That’s a first

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?