COVID-19: Discussion of Impact 😷

[MrJ]

@JohnsonTV

Darwin: a man in his 30s, who had spent 14 day hotel quarantine in Sydney as an international arrival. He returned a negative COVID test on August 10, left hotel quarantine on August 12, and travelled to the NT for legitimate work purposes on the same day.

I think this scenario vindicates South Australia’s double quarantine for olympians that came via NSW.

[Tom_TV7]

@Nick

That being said, I despise the pedestal that the AFL has been placed on being granted special exemptions on capacity and travel, capacity at Adelaide Oval reached 100% just before the Modbury cluster while the rest of us still had restrictions on events.

Agree on this. It seems so unfair in a sense that so much of our current activities are restricted whilst everyone can go to Adelaide Oval. The virus spreads in all settings and if we’re subject to restrictions then so should the AFL and capacity at sporting stadiums.

But so far, I am very happy with the SA government’s handling of this pandemic so far. Yes Steven Marshall hasn’t been perfect but at least he was willing to heed health advice and do what is needed to provide the best outcome for the state. Nicola Spurrier’s just been brilliant this whole time and is very honest and direct about the situation.

[MrJ]

I agree with others i think Stephen Marshall has been the best performer. The hard and fast lockdowns are usually attributed as being a trademark victorian thing, but SA was the first to do it back in November.

When the recent lockdown was announced i remember a reporter asked him “do we have a singles bubble?” he just said ‘No’ and gestured for the next question. That’s the type of clear communication we need, other premiers would have taken 5 minutes to say the same thing.

[Tom_TV7]

@MrJ

but SA was the first to do it back in November.

Yes you’re right. It appears that last year’s snap lockdown due to the Parafield cluster set the precedent for the likes of QLD, WA, Victoria, NT to emulate this strategy when tackling the Alpha and now Delta variants which ensured that the (up until this point) the virus is managed out of the states/territories. Definitely an effective strategy until we all get vaccinated.

[Squee]

I’ll also add that SA was the first state to do QR code app based check-ins properly, and universally across retail last November after that first snap lockdown - it took 6 months for all other states to follow with this.

[TV-ACT]

@JohnsonTV

No premier and chief minister has been 100% perfect

Agreed, and we’re all human so mistakes will happen, especially last year when it was all new. But to be - this year - ignoring lessons from other states and overseas, as the NSW government appears to have, that’s hard to forgive.

@JohnsonTV

I think ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has done the best job in handling the COVID pandemic. While Canberra had been fortunate that it did not have a lockdown for more than 14 months, when other states had lockdowns the ACT Government did not immediately order border closures.

While I agree the ACT has done well, it is mostly luck (NSW were being trumpeted as some great hero state until their luck ran out in June, now we see the disastrous consequences of decisions driven by right-wing ideology), and with the ACT being a small jurisdiction with so much cross-border travel, closing borders would have been extremely difficult, as it would’ve been to not have border bubble areas on NSW’s borders with Vic and Qld.

As others have said SA seems to have done well (and yes the QR codes and testing worked well when I was there in December-January).

[WAtvVideos]

Mark McGowan has posted a clarification on social media after his recent comments regarding WA’s exit strategy and after our Prime Minister saw the opportunity to attack a well-managed Labor state while his golden child NSW crumbles.

There has been a bit of discussion in the past two days about what will happen when we get to an 80 per cent vaccination rate, and some east coast commentators implying that I’ve gone against the national position.

Just to be clear, the comments I have made are in line with the plan which National Cabinet agreed to and released on 30 July. This plan was developed following detailed modelling by the Doherty Institute.

Under that modelling, with 70 or 80 per cent of the adult population vaccinated, the assumption is to have some level of restrictions in place, such as the 2sqm rule, physical distancing, limiting the number of people going to work and possibly even requiring masks - and we would need to still be on alert to introduce stronger restrictions if cases spiked in the community, which would still be quite possible.

Read more on his Facebook page

[David]

So when then does it all end?

No masks, no restrictions, no social distancing?

[WAtvVideos]

Isn’t the entire world asking that same question?

[David]

Well, not really. Aren’t the UK totally free?

[turdall]

@MrJ

I agree with others i think Stephen Marshall has been the best performer. The hard and fast lockdowns are usually attributed as being a trademark victorian thing, but SA was the first to do it back in November.

Yeah his bullying of that pizza shop worker was top notch…

[SydneyCityTV]

@David

So when then does it all end?

No masks, no restrictions, no social distancing?

Probably at a yet to be determined point in the future.

[MelbTV]

@turdall

Yeah his bullying of that pizza shop worker was top notch…

Did that pizza shop worker lie to contact tracers?

[turdall]

The Government came out and apologised to him and I believe he is still looking at suing. Maybe a government that wasn’t completely honest with us again.

[Mullet]

No David we still have cases going on.

[David]

I didn’t say you didn’t.

I said the UK is open.

[WAtvVideos]

@David

Aren’t the UK totally free?

In England, masks are still required on public transport and in some businesses. However, it’s no longer mandated. Still mandated in Scotland. Wales still has some restrictions too.

I think the point is, no one has a specific time and day we go back to normal. It’s dependent on a number of factors. Getting to 80% is the first step.

[Tom_TV7]

@turdall

Yeah his bullying of that pizza shop worker was top notch…

Of course no leaders are perfect and in that case the truth was that the man did lie to contact tracers. The way it could’ve been handled could’ve been better I agree but I reckon everyone was echoing the same sentiment over what he said.

[NRN11]

Agreed, Andrew Barr seems to be the only one that hasn’t had a dig at other leaders when they’ve had outbreaks.

Not a fan of Palaszczuk here in Qld.

[turdall]

I’m not a fan of any one of them. And for people to think Marshall has handled it well is basing it off two tiny clusters… he has let the police commissioner and Nicola deliver the messages and laughed behind her back when she has made tiny mistakes about football teams. He has got lucky and is lucky he has strong people around him. He is just a smug liberal.