There seems to be a reluctance to act against a certain racial group, when in fact that is coincidental to the geographical origins. Most of the cases are in one geographic pool. It makes sense to prevent all people from that pool entry into Australia. Other countries meanwhile are doing what they can easily do to delay reaching epidemic levels of the virus. Delay until a vaccine is available is the only thing we can do.
This is going to cost lots of money. The papers are full of economic hardship stories already, as if money trumps health. (In a rational world). I expect that Scumo is listening to many competing voices and will kowtow to his Chinese benefactors until it is too late anyway. Which, by now, it probably is.
I am reading frankly ignorant stories that the flu kills more people so worry isn’t needed. The flu kills less than 1 in a thousand people. This thing looks like it kills around 30/1000* and is more easily transmitted with zero herd immunity and a reproduction rate at least as virulent as the flu.
*the estimated CFR of 3% is really rough, and is based on a small sample of suspect numbers. I just read a paper full of calculus that concludes about 50 days are needed to really quantify CFR, although CFRs near 3% might take a bit less time.
Last edited by Australopithecus; 30th Jan 2020 at 00:50.