COVID-19 / Australia / 23rd & 29th December Update

In my blog of 14th December I predicted the removal of Covid transmission prevention regulations the next day was ‘not going to end well’ due to the emergence of the Omicron variant.

And so it came to pass all over the country to the exclusion of Western Australia where restrictions remained.

In our state of New South Wales, cases increased substantially. Today over 5000.

Roughly 80% of NSW Covid cases are now the Omicron variant with more than 70% in the 10 to 39 year old age group.

Testing facilities have been overwhelmed.

Hospitalisation and ICU numbers are trending upwards.

There is a increasing shortage of medical staff in hospitals.

However both the federal and the state governments held their ground on not reinstating even the most basic preventative measures eg. mask wearing and QR check in.

There was substantial disquiet within the population. The government’s mantra of  ‘personal responsibility’ when it came to public health was met with some disdain.

But today some sanity (a rare commodity in this government) prevailed and some restrictions were reintroduced. 

• From midnight tonight, masks indoors will be mandatory until January 27.
• Next year, rapid antigen tests will be provided for free, but how that will be rolled out is yet to be determined.
• QR codes will be brought back in a limited way in low-risk settings.
• People have been asked to work from home if they can.
• The one person per two square metres rule in indoor hospitality will be reintroduced from 27 December to 27 January.
• And people in the state are being asked that, unless they are feeling unwell or they have been specifically told to get a PCR test, don’t get one.

Too little too late?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

But for us it will be self isolating, again, until the end of January.

The farm gate is shut!

Update: 29th December.

The floodgates are well and truly open.

Today 11,201 cases. Hospital admissions increasing.

Cases are now being reported in our local area for the first time since the pandemic began.

COVID-19 / Australia / 18th December Update

We capped off a week when ‘Covid Freedoms’ kicked in with a huge rise in cases in New South Wales and Victoria, jumps in Queensland and South Australia too, plus a fair bit of general anxiety about what the surge might mean and how much case numbers might grow.
Today’s Covid figure in New South Wales, 2482, is the highest daily total of any state in Australia since the pandemic began.
However with over 90% of the population vaccinated, the true test of the success of the state government’s ‘let her rip’ policy will come in one or two weeks time when the hospitalisation figures are released.
In past waves case numbers and hospitalisation numbers have been in step.
Theoretically this should not be the case this time around.
But it’s been noted that being fully vaccinated but without a booster lowers the resistance to the new variant, Omicron, considerably.

COVID-19 / Australia / ‘Freedom Day’ in NSW

As Covid cases in New South Wales continue to rise, the state government has committed to its plan to lift restrictions for unvaccinated residents from tomorrow.

Today, as NSW recorded 804 new cases, the government insisted it had considered all the options but was committed to easing restrictions on Wednesday in order to return the state “back to a full life of normality”.
From Wednesday, unvaccinated people will be allowed back in pubs, cafes, gyms and shops and mask mandates will be eased.
Health authorities are battling to contain an outbreak of the Omicron variant, with a total of 85 cases now confirmed in the state.
From 15th December the following rules apply to everyone regardless of vaccination status: 

• Masks will only be required on public transport and planes, at airports, and for indoors front-of-house hospitality staff not fully vaccinated
• QR check-ins only required for hospitals, aged and disability care facilities, gyms, places of worship, funerals or memorial services, personal services, pubs, small bars, registered clubs, nightclubs, strip clubs, sex on premises, and indoor music festivals with over 1000 people
• No person limit in gyms, indoor recreation and sporting facilities
• Non-critical retail reopens to all.
• No person limit for personal services including hairdressers, spas, beauty and nail salons, tattoo and massage parlours.
• Employers allow staff to work from home at their discretion
• International travellers who are not fully vaccinated still need to quarantine on arrival for 14 days.
• No limit to number of visitors in your home.
• No limit to number of people for outdoor public gatherings.
• All visitors to residents in aged care facilities and disability homes permitted in line with their policies
• No person limit in hospitality venues.
• Singing and dancing is permitted indoors and outdoors for all
• Travel between Greater Sydney and regional NSW permitted for all
• Carpooling permitted for all
• Caravan parks and camping grounds open for all 
• No person limit for major recreation facilities like stadiums, theme parks and race courses
• No person limit for entertainment facilities like cinemas and theatres
• No person limit for information and education facilities like art galleries, museums and libraries
• No person limit for outdoor public gatherings and recreation
• Music festivals reopen with 20,000 person limit
• Amusement centres and play centres open to all
• Weddings and funerals permitted with no person limit, eating and drinking allowed while standing and dancing permitted for all.
• Singing and dancing indoors permitted by all.
• Places of worship open to all.

This is not going to end well, I fear.

COVID-19 / Australia / 9th December Update

Case numbers are still high and likely to increase with the emergence of the Omicron variant.

However the high vaccination rate is seemingly protecting people the more serious affects of the virus.

Hospitalisations and deaths continue however but at a much lower rate.

Vaccines are now approved for 5-11yo.

Third shot ‘boosters’ are available for the entire population.

The very strict restrictions will virtually all be gone on 15th December. 

The international border is open again but with some restrictions.

You would like to think “it’s all over” but it’s not.

La Niña Is Here / 1st December Update

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has declared a La Niña weather event is under way in the Pacific, bringing the country in line with other agencies and underscoring the prospect of a relatively cool, damp and stormy summer for much of the north and east.
As if we didn’t already know this!*
It’s been a very wet and cool spring so far.
So what is La Niña?
The atmosphere is full of giant circulations which transport, mix and disperse air and energy around the world.

One of these giant eddies is the Walker Circulation.
The Walker Circulation crosses the Pacific Ocean, rising in the west in the warm waters near Australia, pushing up and over the Pacific and descending near South America before racing back across the Pacific to form the trade winds.
La Niña is the term used to describe when the Walker Circulation is very strong.
The western Pacific is even warmer than usual, the trade winds are stronger and all this moist energetic air is pushed onto Australia.
La Niña is therefore typically associated with wetter than average conditions for northern and eastern Australia, particularly in winter, spring and early summer.
The current model outlooks suggest this La Niña will persist until the late southern hemisphere summer or early autumn 2022.

A full rundown on weather predictions from the BOM for the next 6 months is here.

Update: 1st December 

* NSW has recorded its wettest and coolest November ever with rainfall records spanning more than 100 years tumbling in parts of the state.
The Bureau of Meteorology said overall, the state recorded nearly three times the average November rainfall, breaking a previous record from 1917.