-19 case numbers in QLD continue to rise, a so-called second wave of Omicron infections said to be associated with the BA.2 sub-variant. The population remains comfortably numb and accepting of the unnecessary deaths associated with poor management, by themselves and the govt, of Covid-19.

See: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...25-p5a806.html

In the wake of the floods from the intense rainfall event in SE QLD in February, the Brisbane River is now open to recreational boaters. The govt advises boaters to wear lifejackets when in the Brisbane River and to avoid high speed operations, such as water-skiing, because of the risk of collision with floating or submerged debris.

See; https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...26-p5a85t.html

[Lummy22]

Originally Posted by Cliffhanger

So, you don't like Australia? You could always go somewhere else. How about Afghanistan? I am sure the Taliban won't subject you to a PCR nasal swab! You poor thing.

Be calm my friend.

[Montanan]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/med...94ec52596baca2

An antiviral drug available in Australia can eliminate 'actively infectious' Covid-19 from the body after as little as two days of treatment and may be effective against all variants.

All participants taking 800mg a day of Molnupiravir capsules (sold under the brand name Lagevrio) in a European research trial showed no sign of the virus on day three of 'starting' treatment.

Prior to treatment the patients had all tested positive in PCR tests.

So far it is available for limited use in Australia.

[Alan Mighty]

SE QLD Floods:

The Brisbane River, which was declared open to recreational boating with conditions on speed and the wearing of lifejackets two weeks ago, is this weekend to be declared open on some unknown and unqualified basis.

60 vessels have been salvaged and 40 floating pontoons and 60 Aids to Navigation repositioned.

See: https://inqld.com.au/news/2022/04/08...-this-weekend/

Covid-19 in QLD:

A couple of ports are late testing or reporting on tests. The situation remains the same: wastewater testing suggests that the population of each and every port a cruiser might want to visit along the QLD coast is infected.

See: https://www.qld.gov.au/health/condit...tus/wastewater

[El Pinguino]

I'm over all this.

I think it is safe to say that covid is now endemic throughout Australia.

In 6 days time people no longer need to take a covid test before flying to Australia.

Until very recently you just printed out a scabby bit of paper that was your 'permit to enter' and showed that and your PCR test at airport check-in.

But now Border Farce - aka the 'Black Shirts' - have introduced a DPD or digital passenger declaration for which you need an 'APP' - whatever that may be.

And if you don't complete your DPD you will be 'subjected to long delays' on arrival and face possible $10,000 fines.

Seeing that from the 17th all that you will really need to get in is an international vaccination certificate it strikes me as just another bit of authoritarian bullsh1t .

And like our fancy new quarantine stations the DPD is - as they say - a few days late and a few dollars short.

It will be interesting to see what happens on the 17th.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-...alia/100938716

[El Pinguino]

Amongst the terms and conditions that you must agree to there is this

'• consent to the Department collecting your (or another traveller's) facial image for the selfie and liveness detection test (where applicable);
• consent to the Department collecting, using and disclosing your (or another traveller's) personal information in various formats including images and/or files; and
• if you are using the DPD App, you also consent to the DPD App using the camera in your device so that you can take a facial image for the selfie and liveness detection test'

What in the name of the king of the sky fairies is a 'liveness detection test'???

[Wotname]

My dear Ping, it is a thing...
https://www.google.com/search?q=live...client=gws-wiz

Mind, after a rough Tasman crossing, one may fail the test.

[JPA Cate]

^^^Good one, Wottie. Does half alive work for them????

Ann

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

^^^Good one, Wottie. Does half alive work for them????

Ann

I reckon it's binary thing with the 'Black Shirts', especially near the end of their shift where the attitude is more like 'don't bother me now...I'm orf...'

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Wotname

I reckon it's binary thing with the 'Black Shirts', especially near the end of their shift where the attitude is more like 'don't bother me now...I'm orf...'

Some of the young ones are little sh1ts.

Why can't Australia have a simple form such as this?
https://declaracionsalud-viajero.msp.gob.ec
Too easy? Not enough money in it for the IT people??

I had dealings with 4 covid QR tracker gizmos.
Federal - never worked - total waste of quite a few million dollars.
NZ - couldn't get it to work, gave up after first day,
NSW - eventually gave up on that as it needed both an in and an out - which you always forgot and then just entered a random time.
Vic was the only one that actually seemed to do what it said on the box.
All now consigned to the dustbin of history.
I hope to this DPD goes the same way sooner rather than later.

[HankOnthewater]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

I'm over all this.

I think it is safe to say that covid is now endemic throughout Australia.
---
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-...alia/100938716

I do not think it will be declared an endemic as yet. Case numbers are far too high for that. Last week (figures as per Sunday 10-04-22) Oz had 386,774 cases reported, take or leave a few depending on the sources you use. That is reported cases, the actual number is likely 50-100% higher.
As per last night's data, in OZ sofar only 19% of the the total population has reported to been infected (with Omicron since 27-11-21), with NSW the highest percentage (24%) and WA the lowest with 9%.

The press reported "Deltacron" ?
Yes, is around, now in Oz, likely not to make much difference, same as the other Omicron strains BA.1 and BA.2, and indeed there are also strain numbers 3 to 5.
This Deltacron is a populist media term, the WHO and ECDC are listing this as "XD" and have not given it a formal name (as yet).
https://www.who.int/en/activities/tr...oV-2-variants/
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern