COVID-19 updates comments and concerns

[shockNwave]

Where I'm working, profits have dropped by a third and Jobkeeper payments are now starting to happen. Everyone has to take a week (maybe two) off on a rotating basis. I'll be heading back to work tomorrow.

The way I see it we've been lucky so far unlike those small businesses I see vacated and closed at shopping centres and shopping strips.

[jazzcomp]

If company allows remote work full time, I can definitely think of possibilities/considerations to work overseas once everywhere is Covid safe. Or maybe spend a few months elsewhere instead of using vacation leave.

[Unicran]

If company allows remote work full time, I can definitely think of possibilities/considerations to work overseas once everywhere is Covid safe. Or maybe spend a few months elsewhere instead of using vacation leave.

I hear ya jazzcomp. Wouldn't mind working in the bahamas during our winter months to get away from Melbourne's crappy weather, like today.

[griffin]

Brazil is turning into the next big hotspot, and they are one of the 10 biggest economies in the world, but for some reason they have one of the poorest per-capita earnings (which must mean a lot of money is going to a very small number of people).

On the other end of the spectrum, our numbers are still amazing, even after a few weeks of varying stages of wind-back of restrictions (which have seen other countries see a spike in new cases). The other day, every state and territory except Victoria had zero new cases for the day... which is why we are seeing restrictions being lifted ahead of schedule in most states.
We certainly can't be complacent, because we are still having people returning to the country who are infected (three yesterday, which had to be included in NSW's total), and without a vaccine or cure, anyone coming into the country (citizen or not), could easily start the whole thing all over again, taking us back to where we were in March.

I'd like to see states with zero active cases and no new cases for more then 4 weeks, open up their borders with each other, so that we have freedom of travel between the "safe" states, which will help with the local economy and tourism.
It was suggested that the virus could have remained dormant in that nurse in North QLD who went overseas in March, but might have been infecting people as recently as early May (the Rockhampton nursing home and the 30 year old guy who died last week). That hasn't been confirmed yet, but since there are so few (known) active cases in QLD, it's being assumed that she was the host.
(that 30 year old guy who died might have been the youngest Australian to die, but he was in the other high-risk category as he was said to be still recovering from a serious work-place injury... his body probably wasn't able to fight off the virus in his weakened state)

[griffin]

Okay, so that guy in QLD who died last week, his body was re-tested and he didn't die from the virus, so his earlier test was a false positive.

[Zippo]

The political minefield that the "trans tasman" bubble has become.
Sorry, but until Australia has 0 active cases like New Zealand, you can stay over there.

[DELTAprime]

The political minefield that the "trans tasman" bubble has become.
Sorry, but until Australia has 0 active cases like New Zealand, you can stay over there.

Personally I think countries are coming out of lockdown way too early all over the globe. For me, peoples health is more important than getting back to work.

[griffin]

New Zealand are officially clear of the virus, with their last active case now recovered.

Yesterday in Australia, we had zero new cases of Covid that were transmitted within the country (according to the news today, the 2 new cases were both new arrivals to the country that go into isolation until they are clear).
Fingers crossed that we continue with this trend, and when everyone has returned to Australia, we follow New Zealand's lead in having the remaining few people recover without infecting anyone else.

(we can't be complacent until we are clear of the virus, but I think it would be good that the Government breaks down the case numbers into ones that were new arrivals and ones that were caught among residents, so that we can be reassured that our sacrifices are working, and that we don't need to be as paranoid about catching it from everywhere, as many were worried about back in April)

The covid stats website (the link above) says that there are still 547 active cases yet to recover... but I'm not sure how accurate that is, because counting back 547 new cases on their graph (6,720) was 6 weeks ago (April 28th), but most people recover within 2-4 weeks. It is rare for people to take longer than that, and those who do are in hospital (there are only 19 people still in hospital with the virus). I think the number should be closer to 200.
At least it has been a while since we had a covid death in this country, as we are still at 102 from May 23rd (18 days ago).

[Unicran]

Four new cases in Victoria today.

[Zippo]

And we are back.. I really hope heads roll for the complete sh**-show that this example has uncovered. All the things we were told were being done to keep New Zealand free of the virus and .. nothing was actually being followed.