COVID-19 / Australia / 30th August Update

As of yesterday there had been 18,792 locally acquired COVID-19 cases and 89 related deaths in NSW since 16th June 2021, when the first case in this latest outbreak was reported.
Today there were another 1290 cases and 4 deaths.
Our lockdown has been extended to at least the 10th of September despite there being no cases in our Local Government Area (LGA).
LGAs in greater Sydney have had their lockdown extended to at least the end of September.

New cases in other states/territories: Victoria 75, QLD 2, WA 0, SA 0, Tasmania 0, ACT 12.

If you have the patience for it, the list of rules we're are living under is here.
It becomes more difficult to comprehend as each new regulation is announced.
Some have called it legislative diarrhoea.
Meanwhile the pics below show how our lives have become.
-Social distancing and mask wearing.
-Long lines at covid test centres.
-Under police surveillance, even at the beach.
The light at the end of the tunnel is pretty dim.

A Big Winter Storm

We woke up on Tuesday under a severe weather warning from the weather bureau.
We are used to these deep low systems during winter but had no idea that this one would be so intense.
By the afternoon the wind was up and increasing, accompanied by substantial rain.
At 7:30pm the power went out.
It was a wild old night.

Kiama, north of us, had gusts of 130km/h (80mph) while Montague Island, further south, not far behind with gusts of 128km/h.

Wollongong also to the north notched a 120km/h wind reading, with Jervis Bay collecting 107km/h and our town, Ulladulla, 100km/h.
Next morning (still no power), we decided to head into town to get something to eat (for us no power = no cooking, refrigeration or water supply), despite the covid lockdown rules, and sat in a beach car park to consume our ‘illicit’ Maccas.
The ocean was as wild as I have ever seen it.
A wave buoy in Botany Bay near Sydney registered significant wave heights reaching 8.44 metres, an event that would typically be seen about once in 40 years.

At least the big wave surfers had fun. The waves below are at Wedding Cake Island just off the Sydney suburban beach of Coogee. It only breaks during a monster swell. I think that guy in the second one is about to get ‘done’, caught inside.

Our ex neighbour took photos of one of our beaches where we had walked on a very wide sand strip a few days before. The beach had gone and the dunes eroded.

Luckily the storm system had formed close to the coast and moved away quickly after dumping about 80 millimetres rain on us in 24 hours, coming close to the typical rainfall expected for the whole of August.

Our power came back on at 4pm that afternoon.
A quick boundary walk established a few trees were down but no fence damage. 

COVID-19 / Australia / 20th & 22nd August Update

There have been 11,395 locally acquired cases reported since 16th June 2021, when the first case in this outbreak was reported in New South Wales. Numbers coming in on a daily basis of over 600. A great many of those are children.
Most are in the greater Sydney area but it has also found out west in some smaller rural towns.
We are so far case free.

Victoria and the ACT are also experiencing outbreaks but not to the extent of NSW.
Both are in lockdown.
Queensland is virtually virus free.
Unfortunately New Zealand ‘imported’ a case from NSW which has spread and they have gone into lockdown as well.
The Delta variant takes no prisoners!
As a result of all this, greater Sydney has had their lock down extended to the end of September and significant part of it will be subjected to a 9pm to 5 am curfew.
We on the south coast are exempt from the lockdown extension and curfew.

Police will be out in force making sure of compliance. Road blocks and address checks have been carried out, even in our area, over the last weeks.

The state government is very serious about all this. The fines for non compliance are pretty substantial.

Police state? 

There was some disquiet within the community when the commissioner told his officers he won’t hold them to account for wrongly issuing COVID-19 fines in a call to prioritise health order enforcement outside emergency duties.

Meanwhile the vaccination rate has increased but, to reach the 70-80% population target, still has a way to go.

We are getting our daily exercise within the allowed 5km radius of home at a wonderful beach that is basically deserted these days.

Update: 22nd August: Yesterday, Australia recorded its highest ever number of daily Covid-19 cases, with 894 locally transmitted cases, the vast majority in New South Wales.

Anti-lockdown protesters clashed with riot police in two east coast capitals yesterday.
Police in Melbourne used pepper spray as large crowds, estimated at 4000, surged.
Six Victorian police officers taken to hospital and more than 200 people were arrested.

In Sydney the protest was much smaller, about 250 people, but 47 people were arrested and police issued more than 260 infringement notices.
About 2000 Brisbane protesters gathered in a peaceful demonstration, claiming that COVID-19 lockdown controls breach United Nations regulations. 

Brisbane is not currently in lockdown.

COVID-19 / Australia / 8th, 10th & 14th August Update.

Since my last post on this subject things have gone from bad to worse.
NSW is entering its seventh week of lockdown, after recording 262 new cases today, taking the total to over 4400 since 26th June.
Another person with Covid-19 died, meaning 28 people have passed away since the start of this outbreak.
There are 362 cases admitted to hospital, with 58 in intensive care and 24 requiring ventilation.
Of the 58 cases in intensive care, five are in their 20s, seven in their 30s, four in their 40s, 17 in their 50s, seven in their 60s, 15 in the 70s and three in their 80s.
So young people are certainly getting caught up with this disease.
With the people in ICU, 54 were not vaccinated, three had received their first dose of AstraZeneca and one had received their first dose of Pfizer vaccine.

Victoria is on day four of a seven-day lockdown, with real concern that cases will continue to surge. The state recorded 11 cases today bringing the active case number to 100. They are all linked to existing cases, as authorities race to work out the source of this outbreak.
Those in south-east Queensland are waiting to see if their lockdown is being lifted today as originally planned, after the state recorded 13 cases yesterday, all linked to the Indooroopilly cluster.
I can only repeat this should never have happened.
The poor vaccine rollout (inadequate supply + chaotic distribution), lax quarantine regulations and a ‘Claytons’ state lockdown are the chickens that have well and truly come home to roost.
We have been let down by both the federal and NSW state governments.

Update: 10th August

There have now been 5805 cases and 32 deaths in NSW since 16th June.

There were over 234,000 doses of vaccine administered across the country on Monday, bringing the total number of doses to just short of 14m.

Update:14th August

The state of New South Wales will go into total lockdown at 5pm today for a week.

We were advised of this at 2:30pm!

The Delta variant is obviously out of control and has escaped Sydney and adjacent cities and is now in the regional areas.

The state government’s lame attempts to contain it since mid June have brought us to this situation.

This will not affect the co-driver and me to any great extent as we had already decided to ‘stay at home’ when the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) went into lockdown a few days ago and Canberra people headed for the coast to escape it.

But we had to quickly place a ‘click and collect’ grocery order today to get us through the next week for pickup early tomorrow.

The Economic Costs of Invasive Species / Australia

Over the years I have written about feral animals eg. rabbits, foxes, cats and exotic plants eg. blackberry, fireweed, bitou bush that have ‘arrived’ in Australia and caused severe economic and environmental damage to the country.
According to research that has painted the most accurate picture yet of the economic burden of these invaders, exotic plants, animals and diseases have cost Australia at least $390bn in damage and management costs over the past 60 years.
Feral cats are the costliest of the hundreds of individual species studied, accounting for just over $10bn in damage and management expenses. Rodents, pigs and rabbits came close behind.

But plants are the most damaging class of invasive pest.
Known costs to productivity and money spent managing species like ryegrass, parthenium and ragwort amounted to more than $200bn.
The actual financial burden is likely to be far higher, the scientists who led the study said, because only costs reliably reported over past decades were included.
The study did not attempt to put a figure on the environmental damage from invasive species, such as the loss of biodiversity, the extinction of species or  the loss of cultural values.
The study indicated that costs from invasive species were only likely to increase in the absence of major investment and better coordination.
In the 1970s, the average annual cost from invasive pests was $70m but in the most recent decade, this had risen to $20bn.
For New South Wales and the ACT, cats, foxes and rabbits had caused the most damage.
In the Northern Territory, more than a third of the costs came from a fungus that causes banana freckle disease.
Queensland’s costliest invader, according to the study, is the red fire ant with the potato weed the most expensive for Victoria and South Australia.
Tasmania’s biggest economic impact came from the toxic ragwort and Western Australia’s costliest invader is ryegrass.

But there were still very large gaps in understanding. For example, there were few studies or reports documenting damage from invasive birds, mites or fish.
Another was root rot which causes huge environmental and agricultural damage, but any good cost data couldn’t be found even though it is known that the impact is huge.
Last year, a report led by the CSIRO called for a major overhaul of the way Australia manages biosecurity threats.
With a rise in globalised travel and trade, the number of interceptions of potentially hazardous materials at Australia’s borders rose 50% between 2012 and 2017.
About 20 new weed species establish in Australia every year, and the broader management costs and production losses because of invasive weeds is estimated at $5bn a year, the CSIRO report said.
Andrew Cox, chief executive of the Invasive Species Council, said the study showed “the massive burden being borne by all parts of society” from pests and diseases.
Cox also said: “We are highly vulnerable – not just our natural environment but also our agricultural systems.
The ocean border is a natural defence but the escalating trade and travel is exposing us to risk. There are species already here whose impacts are growing and the rates of new arrivals are growing too.”

Source: The Guardian Australia