Australia. Please Mr Prime Minister

[GADDay]

The infection rate is soaring.
The shops are chaotic.

We had a golden opportunity to shut this thing down but people just can't or won't implement social distancing.

I just went to the supermarket. Huge signs explaining social distancing - the floors marked with massive crosses. Not a single soul followed the instructions. An elderly lady was coughing up a storm and nobody batted an eyelid.

The cafes, hairdressers, nail bar were all busy.

What will it take for our PM to implement a lock down? Before it's too late.

The curve is doomed with cases doubling every 3 days.

I despair - people just don't think it can happen to them. Even now.

[IDoNotHaveABlackCat]

Gladys has impressed me once again though. I actually get the impression that she is doing the best she can.

I see Dutton made a full recovery. The coronavirus would be no match for the evil in that man's veins.

[Fantail]

Day one of our lockdown here in NZ. They think cases will peak in 10 days (fingers crossed).

It’s tough for everyone. But as someone with health issues that mean I’m at higher risk of getting severe symptoms I’m slightly relieved.

From here it’s like ScoMo is mostly talking about hairdressers.

PS - has Peter Dutton recovered yet?

[Fantail]

Oh I see Dutton has.

[IDoNotHaveABlackCat]

I felt deeply angry and frustrated this morning watching Jacinda Ardern on Facebook.

Information, instructions, reassurance, a PLAN, delivered clearly with no spin or stupid politicking.

I want one like that.

[Skeletoninatutu]

I'm going to get flamed for this but realistically a lot of the states are/have been dragging their heels on this. East coast Australia are largely taking the piss and their governments need to act faster and harder than other states who have acted more swiftly by shutting borders and restricting movements into remote and indigenous (aka vulnerable) communities (who are now struggling to get food and General goods due to distribution going to suburbia priority... very frustrating)
Everyone stammering about shutting the schools neglects to think about the massive social disruption - I actually feel like people feel like ripping kids out of school is the "pulling of the parachute that will save us" when realistically it will put greater stress on families and ultimately put grandparents and larger society at risk. Not everyone works in an inner city office than can simply log on from home. The people we will strongly rely on in the coming months are hospital workers (canteen, cleaners, orderlies etc), aged care workers, council workers etc are not high paid, for not have access to care the same as white collar workers. Australia is a bloody big country with huge social/ geographical differences. Why should one state like SA, that is undertaking extensive testing and contact tracing be stage 3 lock down because some dickheads in Bondi can't keep off the beach.
People needs to take far more personal responsibility and states must take much more responsibility for their populations.
Ragging and raging at Morrison is not productive when largely the power lies within states to address pandemic specific measures for their population.

[MarieFromStTropez]

@MarieFromStTropez out of interest, what kind of safety nets?

Income Support, Housing Benefit, universal free healthcare, etc.

[Skeletoninatutu]

I think I'm suffering from social isolation word vomit 😳

[therealcj]

I'm in The Hunter Region NSW and have not left my house in nearly 2 weeks. Husband is nominated house leaver. We pulled the kids early due to underlying health conditions. The amount of kids playing out together in the street today even though it was raining was unbelievable. Can't get a lot of the staples in the supermarket and watching prices creep up steadily is frustrating.

[pollyglot]

www.stuff.co.nz/national/120565486/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-endorses-popular-teddy-bear-hunt-during-coronavirus-lockdown

Does Scotty have a teddy in his window? Every little bit helps the little ones.

[justilou1]

@YouNeedToCalmDown - mine came via my service provider. You may have thought it was from Optus or Telstra.

[WindyRose]

Yay!! I just received the text message from Optus about 5 mins ago....nothing I didn't already know and seems a waste of time. If people don't know about the 1.5m rule and to wash your hands by now, then they must have been living under a rock.

[YouNeedToCalmDown]

Nope. Didn't get it.

[bluetongue]

Any thoughts on the hairdressing backflip? Yes you can only get a basic cut in 30 minutes but is it really the end of the world?

It’s times like these that it really pays to be low maintenance I don’t get my nails or eyebrows done and my hair is only cut every few months. I’ve recently started getting colour done for grey hair at my temples but I can either live with this or dye it at home.

[Skeletoninatutu]

I'm really surprised that people still want to get hair/brows etc done at the moment....
My sons new orthodontist wants to fit his new plate ASAP even though they closed the local to me rooms. He expects us to go to the city clinic to fit it....I'm quite stunned and am thinking it can wait!

[justilou1]

I can’t believe our politicians are all closing up shop. (On full pay of course.) Why can’t they work from home too?

[GADDay]

I am spitting feathers. Queensland Elections still going ahead tomorrow. It is unbelievably stupid.

[Percivalthebabyspider]

I went out for the first time in a week, chemist. And I saw two people waltz into the hairdresser. Why??

[IDoNotHaveABlackCat]

The hairdresser thing is bizarre.

We have a teddy in our window and we are going for our walk first thing in the morning before the boys start school (from home), no one about.

I go to the shops once a week. Other than that we are home and have been for a couple of weeks now. We figured as we COULD work from home we SHOULD even before the shit really started hitting the fan.

So impressed with my kids schools/teachers. They have got this up and running (and running well) in record time.

[janeskettle]

I'm going to buzzcut my hair once I run out of hair dye :)

[Mypathtriedtokillme]

We can throw Dutton, the chief medical officer and both the health and his deputy minister into the exchange too.

It’s a 5 for 1 deal.

[IDoNotHaveABlackCat]

I have bought clippers!

The boys are not keen, but I assured them I have watched a couple of youtube videos and it will be fine.

In any case they are not going anywhere so it doesn't matter. 😁

[janeskettle]

In any case they are not going anywhere so it doesn't matter

That's what I figure! :)

[SnowsInWater]

My dog groomers (Sydney) sent me a text last night reminding me that my dogs were booked in today, am I stupid in assuming that as they work in very close proximity and there is absolutely no way they could maintain the required distance between them they would be closed? I feel for them as a small business but I was not going out twice to drop off/collect dogs for a clip.

[Ineedwine1]

I'm from the UK and feel for you. I also wish our government had acted sooner. People here still aren't taking it serious and still are going out and meeting people even though we are on lockdown. All I can say is isolate for yourself and don't wait to be told. That's what me and my son did.

[bluetongue]

I don’t seeing remember learning hairdressing as an essential skill on Doomsday Preppers

What do you all think of the six months timeline? I’m really worried that the economy will collapse well before six months. Maybe he’s just giving out worst case scenario to ram home the seriousness of this all. I thought the idea was to shut down businesses etc for long enough to control numbers of cases and allow health services to ramp up before relaxing the restrictions for a while until shutdowns are required again.

Does this also mean that I won’t be able to see my parents for six months? They’re both 69 and I don’t know if it’s okay to go and see them in their backyard.