COVID-19 / Australia / 25th July Update

There have been 1,940 locally acquired New South Wales cases reported since 16th June 2021, when the first case in the Bondi cluster was reported.
There are currently 139 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 37 people in intensive care, 17 of whom require ventilation.
Half the population of Australia is now in lockdown as the Delta strain spreads through the major centres of Sydney and to a lesser extent Melbourne and Adelaide.

Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia have so far avoided a major resurgence of the virus.
The situation in New South Wales is critical with cases increasing every day. The folly of the initial weak lockdown strategy has been confirmed.
Sadly thousands of people have taken to the streets in illegal protests against the lockdowns which will inevitably help spread the disease.
Vaccination seems to be the only real solution now and the full rate in the country is a pathetic 12%.

Hesitancy due to a inadequate supply of an alternative vaccine to AstraZeneca which has acquired bad reputation plus a chaotic distribution network has contributed to this. 

COVID-19 / Australia / 16th July Update

It has now been one month since a COVID-19 infection was reported in a limousine driver from the eastern suburbs starting a virus outbreak, the so called Bondi cluster, that has forced Australia’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, to spend this weekend in lockdown as case numbers escalate.
More than 1000 cases have now been recorded across Greater Sydney.
The vast majority of cases have not received a single dose of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines, both of which are extremely effective at preventing severe illness and death in people infected with the Delta variant.

Greater Sydney is in the third week of a lockdown of at least five weeks.

Victoria entered a snap five day lockdown from 11.59 last night until 11.59 next Tuesday in a bid to control the spread of COVID-19 across the state. Their total number of cases from this new outbreak is 24.

Sydneysiders are unable to travel to regional NSW. That is expected to remain the case until at least 30 July. Some have been caught doing so (a group of 8 in our region) and issued $1000 fines. Not complying with mask wearing regulations; $200 fine.
Other states and territories have virtually closed their borders to any interstate travellers without special exemption.
Meanwhile the fully vaccinated rate crawls into double digit figures.
It’s a real mess! 

COVID-19 / Australia / 3rd, 7th & 9th July Update

There have now been 261 locally acquired cases reported since 16th June 2021, when the first case of the Bondi cluster, where a driver who transported international flight crew, was reported.
The Greater Sydney area is now in its second week of lockdown which could be extended.
South East Queensland, Perth and the Northern Territory have also been affected by outbreaks.
The quarantine system is leaking like a sieve.
Because we are virtually limited to the AstraZeneca vaccine which has some health problems (blood clotting) and thus was not recommended for under 60s, vaccination rollout is still slow.
Only around 6% of the population is fully vaccinated. 

Deserted Capital Cities under Lockdown 

Now however, anyone can get the AZ after consulting with their doctor.
Apparently supplies of Pfizer vaccine are due to land later in the year.....according to the government whose reliability when it comes to anything to do with COVID is doubtful.
We have not had any cases in our area.
I had my second AS shot a few days ago without any side affects.
The co driver is due in a few weeks.
Back in November 2020, the Prime Minister stated “Australia is well positioned for early access to a breakthrough COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. The Commonwealth Government has secured early access to 134.8 million doses of four leading vaccine candidates worth over $3.2 billion, in addition to up to 25 million vaccines candidates through the global COVAX facility.
Vaccines, should they be deemed safe and effective, are expected to be available by March 2021”

Well that hasn’t aged well, has it Scomo?

Update: 7th July

Overnight New South Wales had 27 cases of community transmission. Unfortunately, only 13 of those were already in isolation.
Seven were in isolation for part of their infectious period and seven were in isolation for all of their infectious period.
This means now over 350 cases have emerged since the original Bondi cluster a few weeks ago.
The NSW government made the decision to extend the current lockdown and the existing restrictions in the regions for one week further until Friday midnight, 16th July.

An Empty Police Patrolled Bondi Beach

It is expected that numbers will increase as the days go on.
The brutal fact is the government waited too long to enact the Lockdown and when they did it was, because of somewhat lax regulations in reality, a Mockdown.
Meanwhile the vaccination rollout, or rather, strollout continues.

Update: 9th July

Another 44 cases overnight bringing the total of the Bondi cluster to 439.

The current New South Wales ‘lockdown’ is obviously not working.

The state government is now in a quandary. Having gone to a lockdown that really wasn’t a week too late, some degree of panic has set in and an increase in restrictions has been ordered. 

It appears another additional week is on the cards.

See the statement below (click to enlarge):

The federal government is still spreading BS about the availability of vaccines now and in the future.

For a detailed timeline of their incompetence read this.

‘From the Front to the Back of the Queue’.

Plus How Australia’s Gamble on Vaccines Backfired.

People have really had enough.

Having done the hard yards with keeping the virus at bay for a year, we would have expected that the cork could have well and truly been put in the bottle with the timely vaccination of the entire population.

This hasn’t happened.

We have been let down.