Melbourne apartment towers complete lockdown

[Imtootired]

In Melbourne, Aus there are five tower blocks that will be put under complete lockdown for five days. I am all for being proactive about stopping the spread of coronavirus but this is madness. They are public housing so people on very low incomes for various reasons including elderly and disabled people, refugees and single parents. There will be police guarding each floor. No one will be able to leave for any reason. There have been many reports of bad hygiene practices for people quarantined in hotels and it makes me so angry that the government and dodgy contacted companies didn’t do their jobs properly and now the most vulnerable are paying the price. How will they be able to attend to all the individual needs of 3000 people? If I was stuck in a tiny apartment with my children with no time to prepare I would be furious. There were no armed guards for rich travellers returning home. I’m so angry and feel so bad for the residents. This is the beginning of a police state and once it’s happened it could happen again. If I was a resident I would be getting legal advice ASAP. I hope someone takes them to court.

@TrustTheGeneGenie, how completely ridiculous, you’ve posted ignorant, untruthful comments about Australian society which we as Australians are meant to suck up and bow to your superior knowledge of even though you probably can’t find Australia on a map. Yet once you start whinging about your hurt feelings, typical mumsnet lets your ignorant rude comments stand since they are not about the UK and deletes everything else. Ffs.

🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨

Unbefuckinglievable.

Hello everyone - we're dropping in with a quick reminder of our Talk Guidelines as we've deleted a fair few personal attacks from this thread already. If it doesn't get back on track, we may have to delete the whole thing. Peace and love and all that.

What is it that people don’t understand that having your own house with your own front door against living in a flat which is one of twenty per floor sharing two lifts for hundreds of people. Someone who is Asymptomatic only has to walk out their door touching the buttons on the lift, cough and possibly go to the laundry and the virus will spread further. That’s why the people in the flats where the virus has been found are in hard lockdown.

There were many people found to be infected who live in the flats. The adjoining suburbs are in lockdown too. The police are patrolling those areas too.

I heard that those who have been found to be infected aren’t being removed and sent to isolate in a hotel. These flats only have one bathroom so it’s not fair for the rest of the family who will likely become infected too. I hope that is sorted out quickly.

Also they might be huge high rise flats but it’s not a rough area. It’s a family type area with people taking their children to the playground, there are basketball courts and there is an oval and a community centre which many people in the other suburbs use too. There is a great high school in the area and two good primary schools.

If it doesn't get back on track, we may have to delete the whole thing.

Go for it.

I'd be amazed if anyone in Australia thought this was anything less than an inflammatory thread.

@OffThePlanet - most countries believe the research that there is very little spread by asymptomatic people, it's symptomatic people who would spread it in that way. Or more likely spread out from working together, going into each other's flats etc. Is there some new research that suggests it's incorrect and there is in fact significant asymptomatic spread?

It's either the best way, or a high-rise petri-dish.

I'm Australian. I didn’t mean for this to become an inflammatory thread. I understand what people are saying about containing the virus in the apartment buildings. I just think the handling of the situation has been reactionary rather than proactive. The government should have been working with communities in very high density areas from when COVID was first discovered. And seeing as there has been so much mismanagement so far it’s hard to trust that they can meet the needs of all the residents now. The food packages don’t seem adequate or tailored to the needs of the people receiving them. I hope that I’m wrong and that things will go as smoothly as possible.

"It's imprisonment without trial" Everyone who is charged with a crime is 'imprisoned without trial' and many of them will turn out to be innocent.

Innocent people have their movements restricted all the time. If you're on a sinking ship you can't just take any lifeboat. The first dept won't let you walk into a fire. The police won't let you cross a line around a crime scene and your mum won't let you touch the cooker in case you burn yourself. This last example is generally where you learn to accept being told NO for your own bloody good.

EnlightenedOwl "It's not a deadly virus" I can't remember. Are you one of the ones claiming it's a hoax by the secret lizards/Jesuits/freemasons who run the NWO?

How can you possibly say that the food packages aren’t adequate or tailored? They are making them with volunteers from the Asylum Seeker’s Council, which consists of many members that live in these buildings and also the many cultural and community groups in the area are doing daily meal drops also. This area has the most amazingly rich history of multicultural communities and this is what attracts people to this area. One of the reasons that these buildings were not immediately locked down was because they needed to do a risk assessment first and work out what would be required to safely meet the needs of the residents in the least stressful way. There are access to domestic violence counselors, drug and alcohol support, medical help in a culturally safe environment for women and men, and translators available. This may even enable some people to get themselves out of isolated domestic violence situations in a way they wouldn’t have been able to before.

The food packages don’t seem adequate or tailored to the needs of the people receiving them
So if I am quarantined the authorities should provide me with unlimited Pizza, Chinese and Booze?
If its given to you for free you should say thank you and make the best of it, otherwise order your own takeaway!

There were pictures of the first food packages that had jam and weetbix but no bread or milk. Also lots of reports of the meat given being pork which isn’t suitable for many people

I've seen photos today of 3000 halal meals and fresf fruit boxes.

Surely the different lockdown rules reflect different exposures to the virus. In the UK we quarantined people in hotels etc for 2 weeks when they returned from infected areas. Locking down flats while testing takes place is not really that different.

In the UK containment utterly failed. I think it's disingenuous to compare the lockdown of Leicester. Let's face.it this is not enforced on a personal level and no doubt there will be people having parties leaving infected areas to go shopping to the pub/parties etc. Most people will abide by it to reduce community infection but let's not pretend that it's because the UK has more regard for civil liberties....

@Imtootired

There were pictures of the first food packages that had jam and weetbix but no bread or milk. Also lots of reports of the meat given being pork which isn’t suitable for many people

I wonder how much of the food supplied has come from food banks, as an initial "get food to them" plan?

That would certainly explain the limited fresh food.

As would the fact that panic buying has ramped up again, meaning limits on food and shortages. They can give residents what they can't get!

Also, did it occur to you that the residents may have carefully selected what to show the photos?

That some of them don't want to be isolated, and so want to garner things to gain as much sympathy as possible?

Or even that the media is doing that?

You seem to be taking everything that you are reading at face value.

They can't give residents what they can't get!

@walksen - I'm not talking about quarantine in hotels in March, but Leicester now. The reason quarantine failed is that the virus was already here quietpy circulating in the community, imported from over 1300 cases. I'm well aware that Leicester lockdown isn't enforced on a personal level, that's precisely why it's different, it's addressing the same problem in a different way.

It's a different solution though isnt it. The UK currently has at least 500 confirmed cases a day. Factor in asymptomatic cases and people who don't get a test when maybe they should ( e. g. not understanding the process can't afford to live on sap etc) we are still talking a 1000 cases a day. We abandoned containment months ago and are now focussed on mitigation.

Australia are still trying to contain the virus and stop it spreading in the community.

Aand the whole of Melbourne back to strict lockdown again today.

I have friends that are handing out these food parcels. I have moved to Queensland or would be doing so as well... but I can assure you that I am from this suburb, and know many members of these volunteer associations. I have seen their Insta Stories and they are busting their guts cooking culturally appropriate meals, and delivering them in convoys, all the while communicating with members of the communities living in these apartments. Again - this food is fresh, thoughtful and being provided free of charge. The manky, wilted turnips and highly processed stuff with little to no nutritional value provided in the Boris Boxes was much less personal and far less useful for those needing extra nutrition to boost immunity while shielding. I honestly think comparing the approach to the Covid situation in Melbourne to the UK is like comparing the difference between catching butterflies in a closed room (Melbourne) to catching millions of escaped flies in the Grand Canyon (UK).

Yep, everyone in Melbourne back into lockdown with the 'towers' moving to the same level tomorrow night I think it was. I have plenty of mates and colleagues down there. This is going to suck for them, but they are (like the people in the towers) now 'taking one for the team'. It is shit that this is necessary. The rest of Australia needs to look after them. We can sort out who is to blame later (it is probably Peter Dutton anyway, it usually is ).

I believe that the Victorian Government (and supportive services) is doing its best in difficult circumstances. I don't know what the alternative would be.

But I also think it is right that people show where things have been inadequate and complain. Insisting that free citizens who have done nothing wrong are effectively under house arrest needs to be robustly challenged and questioned.

Being a difficult and argumentative people is what keeps Australia such a good place to live.

Where else can you shoo the Prime Minister off your lawn?

And of course everyone else's opinion is dead important just not mine?

This is what I mean about aggression there's no need for it.

I am extremely annoyed that my post has been removed!! No, your opinion is not important as you don't live in Australia but feel that you are qualified to criticize everything happening there, when it is quite obvious you don't have a clue. I most certainly was not aggressive, but I would say that your posts are, and I'm pretty sure others would agree.

how completely ridiculous, you’ve posted ignorant, untruthful comments about Australian society which we as Australians are meant to suck up and bow to your superior knowledge of even though you probably can’t find Australia on a map. Yet once you start whinging about your hurt feelings, typical mumsnet lets your ignorant rude comments stand since they are not about the UK and deletes everything else. Ffs.

Totally agree with you @TheresABearInThere

I'm furious about my post(s) being removed because of one ignorant arrogant poster. MN can go get stuffed as far as I'm concerned - they suck!!!!!