Originally Posted by
dr dre
The WA CHO
made this statement:
WA's Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson wants to see at least 80 per cent of the WA population vaccinated before we get to a point where lockdowns and border closures are no longer needed.
The key is vaccination numbers, and 70% initially, then 80% more firmly, to end restrictions.
So what is his plan if we do not achieve that figure? Because, so far as I can tell,
there isn't one! These are "targets", these 70%, 80% figures, and while they are based on "health advice" they do not provide any guideline or response
should these goals not be met! But also from that article:
Jaya Dantas from Curtin University's School of Population Health says it is a "hugely ambitious target". I am not sure at this stage whether we will reach 80 per cent," Professor Dantas said. No country has reached even 70 per cent. The USA and the UK are slightly over 50 per cent of the population.
Meanwhile, in Iceland...
Iceland is experiencing its worst Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. That’s despite near-total vaccination levels. And what Delta’s doing there may now be a sign of things to come for Australia. The small island nation of 357,000 citizens has become a case study of the effectiveness of vaccination against the Delta mutation.
Some 96 per cent of all Icelandic women over 16 have received at least one vaccine dose. The figure for men is about 90 per cent. In total, 86 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated.
Originally Posted by WingNut60
But my office is directly under the approach to 24 - intra-state traffic doesn't seem to have suffered much while the mining sector is still protected by McGowan's policies and still very bullish.
Actually, not quite true. My employer is desperately crying out (begging might be a better term...) for crew to do significant overtime (residential) or change from their contracted 2/2 to indefinite 2/1 roster's (FIFO) due to the effect the border restrictions are having on their interstate FIFO crew, offering many thousands of dollars in incentives, LAFHA and the like to try to keep things moving. But that carrot is running out, particularly for a lot of interstate FIFO Driver's who have been held hostage by WA for more than a year. They want to go home to see their families, and they're becoming increasingly prepared to do just that and wear the lost AL or go on LWOP knowing they can't get back in to WA, no matter how hard the major ore producers insist interstate FIFO crew are essential to their operations.....
WA's budget has been kept afloat by record iron ore prices, nothing more. I can only wonder what their response would have been if the spot price was back in 2016 levels, below $50 a tonne...