The Reality of Living in Australia and Covid

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

And the relevance of this to the Reality of Living in Australia is what exactly?
Why don't you go and bother the Canadians down the hall or have they already chucked you out?

Please no! We're commonwealth colleagues! [emoji1037][emoji1063] Send them somewhere else. [But yes, spread the same sh&te and we too will ask them to leave (politely, of course)]

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

Please no! We're commonwealth colleagues! [emoji1037][emoji1063] Send them somewhere else. [But yes, spread the same sh&te and we too will ask them to leave (politely, of course)]

And thank them kindly when they do leave

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

And the relevance of this to the Reality of Living in Australia is what exactly?

Jolly little!

The release of mortality stats for 2020 from the Aus Bureau of Statistics was most illuminating today. And fits with the subject of this thread.

I recommend you peruse the story by Jill Margo in the AFR today or you take a Captain Cook at the relevant news release by Lauren Moran of the mortality stats division of ABS.

See:

https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/...-year-pandemic

or (probably behind a paywall):

https://www.afr.com/policy/health-an...0210929-p58vra

The impact of government movement restrictions, the restrictions about which the libertarian populists were big on protesting, are clear:

* a fall of 8K in the number of deaths in 2020 compared to 2019;

* a fall of 24% in deaths from respiratory diseases. Only 55 people died from influenza. Facial masking works! Should be an everyday thing - every sneezer and cougher should be wearing a mask every day.

* a rise of 108 in the number of Aussies who killed themselves by imbibing alcohol, bringing that death stat to 1,425 (males dead from alcohol up 6.9%, females dead from alcohol up 12%). Spending on alcohol went up 26%, so tax revenue to govt went up and those heroic people have saved all taxpayers from paying for their age care, pensions, health care, etc. Bewdy!

* comorbidities associated with the 890 Covid-19 deaths were dementia, chronic heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. That fits in with reports from other economies that have suggested that controlling blood pressure and blood sugar levels are the keys to surviving Covid-19.

* deaths from suicide, non-alcohol recreational drug overdose, and motor vehicle crashes were down. Suicide rate fell from 12.9/100K (2019) to 12.1/100K (2020). Males under 24 years and females over 84 didn't kill themselves as much as usual. So much for the hand-wringing.

* deaths from accidental falls and from diseases of the urinary system went up by about 100 for each of those two categories.

* taxpayers paid for about 8% fewer cancer-related diagnostic procedures than in a usual year. A net saving. 1,000 fewer surgeries to cut out breast tumours. Fewer procedures for melanoma and other cancers. Of course the net saving in 2020 might result in higher costs in later years, or just a higher death rate from cancer in the near future. No numbers on the salary impact to specialist surgeons and anaesthetists etc.

No ABS item on deaths associated with cruising, racing under sail, or even boating in general.

For the TL;DR crowd:

* Lockdown for the win! Let's have more of it.

* A general benefit for all Aussies (including the taxpayers).

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Jolly little!

The release of mortality stats for 2020 from the Aus Bureau of Statistics was most illuminating today. And fits with the subject of this thread.

I recommend you peruse the story by Jill Margo in the AFR today or you take a Captain Cook at the relevant news release by Lauren Moran of the mortality stats division of ABS.

See:

https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/...-year-pandemic

or (probably behind a paywall):

https://www.afr.com/policy/health-an...0210929-p58vra

The impact of government movement restrictions, the restrictions about which the libertarian populists were big on protesting, are clear:

* a fall of 8K in the number of deaths in 2020 compared to 2019;

* a fall of 24% in deaths from respiratory diseases. Only 55 people died from influenza. Facial masking works! Should be an everyday thing - every sneezer and cougher should be wearing a mask every day.

* a rise of 108 in the number of Aussies who killed themselves by imbibing alcohol, bringing that death stat to 1,425 (males dead from alcohol up 6.9%, females dead from alcohol up 12%). Spending on alcohol went up 26%, so tax revenue to govt went up and those heroic people have saved all taxpayers from paying for their age care, pensions, health care, etc. Bewdy!

* comorbidities associated with the 890 Covid-19 deaths were dementia, chronic heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. That fits in with reports from other economies that have suggested that controlling blood pressure and blood sugar levels are the keys to surviving Covid-19.

* deaths from suicide, non-alcohol recreational drug overdose, and motor vehicle crashes were down. Suicide rate fell from 12.9/100K (2019) to 12.1/100K (2020). Males under 24 years and females over 84 didn't kill themselves as much as usual. So much for the hand-wringing.

* deaths from accidental falls and from diseases of the urinary system went up by about 100 for each of those two categories.

* taxpayers paid for about 8% fewer cancer-related diagnostic procedures than in a usual year. A net saving. 1,000 fewer surgeries to cut out breast tumours. Fewer procedures for melanoma and other cancers. Of course the net saving in 2020 might result in higher costs in later years, or just a higher death rate from cancer in the near future. No numbers on the salary impact to specialist surgeons and anaesthetists etc.

No ABS item on deaths associated with cruising, racing under sail, or even boating in general.

For the TL;DR crowd:

* Lockdown for the win! Let's have more of it.

* A general benefit for all Aussies (including the taxpayers).

I dunno if the following is from the same stats and I don't have a link but a medical stats woman on the radio this morning stated the overall cancer rates has fallen in Australia by something like 20,000 cases - all due to people not coming forward for testing - too hard in a covid environment.

Ties in with stuff upthread about only finding disease if/when you test for it.

So kicking the can down the road!

[El Pinguino]

So much for Melbourne's restrictions or is that a 'draconion lockdown'.
Suburban road traffic up 50% last Saturday , Grand Final Day, 500 of todays 1438 new cases fess up to having been out partying.
Man in charge says 'Go and get tested if you were out partying and please don't do it again, please'.
From The Age'
'The surge in Victoria’s COVID-19 case numbers is down to a significant number of social gatherings, including AFL grand final parties, over Friday and Saturday, according to the state government.

The state’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said authorities believed about a third of today’s new cases – 1438 – were down to illegal gatherings.

“People have dropped their guard and decided it’s now a grand final weekend, it’s a long weekend, we deserve a bit of a payback, we deserve a nicer time,” Mr Weimar said.

“And that has now translated into at least 500 additional cases from what we would have expected to see.”

Mr Weimar urged anyone who was at an illegal social gathering over the weekend to go and get tested for coronavirus.

“If you’ve been mixing over the last few days, if you decided to go to a grand final party on Saturday, if you went to a barbecue on Friday, I’d like you to go and get tested,” Mr Weimar said.

“You don’t know whether somebody there was harbouring the virus and we now have at least 500 people who we know have had that experience.

“There’ll be many hundreds more who went through some kind of social activity.“We need to make sure that if you’re positive, that you can protect yourself and isolate yourself, and not spread it any further.”

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Wotname

I dunno if the following is from the same stats and I don't have a link but a medical stats woman on the radio this morning stated the overall cancer rates has fallen in Australia by something like 20,000 cases - all due to people not coming forward for testing - too hard in a covid environment.

Ties in with stuff upthread about only finding disease if/when you test for it.

So kicking the can down the road!

'sAll a bit mind-boggling. Paradoxical, even.

Why would having time on your hands, having peace and quiet, stop people worrying about melanoma, skin cancer, breast cancer, colo-rectal etc?

Surely that extra 26% of money spent on alcohol doesn't make death from cancer any more inviting? Am I the only one thinking that more alcohol might actually cause more colo-rectal cancers?

I'd understood that middle-class middle aged Aussies, those richer than I am, were all into have a colonoscopy once a year to remove polyps so they could not develop into tumours. Why would Covid-19 change that behaviour?


Here's hoping I live for another 12 months to see the stats from 2021. Always good to have something to which to look forward!

[Dockhead]

The situation in Oz by the numbers actually looks pretty good:





Daily case rate is basically stable for last two weeks, at under 100 per million, which is low.


Vaccination program continues to work at warp speed:





Which means you've already broken through 100 doses per 100 people:





Death rate has increased and is now higher than in most Nordic countries, but it's still only 0.53, which is basically statistical noise --- compare say UK at the peak with over 16.


I didn't expect after such a fumbling start that the vax campaign could be pulled together like this. Good news for you guys.


You're only a couple months maybe behind Norway, which has now declared the pandemic over. So maybe won't be long now.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

The situation in Oz by the numbers actually looks pretty good:


Daily case rate is basically stable for last two weeks, at under 100 per million, which is low.

.

Tricky things statistics - daily case rate in Melbourne up by 50% yesterday and 100% on 4 days ago. Population is 5 million so that is 300 per million
https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/v...-covid-19-data
Scroll down for graph

Meanwhile under Melbourne's draconian stay at home rules dogging is encouraged
' An ordinary resident of the Restricted Area or a temporary resident of the Restricted Area who leaves their premises under either clause 6 or clause 9 must not:
(a)travel further than 15km from:
(i) their premises; or
(ii) in the case of clause 9 (exercise or social interaction), the premises of a person with whom they are in an intimate personal relationship, provided that they only exercise or socially interact outdoors and do not enter any facility open under the Restricted Activity Directions (Restricted Areas);'

Also under our draconian stay at home laws it is ok to take your dog for a walk at 0100 or go shopping or maybe even take your dog shopping ( pet shops are allowed to trade)
'Travel restrictions – curfew
(10) During the stay at home period:
(a) an ordinary resident of the Restricted Area (excluding the Restricted Area – Regional Victoria) or a temporary resident of the Restricted Area (excluding the Restricted Area – Regional Victoria) may only leave their premises under subclause (1) if
(d) it is necessary:
(i) to obtain necessary goods and services:

(v) clause 7(1)(m) (pet toilet break);'

There are 15 reasons permitted in total.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Wotname

I dunno if the following is from the same stats and I don't have a link but a medical stats woman on the radio this morning stated the overall cancer rates has fallen in Australia by something like 20,000 cases - all due to people not coming forward for testing - too hard in a covid environment.

See the Cancer Australia report on the impact of Covid-19 on cancer-related services. It's a 1.72 MB download (a pdf):

https://www.canceraustralia.gov.au/t...tralia-in-2020

[El Pinguino]

I think doctors may have been discouraging people from going for 'trivial reasons'. I know my doctor warned me off last March.
So for the first time since then I saw her on Monday. Yesterday had a message there had been a positive case on site on Wednesday last week - probably a bloke up from Melbourne topping up the water cooler or delivering new masks. ( this is 300k from Melbourne in an area that has had zero negative covid ) . Looks like I dodged another bullet.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by sailingabe41ds

How can you trust anything in Washington DC when the same people who in November of 2020 Biden, Schummer, Pelosi where telling us that they would not take the Trump vaccine because it was untested and dangerous are the same ones who are mandating vaccines for everyone. What changed...not the vaccine, not Covid, not the science....the politics.
The same people who are pushing this vaccine are the same ones who a year ago would tell you how horrible big PHARMA is and they are into money and profits. Now they want us to believe everything big PHARMA is telling us as they go laughing to the bank.

Blind fools ...do not question...just follow like little sheeps.

Abe

Last time I looked Washington DC was somewhat removed from Australia, decisions regarding Australian domestic politics were not made in there and neither Trump nor Biden or their cohorts made Australian domestic policy.

Perhaps your comprehension skills are somewhat lacking, so to make it as simple as I possibly can, please keep your domestic politics in your own backyard and allow others to do the same.

The thread geared to living in Australia and the associated covid policies and practices implemented HERE.

[Fore and Aft]

Ping please tell me you know what "Dogging" is? I wish there was some way humour could be conveyed while we are writing?
Maybe it is because of Dogging that Melbourne has to be locked down?
Cheers
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...D&&FORM=VDRVRV

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Ping please tell me you know what "Dogging" is? I wish there was some way humour could be conveyed while we are writing?
Maybe it is because of Dogging that Melbourne has to be locked down?
Cheers
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...D&&FORM=VDRVRV

Dogging may be an English term - nope also Australian .
WARNING DO NOT GOOGLE DOGGING
Essentially having sexual intercourse in a public place

[El Pinguino]

And then there is cottaging. HR or Najad or one of them caused much ribald mirth in an YM or YW editorial in the 1980s when they placed a full page add stating that one of their yachts was ideal for cottaging. Something well and truly lost in translation.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Thumbs Up

... When you un-blind your control group and give them the concoction near the beginning of the trial, isn't that anti-science? ...

Isn't misrepresenting the facts anti-science, and anti-ethical?


“Ethical Considerations for Unblinding and Vaccinating COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Placebo Group Participants” ~ Jenna Rose Stoehr et al

“... Once proven efficacious, vaccine makers and researchers have an ethical obligation to unblind the placebo groups of COVID-19 vaccine trials, and offer them vaccine, based on the four principles of medical ethics ...
... As COVID-19 vaccine trials continue and efficacy results are published, it will become increasingly more difficult and ethically fraught to maintain a valid placebo group, especially in high-income countries. By unblinding and vaccinating placebo participants regardless of distribution tier, researchers have the opportunity to address all four of the primary bioethical principles: beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. Consequently, the need for placebo groups may be satisfied in future trials in LMICs, which will allow for additional gains in the pursuit of beneficence, justice, and health for all.”

➥ https://www.frontiersin.org/articles...21.702960/full