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Australia posts record number of new COVID-19 infections

24 Comments
By William WEST

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24 Comments
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This pandemic is nothing to be taken lightly. It is like a wildfire and the smallest lapse in vigilance will cause it to reignite and spread quickly.

16 ( +22 / -6 )

What was the positive outcome of their so highly praised very long lockdown? Nothing!

6 ( +18 / -12 )

Putting poor people under house arrest in the Melbourne state housing probably increased the spread.

-3 ( +11 / -14 )

It's because of bogans and their refusal to wear masks or do social distancing.

14 ( +19 / -5 )

The number of "cases" is growing, but how about the number of actually ill people?

Some numbers are available here: https://www.theage.com.au/national/covid-19-data-centre-coronavirus-by-the-numbers-20200401-p54g4w.html?permanent_redirect=true

They indicate that 0.3% of the tested cases are positive of the 3.6 million cumulative tests taken, with 8541 recovered. But this figure doesn't distinguish whether those who have "recovered" were symptomatic or asymptomatic - some asymptomatic cases may have laster tested negative (if that's how it works).

Interestingly, Channel 7 in Melbourne got busted a couple of days ago for deliberately misrepresenting footage taken 4 months ago in Italy as a Melbourne hospital overrun with COVID patients and a medical system heading toward breaking point. They didn't attribute stock footage as such, giving the false impression that ICUs were inundated with critical patients, presumably to create fear. It's part and parcel for the media, but disgraceful nonetheless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0oRyljuLik

And the media wonders why it's losing trust.

9 ( +14 / -5 )

It's because of bogans and their refusal to wear masks or do social distancing.

Except the ‘bogans’ are NOT the ones who’re implicated in the cluster outbreaks. Instead, it’s those with at most one generation of Australian antecedents who constitute the overwhelming majority of cases and who are the best retort to the cockeyed optimism of the open borders supporting kumbaya crowd.

-13 ( +1 / -14 )

The BBC were also busted a few months back for using scary footage of patients intubated in ICU with doctors and nurses looking panicked and implying it was a British hospital... turned out to be Italian footage, which makes me suspicious about the media's role in this.

7 ( +12 / -5 )

What was the positive outcome of their so highly praised very long lockdown? Nothing!

The second lowest death rate due to the virus in the OECD, after NZ, for one. I wouldnt call that nothing.

This spike, while troubling, is confined to one city, in one state that is now effectively isolated. The rest of the nation is doing extremely well on a world scale - and testing more than just about anywhere. A NZ style "eradication" is probably not going to happen in all of Australia until a vaccine is found, due to the hundreds of returning Aussies flying in every day.

Australia is doing well, they just need the people of Melbourne to do their part.

-1 ( +10 / -11 )

Ego Sum Lux MundiToday  04:21 pm JST

The BBC were also busted a few months back for using scary footage of patients intubated in ICU with doctors and nurses looking panicked and implying it was a British hospital... turned out to be Italian footage, which makes me suspicious about the media's role in this.

It was probably the same footage! They're not even trying very hard anymore.

6 ( +11 / -5 )

oyatoi stop defending bogans. Maybe you are a bogan and have taken this personally.

7 ( +12 / -5 )

Readers, please do not use the word "bogan." It's not very nice.

oyatoiToday  04:19 pm JST

It's because of bogans and their refusal to wear masks or do social distancing.

Except the ‘bogans’ are NOT the ones who’re implicated in the cluster outbreaks. Instead, it’s those with at most one generation of Australian antecedents who constitute the overwhelming majority of cases and who are the best retort to the cockeyed optimism of the open borders supporting kumbaya crowd.

It's politically incorrect to say it in public, but in Melbourne's case, this is a major factor.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

The reason new case number is so high is because people are not doing the right things. According to ABC Australia, 90% of people tested positive in the last 2 weeks did not self-isolate when feeling sick. 50% did not do it even they were waiting for their test results.

The whole fisco happening in Melbourne is largely due to the stuff up in quarantine. A former private security guard working at the hotel housing returned traveler revealed that she was recruited via a WhatsApp group. She received no training and was even asked to provide her own mask and gloves. She finally decided to quit after seeing people in the hotel hugging and kissing each other. Treating the whole quarantine thing like a joke. Sometimes outsourcing important job to private firms can be a really bad idea.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Just read these from another news site:

Desperate shoppers have been slammed for flouting lockdown restrictions to get their hands on the latest Aldi special buy on the day Victoria announced record coronavirus cases.

Photos shared on social media show people lined up, ignoring social distancing rules, outside an Aldi in Epping, in one of Melbourne’s lockdown zones.

Some people were there to get a children’s table and chairs, which hardly comes under the list of essential reasons to leave the home.

Again people are not doing the right things.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Yet everyone is scared to even mention the tens of thousands of “protesters”.

it was this one guy who went to a pub, honest!

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

it was this one guy who went to a pub, honest!

You know it was more than one, why are you so persistent in spreading misinformation?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Ego Sum Lux MundiToday 04:21 pm JST

The BBC were also busted a few months back for using scary footage of patients intubated in ICU with doctors and nurses looking panicked and implying it was a British hospital... turned out to be Italian footage, which makes me suspicious about the media's role in this.

It's good to be suspicious sometimes Ego Sum Lux so I tried to find out more about this but I can find no reference to the BBC misrepresenting footage from an Italian hospital as being in the UK. Can you provide a source please?

While searching I found a report about CBS News using footage from an overcrowded Italian hospital in a report about New York at the end of March, which they attributed to "an editing mistake".

1 ( +2 / -1 )

This virus has really shined a mirror to individuals; the level of xenophobia and anti-Asian sentiment its unleashed will be with us long after the virus is gone. I honestly think the virus is a test on leadership and the blame should go up and not down; also although it gets overshadowed, there have been many tales of people meeting the moment.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

What was the positive outcome of their so highly praised very long lockdown? Nothing!

The positive outcome was low numbers of infections and only 100 odd deaths. Compare that to America and you see just how positive it was.

What is wrong with some people? Lock downs when people stick to it, work. Those doing the complaining are those that break the lock downs and spread this virus making it worse for everyone.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

@Bob Fosse: You know it was more than one, why are you so persistent in spreading misinformation?

Isn’t it obvious that Blacklabel’s point is that there is selective outrage over the people involved in risky behavior during the pandemic? The neo-Marxist protestors are out in force and are not social distancing. Meanwhile the woke attack those considered low class (first I heard of the term bogan). We can all be hypocrites at times but at some point you can’t ignore the 800 lb gorilla.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

can you not read? man: one male.

“after an infected man from Melbourne visited a popular pub.”

You know it was more than one, why are you so persistent in spreading misinformation?

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

can you not read? man: one male.

“after an infected man from Melbourne visited a popular pub.”

You seem to be very selective about which media is gospel and which media is fake news. I prefer to use common sense and logic.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Isn’t it obvious that Blacklabel’s point is that there is selective outrage over the people involved in risky behavior during the pandemic? The neo-Marxist protestors are out in force and are not social distancing. Meanwhile the woke attack those considered low class (first I heard of the term bogan). We can all be hypocrites at times but at some point you can’t ignore the 800 lb gorilla.

It’s obvious that blacklabel’s outrage is very selective. Beyond that, it’s business as usual.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

What was the positive outcome of their so highly praised very long lockdown? Nothing!

actually all states except Victoria are still doing well, if there was no lockdown at all then Australia would have infection and mortality rates matching the US, US,430 deaths per million, Australia, less than 5 per million

5 ( +5 / -0 )

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