The Reality of Living in Australia and Covid

[Simi 60]

The Reality of Living in Australia and Covid is, that we are enjoying the start of year 6 of isolation

Had a wonderful meal of fresh spotty mackerel and veg done on the BBQ
Martinis at sundown then washed dinner down with a bottle of Shiraz
And am now kicking back on the top deck watching the lightning in the distance while enjoying a single malt whisky

Just another day for us in this so called Covid lock down prison they call Australia

But that's our reality.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Martinis at sundown then washed dinner down with a bottle of Shiraz
And am now kicking back on the top deck watching the lightning in the distance while enjoying a single malt whisky

It sounds like you are running a pretty tight ship there Simi - just don't go getting too tight too often

Much the same for me - life just rolls along and Dans in Wang has a rather nice Chilean Carmenere at $12 a bottle or $24 for a really really nice one - not so good if you live beyond the Latte Line in Melb or Syd - or work in intensive care https://www.theage.com.au/national/n...27-p58mha.html

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

If you say so - but as Scumbo said 'its not a race'.

I don't know how "scumbo" is, but that statement is obviously idiotic.

Of COURSE it's a race Blimey. Not against other countries, but against the bloody virus.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I don't know how "scumbo" is, but that statement is obviously idiotic.

Of COURSE it's a race Blimey. Not against other countries, but against the bloody virus.

Sadly that is the sort of dill that we have - nominally - in charge in Australia

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...accine-rollout

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fede...21-p58bq3.html

https://reneweconomy.com.au/scott-mo...ts-not-a-race/

Plenty more out there

Edit -- Scott Morrison aka Scomo aka Slomo aka Scumbo aka oxygen thief and general all round waste of space

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

It sounds like you are running a pretty tight ship there Simi - just don't go getting too tight too often

Much the same for me - life just rolls along and Dans in Wang has a rather nice Chilean Carmenere at $12 a bottle or $24 for a really really nice one - not so good if you live beyond the Latte Line in Melb or Syd - or work in intensive care https://www.theage.com.au/national/n...27-p58mha.html

Don't get me wrong, big thumbs up for the front lines workers
And those who are actually being hardly done by

I just have little sympathy for those that are being slightly inconvenienced (I can't travel to my favourite beach) yet cry like they are so hardly done by.
Their version of hardly done by is luxury for previous generations and many countries of the world

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Sadly that is the sort of dill that we have - nominally - in charge in Australia

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...accine-rollout

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fede...21-p58bq3.html

https://reneweconomy.com.au/scott-mo...ts-not-a-race/

Plenty more out there

Edit -- Scott Morrison aka Scomo aka Slomo aka Scumbo aka oxygen thief and general all round waste of space

Yikes.

Well, anyway, you're not last. You're ahead of Russia, Kazakhstan, and even -- New Zealand.


Unfortunately you're ahead of NZ in infection rates, too. In fact, your infection rate, at over 40, is now higher than Sweden's was a few weeks ago. Doesn't look much like eradication at this stage. But you'll be well vaccinated pretty soon, so not really a big deal I guess.

[HankOnthewater]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

It sounds like you are running a pretty tight ship there Simi - just don't go getting too tight too often

Much the same for me - life just rolls along and Dans in Wang has a rather nice Chilean Carmenere at $12 a bottle or $24 for a really really nice one - not so good if you live beyond the Latte Line in Melb or Syd - or work in intensive care https://www.theage.com.au/national/n...27-p58mha.html

as per weblink, although not in ICU, me living and working with Covid in Melbourne at the moment, and I guess nothing compared with some other places.

For those who believe in covid being a hoax (and meeting these nearly every day), I am genuinely comfortable that you have those beliefs, but I am always tempted to say something like: "good onya, just sign this piece of paper that you do not need care or intubation if you get covid".
Professionally I can't, but I guess most would not sign such paper.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by HankOnthewater

as per weblink, although not in ICU, me living and working with Covid in Melbourne at the moment, and I guess nothing compared with some other places.

For those who believe in covid being a hoax (and meeting these nearly every day), I am genuinely comfortable that you have those beliefs, but I am always tempted to say something like: "good onya, just sign this piece of paper that you do not need care or intubation if you get covid".
Professionally I can't, but I guess most would not sign such paper.

I guess you read about the U.S. radio personality, and virulent anti-vaxxer, who died of COVID a few weeks ago:

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt...covid-79582607

He lived long enough to recant all those views. Not very long, though.


I heard from someone working in hospitals somewhere that very often those who come in with COVID immediately ask for the vaccine, not realizing that it's too late.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I guess you read about the U.S. radio personality, and virulent anti-vaxxer, who died of COVID a few weeks ago:

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt...covid-79582607

He lived long enough to recant all those views. Not very long, though.


I heard from someone working in hospitals somewhere that very often those who come in with COVID immediately ask for the vaccine, not realizing that it's too late.

I imagine the list of people on their death beds reviewing decisions they'd made through life without regret is pretty small regardless of what they are dying from...

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I imagine the list of people on their death beds reviewing decisions they'd made through life without regret is pretty small regardless of what they are dying from...

Wise words Certainly I've got a long list all ready for my own death bed.

[goboatingnow]

[Dockhead]

Headline in today's Economist is "Australia Is Ending Its Zero COVID Strategy"

https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/...r=nl_special_1

“'THIS IS NOT a sustainable way to live in this country,' declared Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, on August 23rd. He was defending a dramatic shift in covid-19 strategy. Since the start of the pandemic Australia has used an approach dubbed 'covid zero', stamping on outbreaks down to the last case, whatever it takes. From now on, cases will be allowed to rise as long as hospitals can cope with them. The plan is to drop most restrictions once 80% of adults are vaccinated, which looks achievable by the end of the year. . . .

". . .But the highly contagious Delta variant, which spread globally this spring, has pushed the zero-covid approach to its limits. “It’s not just that you have to do everything you do better. It actually breaks the system,” says Catherine Bennett of Deakin University in Melbourne. Delta spreads so easily that even if contact-tracers reach an infected person within 30 hours of a positive test, their contacts would already have passed the virus down several chains of transmission, says Dr Bennett. . .

". . . The only way to curb such outbreaks has been through short lockdowns known as “circuit-breakers”. With more infections slipping through the net, that leads to what Dr Bennett calls an “epidemic of lockdowns”. More than half of Australians have been in lockdown at one point or another since June. Melbourne has seen more than 200 days of lockdowns since the pandemic began. Hence the plan to ditch the zero-covid paradigm and accept that cases, and to a lesser extent deaths, will rise.. . "

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Five off topic posts have been removed.

Please note, this thread is about Australia and living with Covid; it has nothing whatsoever to do with US issues.

Missed one from the us that has nothing to do with OZ

So on the topic of OZ, having never been there are people mostly me me me or hmmm socially engaged

Sot not sure if that came across clearly

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Wotname

A race between the turtle and the tortoise no doubt - even the pandemic will likely be over before one of them crosses the line.

Some more good news for the AZ vaccinated... that's You Wottie..

THE Oxford/AstraZeneca jab gives powerful protection that may last a whole lifetime, a new study has found.

As well as generating virus-busting antibodies, the vaccine also creates “training camps” in the body for search-and-destroy T-cells which can kill even new variants.
It means the body can continue making these vital cells long after the antibodies have waned - as possibly for the rest of your life.

Scientists from Oxford and Switzerland, writing in journal Nature, say T-cell protection is a “key feature” of adenovirus vaccines like the Oxford and J&J jabs.

Researcher Prof Burkhard Ludewig, of Cantonal Hospital in Switzerland, said: "The T-cells that come from these cellular training camps appear to have a very high level of ‘fitness’.

“Adenoviruses have co-evolved with humans over a very long time, and learned a lot about the human immune system in the process.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/156059...me-protection/

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I don't know how "scumbo" is, but that statement is obviously idiotic.

Of COURSE it's a race Blimey. Not against other countries, but against the bloody virus.

The "scumbo" thing is typical of what you hear from the extreme left in Australia which always assumes a visceral hatred for any conservative prime minister and seldom ignores any opportunity to denigrate the individual holding the office.

Ever since the thalidomide incident Australian governments have been pretty paranoid about any medication and even though approved overseas generally passes them through a strong evaluation before allowing them to be used in Australia.

The present prime minister's, Scott Morrison and hence "Scomo", "it's not a race" remark was in relation to the need to complete the evaluation in the usual manner before it being released for public use.

The federal government placed orders for Astra Zenica as the most likely candidate for successful development well before the development and approval for human usage was complete. The so called "slow roll out" of the vacine is a myth being propagated by the incumbent governments political foes for political purposes. By Australian standards the introduction process was remarkably quick.

Most of the reputational damage suffered by Astra Zenica was the result of the same group developing the meme that "the government screwed up by buying the wrong vacine" for political ends. This was far more relevant in the slow vacine take up than any shortage of vacine.

Poor performing governments is not a monopoly of either the left or the right in Australia. The left wingers generally are more active in social development and the right in economic development although they are generally far better at administration than the left because of the structures of the predominate parties in each sphere. However the left is far better at media management due to propaganda rather than press freedom being one of their priorities.