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 should have said, in full.

Greater Sydney, Wollongong, south coast have been having ever tightening restrictions for the last 6 weeks (but not soon enough) while Newcastle and hunter Regions are in a snap week long lockdown.
Brisbane and greater Melbourne for a week.

Back to school from Home and essential work outside the home only.
Vic and QLD have a 5km from your house limit to exercise if in a lockdown area (and only with your household)
Sydney is a 10km with a random mate without a mask. (Unless your from a poorer western Sydney then wear a mask everywhere, no further than 2km from your home and met your new local army enforcement team!)

It has just been brought to our attention that Greg Hunt has made a fairly major amendment to the biosecurity act, which stops Australian citizens or residents who live overseas from automatically returning to their place of residence.

So, if you are an Australian citizen/resident (making the distinction for visas only) and you usually reside in another country like the UK, but have visited family/loved ones in Australia, you won’t have automatic permission to return to your country of residence. You’ll have to apply for an exemption and meet the safety exemption criteria.

www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/aug/05/australia-politics-covid-berejiklian-sydney-melbourne-perth-queensland-lockdown-vaccine-delta

In short: Australians who live overseas may no longer visit family and then automatically be able to return to their homes overseas.

I can see why they've done that. It makes sense.

@callinda

I can see why they've done that. It makes sense.

Yes, it’s wonderful. Imagine if you lived overseas, had a dying mother in Australia, and were told that coming back to see her meant you may be stuck in Australia indefinitely and lose your job. So humanitarian.

I know New Zealand is not Australia (!) but just saw that Google founder who has been hiding out in Fiji during the pandemic has been allowed in to NZ for medical treatment for his dd. People are apparently pretty mad that money (a lot of it) buys you an exemption from the rules.

Gosh that’s massive

I meant the Australians overseas maybe not being able to return to their country of residence is massive. @IndigoC agree with you. It’s shit. Can’t Australians now see their basic rights violated.

The google story less so - we all know money talks during this pandemic. Yawn.

If they’re supposedly not aiming for zero Covid as the Australians in this thread claim, what is the point of locking your citizens out at this point? You have hundreds of local cases anyway, what is the odd 1 or 2 a week extra contained in quarantine.

Dying relatives would be a special exemption case. We don't need anyone travelling around just now unless it's absolutely necessary. I can't visit my relatives either at the moment unless it's a special case.

"The exemption was not intended to enable frequent travel between countries. Further, as repatriation flights continue, it will be critical to manage the numbers of people leaving Australia with the intention of returning in the near future to ensure flight and quarantine availability is prioritised for individuals who have been stranded overseas for some time. The amendment will reduce the pressure on Australia’s quarantine capacity, reduce the risks posed to the Australian population from COVID-19, and assist in returning vulnerable Australians back home."

@callinda

"The exemption was not intended to enable frequent travel between countries. Further, as repatriation flights continue, it will be critical to manage the numbers of people leaving Australia with the intention of returning in the near future to ensure flight and quarantine availability is prioritised for individuals who have been stranded overseas for some time. The amendment will reduce the pressure on Australia’s quarantine capacity, reduce the risks posed to the Australian population from COVID-19, and assist in returning vulnerable Australians back home."

In practice this means that anybody who visits family and has to leave again has uncertainty about their return. You cannot apply for an exemption until you are there and it can take many weeks or even months to attain an exemption.

I don't know the ins and outs of it as I haven't tried to travel but I think all international travel is really risky and uncertain at the moment. It's a really difficult time for anyone with family abroad. We could never have imagined this.

What is the actual strategy now in Australia?

There are many Australians in the UK with elderly relatives in Australia. We'd hoped maybe next year... but its looking increasingly unlikely isn't it.

@Blessex

What is the actual strategy now in Australia?

They're going for herd immunity via vaccinating 80% of the population aren't they?

God knows how they will manage with annual vaccinations and vaccinations only stopping 60%(?) of cases (albeit a much lower death rate).

@DottyHarmer

I know New Zealand is not Australia (!) but just saw that Google founder who has been hiding out in Fiji during the pandemic has been allowed in to NZ for medical treatment for his dd. People are apparently pretty mad that money (a lot of it) buys you an exemption from the rules.

As a Kiwi who hasn't been able to come home to visit family, due to the quarantine he apparently didn't have to do, I'm fucking livid. I won't be the only one, either outside the country or inside (i.e. Kiwi families of expats who can't see their kids and grandkids).

Apparently covid isn't that risky if it's billionaire covid.

@Blessex

What is the actual strategy now in Australia?

Vaccinate and open. They're aiming for end of the year and I'm absolutely praying that NZ follows suit.

So in the meantime they are discouraging Australian citizens from coming home by threatening them with not being able to return to their country of residence. Stick vs carrot. China vs Northern Europe.

@GiantToadstool

There are many Australians in the UK with elderly relatives in Australia. We'd hoped maybe next year... but its looking increasingly unlikely isn't it.

I'm still hopeful it will be next year. According to ABC we should have enough doses for everyone to be fully vaccinated by early Jan. who knows though!

@callinda and is Australia and NZ doing it by risk profile. Because it really is the law of diminishing returns. You vaccinate STRICTLY the highest risk first (despite unions shouting otherwise) and then the law of diminishing returns applies. The biggest return per vaccine to start with. Luckily our vaccine committee here in the U.K. didn’t give in to those who shouted loudest.

Unfortunately the old and vulnerable don’t have unions shouting for them. So I was well impressed when the vaccine committee held firm and protected those who don’t have those representing them.

‘Barbaric and counterproductive’

James Turbitt recently flew back to Australia from Belgium to try and say goodbye to his seriously ill mother.

He missed out on seeing her one last time because he was told to hire a charter flight worth tens of thousands of dollars to qualify for an exemption to leave hotel quarantine. He is currently in the country sorting out her affairs before returning home.

Turbitt said the government’s changes were aimed at citizens like him and that it was “barbaric and counterproductive.”

“I came back for the passing of my mother, I was locked in a hotel room while she passed away, denied an exemption to see her, and now I am subjected to proving my life overseas, in order to leave again?” the 35-year-old said.

“My life is overseas, my work is there, my partner is there, I’ve just lost my mother, and now I can be denied to go back and seek comfort from my partner?

“She has not been allowed in with me and now I might be denied leaving? What has this country come to?

“The [Queensland] Premier goes overseas to the Olympics, the Prime Minister goes to check out his family history in England.

“Now someone who doesn’t even want to be in this country is potentially going to be forcibly detained in a place he doesn’t want to be. I do not agree that it is fair,” he said.

Australia is alone in banning its citizens, temporary visa holders, permanent residents and dual citizens from leaving the country under the international travel ban brought in March 2020.

It is also the only country to have temporarily threatened some of its citizens with the threat of jail and massive fines if they tried to return home from India during the height of its recent COVID wave. Several Australians who had been trying to get home died in India.

www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-says-it-will-lock-in-returning-citizens-who-permanently-live-abroad-20210805-p58gb9.html

@IndigoC shocked and surprised that a supposed modern democracy such as Australia acts like such a dictatorship. And this is why during all the calls of SHUT THE BORDERS in Western Europe - I actually think we got the balance about right. Yes I know I will get shouted down but it is about balance not just about Covid. There are plenty of other things at stake.

[quote Blessex]@IndigoC shocked and surprised that a supposed modern democracy such as Australia acts like such a dictatorship. And this is why during all the calls of SHUT THE BORDERS in Western Europe - I actually think we got the balance about right. Yes I know I will get shouted down but it is about balance not just about Covid. There are plenty of other things at stake.[/quote]
I just find their policy so senseless. If their intention was truly to open up once 70-80% are vaccinated by the end of the year, why are they continuing to follow an extreme zero covid policy with respect to returning Australians? What does an additional potential handful of cases IN QUARANTINE matter when it's transmitting locally?

I have had many qualms about the UK response, but they have been more humane in the treatment of their citizens. There has never been a question of quotas or locking out British citizens here.