Austalian state likely can't contain Delta, will let it rip

[starfro]

www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-07/nsw-delta-variant-may-never-be-controlled/100273956

Be thankful that here most vulnerable people are double jabbed, whereas over there it's far, far fewer.

Delta cannot be contained, it's too transmissible.

I’m a bit confused as to why people think Sydney is having a mockdown though. I mean, we can only go out for food, exercise and essential work. Kids are off school. Nearly every shop is closed. We can’t see friends.
Like, how much tighter do they want it to be, and why?

Re. The army. We’ve used them a lot in the U.K., not for policing purposes but they were heavily involved in testing generally and surge testing in some areas and are also massively involved in the vaccine distribution logistics. It seems to be some in Australia are massively against the army involved in a public health issue at all but I think this attitude is very short sighted. They’ve been brilliantly deployed here and the public have been grateful for their help.

@Ozgirl75 I totally agree!

It's very upsetting to keep hearing this said, I gather people feel a curfew would be needed as well as 1 hour a day for exercise. i think the term if in a relationship for this would be gaslighting.

I'm starting to feel very worried for my young son, he's an only child, we live in a small apartment and he's very lonely.

@Ozgirl75 she didn't go hard or fast enough in the beginning. And then seemed surprised it was spreading in the community when only certain LGAs had restrictions, clothes shopping ok if essential, Bondi absolutely rammed.

The rest of Australia is pretty fucking annoyed with NSW, don't make excuses.

@beingsunny You don't mean the measures Vic had to deal with last year? You remember our curfew, and exercise restrictions from July for 4 months?

@sashagabadon

Re. The army. We’ve used them a lot in the U.K., not for policing purposes but they were heavily involved in testing generally and surge testing in some areas and are also massively involved in the vaccine distribution logistics. It seems to be some in Australia are massively against the army involved in a public health issue at all but I think this attitude is very short sighted. They’ve been brilliantly deployed here and the public have been grateful for their help.

Yes. They were also very helpful when deployed during the 2019-20 bushfires, known as Black Summer. Terrible times.

It looks like there is now some push back against those that have disparaged the AZ vaccine ( quite rightly). Even Sarah Gilbert who invented the vaccine in Oxford has spoken out against it in Australia ( and vaccinating kids before adult health workers in poorer countries which is a different matter).
Hopefully this will stop the attacks and increase the uptake. I might be wrong but it seems Labour politicians and activists including senior health workers have been instrumental in this trashing. Presumably to upset the roll out in some way for political purposes which is pretty outrageous if so?

www.smh.com.au/world/europe/astrazeneca-creator-says-australia-s-mixed-messages-on-vaccine-may-cost-lives-20210730-p58e8v.html

Oh I see beingsunny, yes that explains it. Did the ones who broke isolation also travel interstate?

They went out west of the state and put a country town/region in lockdown.

But the curfew was nothing to do with the spread of the virus, Victoria accepted that at the time. There was literally no medical reason for the curfew or the one hour exercise limit.

I think people would be perfectly happy with the army being involved in testing, vaccinating, organisational stuff. What people object to is the army knocking on doors and enforcing rules.

Look, I’m irritated when people break the very sensible rules that are set (congregating at people’s houses, failing to get tested etc) but I also believe that rules should be proportional to the threat.
There is minimal threat when people are exercising outdoors. There is minimal threat when people are out walking, alone. Therefore rules that actually make a difference to the spread of the virus should be enforced, but we shouldn’t have rules for the sake of looking like we’re doing something.

@BootsScootsAndToots I do remember, I have a very dear friend who lives alone who suffered terribly and is still in therapy.

It's clear it's not being spread through people outside exercising so adding to the existing stress of lockdown by keeping people inside their apartments for 23 hours a day doesn't seem proportional, not sure what impact a curfew would have tbh, I'm home with my young son every night anyway.

Yes in hindsight Gladys should have locked down earlier, but this was the first delta outbreak in the country and nobody was aware of how much more infectious it was, the mistake was treating it like previous strains and in those situations what she did was effective.

I was in isolation for 2 weeks prior to lockdown as a close contact of the limo driver so my family has now had 7 weeks at home.

@BootsScootsAndToots so am I reading right that because she didn’t go hard enough at first, we like, need to be punished for that, or something? That’s totally nuts.

The curfew and the one hour limit stopped people movement. There was no 'popping out'. People stayed the fuck at home.

I could not disagree more. There is no medical reason to stop people going out and exercising for longer than an hour. The virus is not spread this way.
Plus, once the rules stray into punishment territory and become disproportionate to the risk, people begin to ignore them.
I would.
If they brought in the one hour rule I would make a judgement call that it is nonsense and would continue with my 2-3 hour socially distanced bush walks and 4-5 hour kayaks (where I see noone).

It's not about punishment. It's about being effective.

Exactly. It’s about making rules that stop the spread of the virus (it’s not spread outside exercising so there’s no need to have stricter rules about that) whilst keeping them proportionate to the risk.

What people object to is the army knocking on doors and enforcing rules.

One police officer accompanied by one army person - freeing up the second police officer who would normally accompany the first, to get to more locations. They are checking that infected people are obeying stay at home orders, to prevent spread.

The Australian Medical Association is calling for 5 km limits and masks inside and outside across Sydney.

So I exercise for 1-2 hrs most days by myself or with a child in the buggy. I don't stop, chat, or mingle with anyone else. Everyone gives each other a wide berth. This starts and finishes at my home. From what I can see in my area, in the online community groups and through my friends this is the standard. We also have police patrolling the streets on foot and in car keeping an eye out.
Reducing this to 60mins isn't really going to have an impact. Door knocking to check isolation will because they can isolate that next layer of contacts before they go out an unknowingly infect others.

People stayed the fuck at home.

It's back!

Nostalgia.

I know they are. I also know that most people where I live (a bushy suburban the north of Sydney) would take not a blind bit of notice

I would take a mask, but I wouldn’t bother to wear it while exercising unless I saw another person.

I have no shops within 5k so would automatically ignore this.

To be fair, I’ve never really understood how on Earth they enforce the 1 hour exercise anyway.

@Ozgirl75 no you're not reading it right. But I'm not surprised 🙄

You're making out like you've done all you could to control delta, when really NSW has done too little too late.

Did you think Vic was being punished last year, or were you just glad you felt safer in your bushy northern beach suburb??

It's not about punishing, it's about protecting! Until more vaccine has been administered!

Gladys is doing a BoJo.