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.

@Malteser71

It’s probably also because the UK has a really strong scientific community. One of the best in the world.

What was this in reply to? I'm not sure what you mean.

Im in the UK. This just appeared in my Twitter feed. Man has to use GTN spray after being arrested for not wearing a mask in a park.

twitter.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1422467449564377091?s=20

[quote MercyBooth]Im in the UK. This just appeared in my Twitter feed. Man has to use GTN spray after being arrested for not wearing a mask in a park.

twitter.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1422467449564377091?s=20[/quote]
Poor man that’s awful

The police can be quite menacing in Australia. I hope there was more involved than that video implied, arresting somebody for not wearing a mask outdoors would be OTT.

Callinda, it was in response to your comment that Australia hadn’t been sitting back doing nothing. Perhaps worded badly. I don’t think they have, it’s just that countries with a strong scientific base are bound to look as though they’ve done more, but in context it’s more nuanced.

I used to live in Australia. I found the police utterly humourless and heavy handed.

But not all police are bad! My lovely SIL and BIL are Aussie police officers. I’ve learnt from them that there almost always is a backstory....

I’m sure there is. I just found Australia very humourless and rule obsessed. Which isn’t surprising given its history as a penal colony (which is fascinating).

I also think there’s something very subtle in the Australian psyche about wanting to be better. A place where prisoners were banished and yet.....who had the last laugh? Such a wonderful place to live, so much better than the uk, so much sunnier, a better lifestyle. The Aussies love putting the UK down (in general, based on my experience living there).

I think people who move to Australia from the uk tend to crow about it a little bit. I do think there is probably a grain of truth in the idea that Australia enjoyed having been more successful than the uk in their response to covid. That doesn’t mean they don’t feel for us really, or that we are feeling smug now they’re locked up and we aren’t.

It’s just something very subtle that isn’t always obvious unless youve experienced it

You do realise that there are quite a lot of Australians on this thread? Sweeping generalisations about entire countries can come across quite rude on threads like this.

And anyway, this thread is about the Delta variant in Australia, not an open critique on Australians in general.

[quote MercyBooth]Im in the UK. This just appeared in my Twitter feed. Man has to use GTN spray after being arrested for not wearing a mask in a park.

twitter.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1422467449564377091?s=20[/quote]
Oh dear oh dear.

Well, our police went absoutely berserk with the new power around 18 mos ago, until we pushed back. Aussie's only just catching up, but no doubt their own public backlash will come soon enough.

There is a very big emphasis being put on masks this time. The only reasons not to be wearing one in public indoors or outdoors is if you are doing strenuous exercise or eating. People have been advised to stay at home if they are medically unable to wear a mask, and there is a number to call if they need assistance with anything. The lockdown is currently until Sunday.

That being said, the policy is for the police to offer a mask first and give information about the rules. It's hard to say what's really happened here before the videoing started.

@Malteser71

I’m sure there is. I just found Australia very humourless and rule obsessed. Which isn’t surprising given its history as a penal colony (which is fascinating).

I also think there’s something very subtle in the Australian psyche about wanting to be better. A place where prisoners were banished and yet.....who had the last laugh? Such a wonderful place to live, so much better than the uk, so much sunnier, a better lifestyle. The Aussies love putting the UK down (in general, based on my experience living there).

I think people who move to Australia from the uk tend to crow about it a little bit. I do think there is probably a grain of truth in the idea that Australia enjoyed having been more successful than the uk in their response to covid. That doesn’t mean they don’t feel for us really, or that we are feeling smug now they’re locked up and we aren’t.

It’s just something very subtle that isn’t always obvious unless youve experienced it

I'm a Brit in Australia and I don't recognise your experience at all.

@GiantToadstool

That is a very good point! It seems to me a cultural thing for Aussies to do down the English 🙄.

Well, with the endless threads about how Australia is a cultureless backwater, we get defensive.

Malteser71

Every country has pros and cons. I happen to think both Aus and UK are great places to live. The idea of one being "better" than another doesn't really make sense. It's not a competition! Relax! It depends on personal priorities.

If you think your life would be best lived in Aus, when times are normal again, get a visa and come and live here. If your life would be best in the UK, then just enjoy it and don't worry about other people enjoying theirs.

I also think there is a grain of truth that people who move here do think they’ve landed on their feet, and maybe talking about it seems like boasting? It’s difficult because it IS a really good place to live!
Even with lockdown, I know how hard my friends in the U.K. found it, but to be honest, although I am looking forward to our lockdown being over, it’s not that bad. The weather has been lovely, we go for nice bush walks, kayaking, to the parks etc. I’ve lived here for 14 years and of course there are things I miss about the U.K. but it just is a great life that lots of people have over here, especially when they move from run down areas of the U.K. and end up in a lovely suburb with a pool and a bigger house etc, I guess it might come across as boasting but for a lot of people, their life is just genuinely better over here than it would be in the U.K.

Also, there is a big cultural difference which is that Australians find the self deprecating thing that brits do slightly mystifying, so if they’re happy with a situation, they don’t play it down like we do in the U.K. It took some getting used to as it can come across like boasting but really it’s just being straightforward - we don’t have as much of that “reading between the lines” state of mind which is pretty standard in the U.K. where you say one thing and mean another.

Australia consistently comes way way above the UK in world surveys on quality of life and standard of living. New Zealand comes out on top (Auckland) but several Australian cities feature in the top 10 most liveable. Unsurprisingly nowhere in the UK is in the top 10.

As for crowing or enjoying doing better than the UK. Nobody I know has done that. I have close family in Australia and relatives in NZ. The only feeling they have re the UK is understandable relief to not be here but also utter horror (and concern for family and friends). Friends in other countries, including Norway, feel the same.

Also, we can like both. My parents love Australia but they wouldn’t want to live here as they love the U.K. and Europe as well. They understand why we live here especially with a young family but I also love lots of things about the U.K.

@Malteser71

It’s probably also because the UK has a really strong scientific community. One of the best in the world.

However... It was an Australian scientist, a virologist in Sydney who was working with Chinese scientists on piecing the genetic code of the virus together, who once they'd cracked it, with his colleagues' agreement, released the bat genome sequence online to the world on January 11, 2020 - which was the starting point in the global fightback against Covid.

This release of information allowed the companies who later produce the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to start designing their vaccines - that very weekend in fact - on the basis of that genome sequence.

The Doherty Institute in Melbourne were the first outside of China to grow the virus in the lab, and they shared their virus samples with the world, leading as a reference strain for creating diagnostic tests, working out which antivirals might be effective against it, and the development of vaccines, etc etc.

Those standard images you see of the Covid-19 coronavirus were first seen under electron microscope by Australian scientists, and were shared with the world.

And that's just a handful of example from the very early days of contribution from Australian scientists during this pandemic. Currently, for example:

At least eight locally-developed "next generation" vaccines and "booster shots" are in various stages of development, with Australian researchers also involved in numerous COVID-19 vaccine research projects.

Some are a little unusual, such as a vaccine "patch" being developed out of the University of Queensland and a "nasal spray" vaccine being tested in Brisbane.

www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-11/the-australian-next-generation-covid19-vaccines/100271062

I wonder whether robots will care about nationality? Or will they see us all just as humans.

But with massively reduced rates of hospitalisation, serious illness, long COVID and death. Worth waiting for, in my opinion.

I agree.

Reading this thread is unsettling. It’s as if people in the UK are rattled and want Australia and NZ to open up and suffer a similar fate to them.

I don’t live in the UK and we are not looking towards the UK with anything other than a weird fascination. We don’t have full confidence in what is reported by them. The ministers testing positive for covid on the grand re-opening day, the talk of positive ministers undergoing experiments of self isolating - you could not make all of it up!

Some are a little unusual, such as a vaccine "patch" being developed out of the University of Queensland and a "nasal spray" vaccine being tested in Brisbane

The nasal spray isn’t unusual. Children are currently offered the ‘standard’ flu vaccine in the form of a nasal spray.

But to date, is the Covid-19 vaccine available as a pill, or a nasal spray? No. That's the point.

MN posters in the UK are convinced the UK singlehandedly saved the world by developing the AZ vaccine - neglecting to notice that all over the world countries pitched in and shared information and in some cases hefty financial contributions to the development of AZ, which is only one of many current vaccines.

MN posters in the UK are convinced the UK singlehandedly saved the world by developing the AZ vaccine - neglecting to notice that all over the world countries pitched in and shared information and in some cases hefty financial contributions to the development of AZ, which is only one of many current vaccines.

Exactly. Just as some posters on MN are convinced Britain single handedly won WW2.

NSW will never just “let it Rip” because turns out we aren’t a country filled with humourless ex-convict arseholes that some of you seem to think we are.

Typical posts re U.K. being bad Aus good.

Ridiculous

A lot of the anti U.K. stuff is just political