All borders to reopen.

[Foxxster]

Originally Posted by SOPS

That must have hurt Gladys to say that. I wonder if people will obey.

yep, just waiting for a gloating response from chairman Dan. He won’t be able to resist. Maybe the chook will chime in as well although she will probably keep quiet as she is off to Japan is she not.

as for people obeying. Well hmmm. They have had quite a police presence out west recently. Western Sydney that is.

[Turnleft080]

Originally Posted by Foxxster

won’t be until December at the earliest. We need to get vaccinated rate right up to at least around 60%+ probably more like 70%. I would think around feb or March next year..

gladys has mentioned 80% which is ridiculous. That would take us until this time next year as I suspect rates will start to flatten right off once we get around the 70% mark.

70%. We have that already in the over 70 population. If you mentioned that 12 months ago, oh yes, that would warrant all borders to open.
You take that any day. Though not today because the goal posts change daily on the rhetoric of suppression forget bending the curve.

[PoppaJo]

Popcorn and Sky News tonight lol.

[SHVC]

Have the Alpha and Beta strains fizzled out or attained herd immunity? what I'm trying to ask, is this virus like an annual influenza that mutates except C-19 mutates quicker?

[blubak]

Originally Posted by Foxxster

yep, just waiting for a gloating response from chairman Dan. He won’t be able to resist. Maybe the chook will chime in as well although she will probably keep quiet as she is off to Japan is she not.

as for people obeying. Well hmmm. They have had quite a police presence out west recently. Western Sydney that is.

Had a listen to nsw presser & now the vic 1.
To be honest i still think Gladys is trying to be nice & taking a soft approach,the facts & answers coming from the vic officials are very matter of fact & they definitely seem to be right up with whats happening.
There is no doubt that the average person must do the right thing & hopefully that happens.
It was mentioned that somebody did a runner at melb airport on wed night,that somebody is now $5k out of pocket!

[Max Tow]

Originally Posted by Foxxster

won’t be until December at the earliest. We need to get vaccinated rate right up to at least around 60%+ probably more like 70%. I would think around feb or March next year..

gladys has mentioned 80% which is ridiculous. That would take us until this time next year as I suspect rates will start to flatten right off once we get around the 65% to 70% mark.

Yes, but the problem is that there is no road-map from our squabbling leaders showing what happens when we reach a stage where all who wish to be vaccinated have been offered the jabs. That will probably get stuck at around the 60-70% seen in other countries, given the hold-outs and the thoroughly confused messages. When this happens, hopefully by year end, I suspect the majority of the population will have had enough of the endless "whack-a-mole" of lockdowns, however justifiable these were in the pre-vax times.

Currently the push to get vaccinated is all "stick" (getting or spreading the virus is a bad thing) and no "carrot" (when you and x% of us are vaccinated, you'll be able to do things that the unvaccinated can't). Hence we have the ridiculous Catch-22 of airlines being grounded because people are saying that there's no point in getting vaccinated because they still won't be able to travel.

What I'd like to see is for the government to set a target date by which it expects all to have been offered vaccination, after which we will for a while move on to a two-tier level of activity, much as we do with smokers and non-smokers. Sure, there are those few who cannot be vaccinated for genuine health reasons, but as with other diseases, their best defence is to be surrounded by as many as possible who have been protected. For those able but unwilling, fair enough, you are free to make your own decisions, but life for the rest of us will at some stage just have to move on. The average annual death toll in Oz from flu is reckoned to be around 2k pre-covid, so I guess that sets a benchmark for what will be acceptable.

As one with perhaps two or three decades left on this earth, I'm pretty near done with holding the pause button.

[Green.Dot]

This isn’t rocket science. End of 2021 everybody who is vaccinated gets a 2k rebate. Everybody who hasn’t pays a 2k levy. People that haven’t had the pain of extended lockdown, still working and think their state is “safe” should be able to easily afford it.

[Foxxster]

First case of WuHu flu in the Olympics village. And the games haven’t even started yet. What a fecking sick joke this farce is going ahead.

[DirectAnywhere]

Originally Posted by blubak

Had a listen to nsw presser & now the vic 1.
To be honest i still think Gladys is trying to be nice & taking a soft approach,the facts & answers coming from the vic officials are very matter of fact & they definitely seem to be right up with whats happening.

To be fair, the Vic staff have had much more practice at delivering bad news, but there is no doubt their comms are far stronger than NSW at the moment.

This morning's press conferences were a stark contrast. Removing the NSW premier and VIC minister from consideration, while I have no doubt Kerry Chant is very capable, her public speaking is simply poor. She stumbles over words and can't structure a phrase on the fly to clearly communicate her point to the level that some of what she says is incomprehensible.

Jeroen Weimar on the other hand is clear, succinct and well across his brief. He doesn't waffle, provides straight answers to straight questions and isn't afraid to say if he doesn't know. He exudes confidence and control.

[jrfsp]

What the hell is wrong with people:

Breaking: Police have charged three removalists who allegedly knew they had COVID-19 but still travelled from Sydney to the state’s Central West.

Just after 2:30pm yesterday, officers spoke to four men in Molong, about 300km from Sydney, after receiving information they had travelled from West Hoxton, in the Liverpool local government area (LGA).

These men are not the removalists that travelled from NSW to Victoria, sparking an outbreak there.

[SOPS]

Originally Posted by jrfsp

What the hell is wrong with people:

Breaking: Police have charged three removalists who allegedly knew they had COVID-19 but still travelled from Sydney to the state’s Central West.

Just after 2:30pm yesterday, officers spoke to four men in Molong, about 300km from Sydney, after receiving information they had travelled from West Hoxton, in the Liverpool local government area (LGA).

These men are not the removalists that travelled from NSW to Victoria, sparking an outbreak there.

I am starting to think the problem lies in the fact there is a group of people who dont think any of this alpplies to them.

[Bend alot]

Is it clear?

Can we work at Bankstown Airport on Monday?

[blubak]

Originally Posted by DirectAnywhere

To be fair, the Vic staff have had much more practice at delivering bad news, but there is no doubt their comms are far stronger than NSW at the moment.

This morning's press conferences were a stark contrast. Removing the NSW premier and VIC minister from consideration, while I have no doubt Kerry Chant is very capable, her public speaking is simply poor. She stumbles over words and can't structure a phrase on the fly to clearly communicate her point to the level that some of what she says is incomprehensible.

Jeroen Weimar on the other hand is clear, succinct and well across his brief. He doesn't waffle, provides straight answers to straight questions and isn't afraid to say if he doesn't know. He exudes confidence and control.

Yes,the vic officials are better versed at delivering bad news,cant argue with that.
And your comparison between Kerry Chant & Weimar is pretty spot on,her stumbling & hesitation makes listening very hard & from then on in her message is basically lost.
Not an easy job im sure but if she wants people to take notice i think she needs to improve or appoint somebody else to speak.

[blubak]

Originally Posted by SOPS

I am starting to think the problem lies in the fact there is a group of people who dont think any of this alpplies to them.

I am sure that is the case,it seems there is always somebody who thinks its all a joke or the rules arent for them & they know best.
Of course if they get fined or questioned,they then claim victimisation & of course there are lots that listen.

[mattyj]

The vaccines only stop you from getting hospital level disease..it’s doing zero to stop the positive cases and zero to stop transmission..see Israel, UK, California etc..get vaccinated if you like..it’s not going to end the pandemic

[Max Tow]

Originally Posted by mattyj

The vaccines only stop you from getting hospital level disease..it’s doing zero to stop the positive cases and zero to stop transmission..see Israel, UK, California etc..get vaccinated if you like..it’s not going to end the pandemic

Thanks for that. Your reported combination of effects (reduction in level of severity for those vaccinated) & non-effects (but having a vaccinated majority will not reduce the rate of transmission with severe consequences to the non-vaccinated) is one of the best arguments I've heard for getting off the fence....

If there are few hospitalisations, the number of positive cases will become less newsworthy - who counts flu & cold cases these days?

[mattyj]

The media..it’s their new thing

[jrfsp]

So while lots of aussies cannot get home - we allow trolls like this sky news favourite into the country (how on earth were they granted entry) - deliberately trying to break the HQ rules

https://www.smh.com.au/national/katie-hopkins-admits-to-breaking-hotel-quarantine-rules-in-sydney-20210717-p58al3.html

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/katie-hopkins-trolls-sydneys-lockdown-from-hotel-quarantine/news-story/5b5d8398e3255a8407d848eb1f2a44cb

[SOPS]

Originally Posted by jrfsp

So while lots of aussies cannot get home - we allow trolls like this sky news favourite into the country (how on earth were they granted entry) - deliberately trying to break the HQ rules

https://www.smh.com.au/national/katie-hopkins-admits-to-breaking-hotel-quarantine-rules-in-sydney-20210717-p58al3.html

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/katie-hopkins-trolls-sydneys-lockdown-from-hotel-quarantine/news-story/5b5d8398e3255a8407d848eb1f2a44cb

She should be put on the next plane out.

[MickG0105]

Originally Posted by mattyj

The vaccines only stop you from getting hospital level disease..it’s doing zero to stop the positive cases and zero to stop transmission..see Israel, UK, California etc..

"... a growing body of evidence suggests that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines also reduce asymptomatic infection and transmission. Substantial reductions in SARS-CoV-2 infections (both symptomatic and asymptomatic) will reduce overall levels of disease, and therefore, viral transmission in the United States. However, investigations are ongoing to assess further the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on transmission." CDC Science Brief: COVID-19 Vaccines and Vaccination

​​​​​​"... In April, Public Health England reported results of a large study of COVID-19 transmission involving more than 365,000 households with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated members. It found immunisation with either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine reduced the chance of onward virus transmission by 40–60%." Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Mounting evidence suggests COVID vaccines do reduce transmission

Just because people who have been vaccinated are returning positive test results (breakthrough infections) does not mean that vaccination is doing zero to stop transmission. The incidence of breakthrough infections tells you nothing about onward transmission.