Sydney hits new COVID case record as outbreak spreads

Australia has the real supply shortage.

New South Wales state announced 356 new cases

....which means exactly nothing, as it only reflects testing, and hardly any of the "cases" has problems from the infection.

And that is enough pretext for an Australian governor to institute de facto martial law. We live in a crazy time.

Hakman

The lockdowns don't work, so ... let's do more lockdowns!

You know the definition of insanity..... try the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

Lockdowns do work! It’s the idiots who disregard them that are to blame for the spread of the virus. There is a $1,000 fine in place for those break the restrictions but it doesn’t seem to be enough to make these idiots stay home.

The restrictions are, no unnecessary travel, masks must be worn at any shop and at work, every shop and workplace has a QR code and one must scan in and out, one person per household is allowed one visit to the supermarket per day and, of course, These restrictions are not so unreasonable. Anyone who has a casual contact must get tested and isolate for two. There is a major push by the government for everyone to get vaccinated. I’ve had both my shots.

Over 60% of the population in lockdown, who is gonna pay for that? The tax payers.Thankyou for making it financially impossible to come home to see my family not to mention my fathers funeral I couldn’t go to. There must be a better way to handle things there without banishing fellow Aussies.Hope you all get on top of this there so we can see family and friends oneday.

My advice for those complaining about what the restrictions prevent them from doing is to think about how many people they'd come in contact with in a normal, unrestricted week, the people you'd share an elevator with, a checkout line with, a restaurant or bar with, and then imagine going about your day but having to hand every tenth one a revolver loaded with one bullet, and them spinning the chambers, pointing it at you and pulling the trigger.

It might not represent exactly your odds of catching Covid, or the odds that your infection would be mild, just bad, or fatal, but it's not wildly off. Would you want to wear a bullet proof vest? Well, that's everyone wearing a mask, including you. Would you want to avoid everyone you could if the guns were now loaded with two armor piercing bullets? That's a lockdown when Delta is widespread.

Oh, and wouldn't you like the gun to be loaded with blanks (Which any prop master will tell you can still cause injuries or even death on rare occasions) That's getting fully vaccinated.

And before you post your whines about the unfairness, the rants about it being a conspiracy to enslave you, your ignorance about science and statistics, think about Clint Eastwood standing over you, gun in his hands, asking 'Do you feel lucky, punk?'

PS, both my wife and I work in 'essential' jobs and exposed to strangers most days of the pandemic, are decades from being teenagers, have met people doing those jobs who have been infected, to varying degrees of illness, including being debilitated by 'long covid' for months, and know people who have died of it. That last paragraph is what most of us wish we were allowed to say when you are our customers and clients, but don't, because WE are grown up professionals.

The lockdowns don't work, so ... let's do more lockdowns!

Cute... except they DO work! We've just had an outbreak of the vicious Delta variant in Brisbane. We're lucky enough to have very competent people in positions of responsibility in Queensland who didn't hesitate for a second (in Sydney they hesitated, and let it get away from them, unfortunately). 99% of the public co-operated fully with the immediate lockdown, and 10 days later, we've beaten it (this time ... high rates of vaccination are the only long term solution, of course). Life is back to normal.

I'm not going to get into a pointless back and forth about vaccinations. Just remember that smallpox was eradicated from the planet by vaccinations. Keep that in mind when you prepare your next loony anti-vac post. Over & out.

Smallpox and coronaviruses are very different beasts.

Claims the same “Doctor” who declared Sep 6, 2020:

*- “Victoria is the only state that has a significant Covid problem. The govt has decided to do something about it. Infection rates are currently coming down in Victoria. *Clear evidence of success.” -

Give us a break! - Over & out.

Smallpox and coronaviruses are very different beasts.

Yes, but smallpox was pretty damn horrible, and the point is that vaccinations have been proven to benefit humanity. They aren't part of some evil plot by leftist pedophiles to make us robotic slaves, or whatever nutcase fantasy it is that anti-vax types want to pollute public discourse with.

Give us a break! - Over & out.

Sept 6, 2020. That's 11 months ago. If you read my post carefully, you would probably have understood that I was saying only high vaccination rates can get us out of this more or less permanently. In the meantime, lockdowns are the best way to stop mass death and misery, as proven by Australia's very low infection/death rates until now. The way it's going in NSW doesn't look good, but that's because they failed to lockdown in time. Unfortunately, Morrison's national government has screwed up the vaccination rollout, and put pressure on states to keep sticking their fingers in the dyke.

Covid is a respiratory infection which allows it to use the animal population as a reservoir. That is why lockdowns don’t work. Maybe if they could lockdown all the animals also…

Ahhh, the good old lockdowns "work" vs they don't "work" debate. The problem here is everyone has different definitions of what "works" means. It's all about perspective and definitions. Do lockdowns reduce / slow community spread? Yes. Do lockdowns eliminate the virus from the community? No.

idiots

Lockdowns and masks clearly working

Those in Downunder are really very strict measures, but no lockdowns, that’s why that of course cannot work completely. The viruses can survive 71 days in organic or let’s say living material, us, pets, zoo animals, still unburied corpses and all such. As long as you don’t comprehend this and develop the fitting real lockdown of the corresponding time span, the delta type viruses will prevail and continue producing 1200-fold copies of themselves, compared to former variants which immediately leads to next infection waves. I speak it against a dumb wall, but nobody can complain it wasn’t said and therefore nothing could or can be done. Second, you cannot live with the virus , that’s sheer impossible and can easily be calculated with transition matrices. But it’s no use to tell this too, as it is also only echoed by the wall. lol

Vaccinate everything that stands still, or lockdown down your economy into oblivion and beyond.

That is the choice.

You can wake a mole, lock down this and that, the reality is Government must face the fact, this pandemic, its numinous variants don't respond or comprehended lockdowns

So it appears scientists are now starting to believe eradication is possible, more easily than polio but more difficult than smallpox.

https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/8/e006810

but to be expected

The technical challenges of COVID-19 eradicability (relative to smallpox and polio) include poor vaccine acceptance

Lockdowns are doing massive damage to the economy, people's mental health

Incontinent types like anti-vaxxers were having hysterical meltdowns long before Covid hit or ensuing lockdowns. They are the main problem if you are talking about mental health.

I agree on the economic damage caused. Countries can’t keep on doing this.

Vaccination is the best path we have out of this.

Cats do get covid. Although it is officially stated to be rare for humans to catch it off them, they can. So even with closed borders and lockdowns, you may still get outbreaks.

It is important to keep track of the damage that lockdowns cause. Damaged education, bankrupt businesses, domestic violence and depression. Covid is also pushing climate change off the news and preventing mitigation procedures.

Are they still exporting coal from Newcastle, despite the lockdown?

I would assume that lockdowns will be sporadic and borders sealed until vaccination levels increase to a set level, if they ever do. Will Australia then open up again, inevitably letting covid in? The RotW is living with Covid through vaccinations. Will Australia try to remain hermetically sealed and persist with lockdowns, quarantined and border blocks even after vaccination?

People will still die from Covid just as they die from flu, even when they are vaccinated.

The comments on here suggest that Australians are happy with the lockdowns and the lock-in of sealed borders. It is a nice country, but it sets something of a precedent for the future.

Although low, 20% is getting close to all elderly/vulnerable. It would be possible to start opening soon, although I would expect they would prefer 75%+ or 90%. That could be late 2022 or 2023. That's a long time for the 40% of Aussies who went there from abroad to not be able to see their families in person.

We cannot entirely insulate ourselves from Covid forever, just as we cannot insulate kids from all the bad stuff in the world, much as parents might want to. Life involves risk. This isn't the only dangerous virus or infection out there, whilst loads of people die every year in RTAs, wars and from hunger. The global governmental response to Covid is suspiciously surreal. Historically, we have never even come close to this, even with the worst flu outbreaks. Future generations may look back and see a generation given to moral panics over everything from statues to viruses, when we really needed to panic about just one thing: climate change. Maybe this is some weird trial run for the official response to climate change: closed borders and lockdowns.

With a 22% rate of fully vaccinated, it is no surprise that the Delta variant is running rampant in the country. The areas of the US that are seeing the ICUs with no empty beds are only a little better than Australia. Those places with 70% fully vaccinated are seeing some breakthrough infections, but very few hospitalizations and deaths.

Just out of curiosity, why is Australia's rate of vaccination so poor?

Lockdowns are evil and destroy lives, especially the children who need social contact with their friends. Australia is a basket case and needs to change its policies immediately.

Just out of curiosity, why is Australia's rate of vaccination so poor?

A friend told me it’s because they put all their eggs in the AstraZeneca basket and nobody wants that one. There’s a trickle of Pfizer but it’s not enough for everyone who wants it. People do want to get vaccinated.

Lockdowns are evil and destroy lives, especially the children who need social contact with their friends. 

nobody likes the lockdowns and it’s true that children are affected, but on the flip side…

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/564070-covid-19-has-created-secret-pandemic-of-orphans-heartbreaking-new

Lockdowns are evil and destroy lives

My cousin in New Zealand would argue vehemently with you on this point.

The biggest problem in Australia is that the largest age groupings of people catching the virus are under 40, who are not approved for the Astrozenica vaccine.

There are some interesting pieces appearing on the mainstream news sites describing the discrepancy between a light lockdown for the more affluent areas of Sydney and a much more restrictive and economically damaging policy backed up by the military, in poorer, ethnically diverse areas.

Has the pandemic unleashed a new 'White Australia' policy?

Has the pandemic unleashed a new 'White Australia' policy?

More like a “Rich Australians” policy. This one is class based more than race based. The result ends up with racial discrepancies, but the intent is giving exceptions to those of more wealth.

Fuzzy

Ahhh, the good old lockdowns "work" vs they don't "work" debate. The problem here is everyone has different definitions of what "works" means. It's all about perspective and definitions. Do lockdowns reduce / slow community spread? Yes. Do lockdowns eliminate the virus from the community? No.

Actually, yes. Look at New Zealand. They eliminated the virus from the community. Proof.

GBR48

Will Australia then open up again, inevitably letting covid in? The RotW is living with Covid through vaccinations. Will Australia try to remain hermetically sealed and persist with lockdowns, quarantined and border blocks even after vaccination?

We cannot entirely insulate ourselves from Covid forever, just as we cannot insulate kids from all the bad stuff in the world, much as parents might want to. Life involves risk.

Interesting questions. And they have an answer: Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a four-stage plan to greater freedom from coronavirus restrictions, saying Australia will have to vaccinate 80% of its adults against COVID-19 before it can consider reopening its borders.

@2020hindsights

Agree lockdowns have the potential to eliminate IF they are early enough and strict enough. And that's a big IF. With the exception of NZ, community spread is already too wide for elimination to be a realistic goal in most places, Australia included. Lockdowns can still be a tool to reduce pressure on healthcare systems, but we can't ignore there are negative consequences to lockdown also. The main point of my post is to point out too many people view complex, grey issues as either black or white and end up shouting at each other blanket simplistic statements like "lockdowns work" or "lockdowns don't work".

@Strangerland

The biggest problem in Australia is that the largest age groupings of people catching the virus are under 40, who are not approved for the Astrozenica vaccine.

I think they changed policy a couple of month ago and allowed AZ in under 40s. The originally limited it to over 40s based on the clotting concerns, but after reviewing the data they now consider the risk to be lower than originally thought and overall the benefit to outweigh the risk. If you read the Australian press you will see them going to a lot of effort now to convince the public AZ is safe by putting the risk of clotting in perspective i.e. by comparing to other risky activities like, bungee jumping, skydiving etc. AZ risk much lower than any of these activities.

It’s also significantly lower than the risk of clotting from the birth control pill.

Fuzzy

With the exception of NZ, community spread is already too wide for elimination to be a realistic goal in most places, Australia included.

I would tend to disagree. They have done it before and can do it again. But agree that it will be difficult and compliance has to be high with this highly infectious delta variant.