Well, I would not wish ill on anyone.

In terms of death numbers? Yeah it’s a tragedy, but we lost something like 1000-3000 Australians per year from Influenza and Pneumonia, media age 88, most years and didn’t fuss too much.

By all accounts vaccines will keep the Covid toll much lower than that. There’s not a single serious scientist who thinks Covid will be eliminated, just become endemic, so it will remain but not cause a large public health issue.

Nor would I, and that’s not what I said. I was referring to the fact that the sooner WA lives with covid the better, and if that means an out break now they so be it. It can’t remain closed off forever despite what people like SOPS would like. The Premier has already praised the very high vaccination rate and how it puts us in a good position (no mention of his poorly run Health System though).

News from the Imperial College today has Omicron 40-45% less likely to result in hospitalisation, so my comment about runny noses seems pretty appropriate. We aren’t talking about the initial Alpha strain, wiping out hordes of unvaccinated elderly in nursing homes. We are dealing with a milder strain in a highly vaccinated population. Chalk and cheese, so don’t fear the C!

"WA may well be locked down by New Years Eve once this spreads during Xmas gatherings. Bring it on,"

Aye...

Would you prefer to keep hiding under the blankets for years?

It’s inevitable that people will die, but they already do every year with the flu.

Keep it up mate. I have just nursed my wife through cancer in the last year. She is going well., fully vaxed.. but with a highly compromised immune system. But I’m sure she will just be a statistic in your dream to fly a shiny jet. There are many sides to this story.

See above…spread equals reality for WA and the end of the “blissful bubble”.

Sure “mate”, let’s just stay closed forever to protect your wife and thousands others like her. That will fix the problem!

I wish her all the best but please, the link between your wife’s health and the careers of Pilots is a little tenuous don’t you think?

Federal Labor isn't the same as Victorian Labor. The same can be said for state and federal LNP.

As unfortunate as your wife's situation is, the vast majority of us shouldn't be punished and be able to get on with living our lives.

Well, so good to read (mostly) some open debate, without clickbait and (in the main) vitriol amongst participants. That is a wonderful thing.

Reading through the comments above, there appears to be a consistent disappointment in the two main coalitions (Green/Labor and LNP). The similarities between said “options” is startling! How do we affect change? Vote Independent I guess.

We live in an amazing country and democratically, we have the opportunity to shape the free money people in the Government, to actually earn said money. Let us consider our votes for real policy next year.

Green and Labor are far from a coalition, but media likes to portray them as such.

This is a great video on why a hung parliament is a good thing for democracy. Disclaimer: It's a left leaning youtube channel

No, I was writing in response to what I believed to be a rather callous attitude towards what COVID represents for those who don’t just get a cold from it. If it’s inevitable that people die, why do we bother with medicine an public health measures at all?

Just to be clear the survival rate is somewhere between 98% and 98.7%.
The flu is around 99.5% survival rate.
The aged and the unhealthy are over represented in the fatalities.

Make that 99.9%, CDC data on the 2018-2019 flu season was 28,000 deaths vs 29,000,000 symptomatic cases (asymptotic cases are not tested for in flu). Flu causes 3-4 deaths per 100,000 population in the USA on average.

Covid in the US is running at 98.4% survival rate on all suspected cases including asymptotic. So if you changed that to vs symptomatic cases only the number could easily be 95% or such. Covid is running at 250 deaths per 100,000 population in the US. Most other western nations with high covid have similar data.

PS I use the US as an example and the UK at times as they have rules that dispel a lot of the myths, such as death count from flu or covid must be 'due' to covid, not died with covid etc... It has to be listed as the actual cause of death and not as a sub item.

Also you don't have to be 'unhealthy' to die from covid, any condition that already stresses the heart or lungs will complicate covid recovery. Diabetics and asthmatics are highly susceptible to it, whether from being unfit, or just carrying the condition. Certain diabetics are due to unhealthy lifestyle, a lot are not by choice at all, and ageing is not a choice either, neither is asthma.

Looks like open borders and high demand have taken their toll on JQ the hardest. Multiple flights canceled due COVID isolation requirements leading to a shortage of Pilots, cabin crew and other staff. VA experiencing the same however QF canceling due lack of demand.

I lost some of my roster purely due low demand, was pretty quiet last week and even this week. Probably are about twice as heavy in capacity vs what is actually needed.

I wouldn’t expect much to change in the next month. If we are cycling months of high cases, the public will continue to be spooked by the fear from politicians and the media.

‘Brisbane on Edge’ when I flicked on the TV today. FFS.

Sydney is bursting at the seems, the JQ check in is overwhelmed. I guess the punters want out of Sydney. Majority of the flights that were canceled were ML-SY, 12 today in total. I think the appetite to head north will be met with caution for some time. This could be rex jet time to shine, or are they canceling also? no mention of them.

Out of curiosity, how do the flu death total numbers in 2020/2021 compare to previous years?

Which is the very definition of unhealthy is it not!

[QUOTE=Transition Layer;11160329]Out of curiosity, how do the flu death total numbers in 2020/2021 compare to previous years?[/QUOTE

Have a look for yourself

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/he...latest-release

From the CDC's 2020-2021 Flu Season Summary;
You can read the full report here.

about 80 domestic flights cancelled

A Sydney Airport spokeperson said at least 80 domestic flights had been cancelled across all airlines. While Jetstar was forced to make last-minute cancellations, both Qantas and Virgin Australia informed passengers earlier this week that their flights scheduled for Friday had been cancelled.

It is understood that most of Qantas’s cancellations had been made to consolidate services due to lower-than-expected demand during the Christmas period, and that the airline is not suffering from staff shortages.

A Virgin Australia spokesperson said there had been only one unplanned flight cancellation announced on Friday, with passengers booked on other cancelled services for Friday informed earlier this week and most moved on to other flights within an hour of their original booking.

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...ned-over-covid

Jetstar shortages are two mainly the COVID isolation requirements. Multiple spilts, cabin crew and front line staff are having to isolate because of the long turn around for the PCR test which in most cases is 3+ days.

So much for the vaccine then ....

Doesn't stop you getting it
Doesn't stop you transmitting it
Doesn't negate the need for wearing masks
Doesn't negate the need to get tested
Doesn't negate the need to isolate
Only works for 6 months then you need a booster
In short, an abject failure

All for something 99.9% of healthy people survive.

Merry Christmas PPRUNE 's

Bleat on Bob, as you said in your post “ it works “ so let’s run with it

Merry Christmas

And here I was thinking that the VACCINE may determine the degree of SEVERITY, or lack thereof, of the EFFECT of said virus on the recipient / sufferer....

I don't particularly want to experiment and see how it may affect me / my Grandies.... Had me 2 shots, and willing to back up for the third.

Just sayin'........

Cheers
p.s. I respect ya 'rights'....just keep ya distance from moi.....

Here we go. SA first to start jumping at shadows and impose restrictions. Not sure when they are planning on ‘living with it’. Queensland better hang on, restrictions normally cost me half my roster right off the bat.

Yes. I was just thinking.. this whole ‘ let’s open up and live with it thing’ is working really well.. isn’t it?

I would be very interested to hear your alternative to that? Toot toot.

I had a Covid test 85 hours ago in NSW and still don’t have a result. I imagine the vast majority of people entering QLD from NSW have not told the truth on the border pass.

A dumb requirement by the useless QLD gov has put a huge strain on NSW Covid testing sites for now no reason at all.

Bring on the omicron parties .

The whole fing idea of having a PCR test to travel domestically was pretty well known to be a **** idea from the start, just proves that you basically have to be a di$head to be in state politics to start, the fools that couldn’t get into the real federal parliament. I’ve had enough and so has 90% of other people they just lie and do what they like, no one checks you anyway, you need to be able to enforce your **** not just crap on like babies. It’s everywhere F off tests and grow up, QLD will have 8k-15k cases a day within a couple of weeks, live with it!

Let’s not beat around the bush, Spurrier from SA is way out of her league and has been since the start, she has actually been an immense embarrassment for anyone living in SA, she’s now going back to bull crap restrictions from las year lol, what a completely ineffective leader. Pathetic, totally out of her element. These so called health experts are just a bunch of chums getting jobs from mates, it’s ridiculous.

[QUOTE=Aussie Bob;11160427]So much for the vaccine then ....

Doesn't stop you getting it
Doesn't stop you transmitting it
Doesn't negate the need for wearing masks
Doesn't negate the need to get tested
Doesn't negate the need to isolate
Only works for 6 months then you need a booster
In short, an abject failure

All for something 99.9% of healthy

So after 2 hundred years of vaccine use and two intense years of scrutiny of what vaccines do…that is what you think vaccines were meant to do? Please, keep speaking up for the anti Vaxxers….they are a dying breed.

doesnt stop you getting it - no but reduces risk that exposure leads to infection

doesnt stop you transmitting it - we used to agree but data in November shows vaccination halves risk of transmission

doesnt negate the need for wearing masks - nothing to do with science. Masks are a political decision and few politicians have any scientific knowledge. I agree, cloth masks and FFP2 masks have little and possibly no effect. In hospitals all staff and patients should wear FFP3 or N95 masks because hospitals have been a major source of infection

doesnt negate the need for testing - no because vaccines were developed to halve the risk of hospitalisation or death NOT infection, and testing reduced cross infection. Different strands to control. I could be persuaded that with Omicron we should stop testing and mix whereupon the wave would finish in 4-6 weeks with less economic damage. Just need to protect the immunosupressed

Only works for 6 months then you need a booster - long term I suspect it will be annual.....like flu vaccination. Indeed covid 19 may well replace or supplant flu so no change in number of vaccinations

In short an abject failure - if you are referring to the politicians or the modellers or the scare mongers then I agree. If you are talking about the dozen or so poor vaccines then I agree. If you are talking about Uger Sahin who is responsible for the mRNA vaccines (with his own money) then no these vaccines have possibly saved a million lives, will be modified within 90 days for future mutations and the technology is already being developed for oncology. Another million women's lives will be extended this decade due to avoiding death from gynaelogical cancers alone.

Managed diabetes, asthma, hypertension etc can all exist in a healthy person that may well be more healthy than any of us, ie the management puts the person back to that of a healthy individual who is well aware of their problems. Add a disease that attacks the lungs and heart and combined with these conditions and that same person may become critically ill or die due to complications. More than likely you will know numerous people with diabetes, asthma or hypertension that just don't talk about it, but manage it quietly, the later being very common in anyone over 50. Like mental illnesses few people that have lived with these conditions let everyone know they have it.

Talking about comorbidity like they are some small portion of the community, and somehow most likely that persons choice or lifestyle results shows a lot of ignorance to how prevalent these conditions are and how they manifest.

And that is the entire point, they are dying, not the vaccinated, and we are trying to sway their opinions so they don't lead others down the same garden path of delusion and death. It's sad to hear 70 years olds worried about what will happen to them in 20/30 years from a vaccine when the virus will kill you now, or a pregnant woman worried about her unborn child when the vaccine is proven to do no harm at all to pregnancy yet the virus has killed thousands of expectant mothers due to their low immunity, I personally know 2 that passed with child (both early 30s) as a result of not being vaccinated and contracting covid, the science is solid, the data is there in mass numbers, and not being vaccinated is stupider than smoking or drinking during pregnancy.

Now that being said we are moving into a phase of the virus now where its harm rate, of omicron, has dropped significantly, especially for the vaccinated. That doesn't mean you cant still get delta, however the high case numbers are mostly the new, low severity version. You still don't want to catch it, like flu or any other disease, but like Victoria and NSW are showing the case numbers are rising, but hospitalisation and deaths are steady. The need for closed borders has ended, vaccination rates are high, systems are prepared, just wear masks and practice good hygiene and don't hug and kiss strangers and lick windows (or other fixtures) and you should be fine.

BTW I do think the spread difference between NSW and Vic is directly related to mask policy.

Except that. if in my age group bracket, the vaccination that you received is now deemed to be damned near useless and, because of factors unfathomable, you will not be able to get a booster for another month.
That despite the government-run campaign exhorting us to "just go and get a booster".

Whenever the word "just" is used in a promotion you can safely presume that it's a crock.

I'm in the 'at risk' group as well, my folks are well into the high risk age group and so on being well over 60 and some in their 80s. The vaccine does not 'stop working' at 5-6 months, it just starts to reduce in effectiveness, so where it had 90% protection it might drop to 60% protection, the booster just kicks it back up to higher levels. Really just depends on what you consider acceptable protection for the circumstance. If Omicron is as docile as stated then even with 50% protection it probably would stop any severe infection, just the problem if you encounter any remaining delta, which is still circulating in Melbourne.

I'm not adding this to make fun of the individual, but to highlight that it's still a very dangerous virus to dice with. Part of fighting any virus is to alleviate the stress on the body while it copes naturally, which is what part of the focus of treatment is. This guy thought his strength and fitness would carry him through with some oxygen, but the stress on his body led to cardiac arrest and death. Which is a common way it can end you.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rged-dies.html

Get vaccinated, and if you need to be in hospital, go there and let them help.