Covid 19 -

[russellw]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

We have had some vaccinated for several months now. Any word on boosters?

The official word from ATAGi is that there is no need for them yet and the priority should be reaching 1st and 2nd dose targets.

Globally, the WHO data suggests that effectiveness tapers off from about 8 months for Pfizer and slightly longer for AstraZeneca while the USA has approved boosters for over 65's and high risk workers after 6 months.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Wow

Gladys just resigned...



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[Citroënbender]

Going out on a high.

I’m disappointed, she was a known quantity. That’s not an endorsement overall, but comment on the relative merits of any replacement. Bad timing, for sure.

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Going out on a high.

I’m disappointed, she was a known quantity. That’s not an endorsement overall, but comment on the relative merits of any replacement. Bad timing, for sure.

She was prompt with her 11am pressers I'll give her that.

Will be interesting to see who the replacement will be, and if there will be any subtle change in direction or focus on Covid response going forward.

Please someone check up on FairmontGS. No joke.

[Ratmick]

Originally Posted by oldel

Well that was an unwarranted rant. Guess you needed to say it to somebody, but accusing one other old guy as the bogeyman responsible for all your own personal concerns, lockdown breaches etc is unnecessary.

Get it off your chest in a general way, but don't go ranting on some other old guy here, blaming them for everything.

BTW, previously I would volunteer. I'd be a goner in one way or another anyway. But Australia did good keeping it out, then a vaccine, so now I'm hanging around to see what's next and hang crap on the antivaxxers and covid deniers, ie as you point out, the stupid.

E: Don't take slowsnake posts too personal, he's an old guy going through operations and probably on some strong meds and painkillers. He did mention oxy before. Probably like me having a hard life killing brain cells before too ;-)

I was not going to participate in this thread again but I thought I'd kick this back into touch.

Yes it was tinged by my own particular circumstances, apologies if it appeared like a spray but once you rip that band-aid off...

FWIW I wasn't having a go at anyone in particular and I have no knowledge of his particular issues or how old they are or what medications they are on.

Whereas I normally treat quite a few posters in this particular thread with the same disdain I reserve for people who protest maskless in their thousands on the steps of the War Memorial, the karens that have a maskless ignorant go at front of store staff, anti-vaxxers or the entitled few that think their poo doesn't smell like other people's poo, that particular post pushed me over the edge.

Most of the people in society will be the right thing for the greater good of society even if it personally disadvantages them. Yes they will not like it but they'll put up with it. There are a few over-entitled selfish twats that think it's ok that a few people die for the greater (i.e. their) good.

I don't subscribe to this belief.

I'm not saying this isn't hell. It is hell and I hate every single damn minute.

I'm not saying people aren't suffering. People are suffering, their livelihoods are suffering, families are suffering, we're all suffering.

I'm especially not saying the various Governments' (State and Federal) handling of exemptions, lockdowns and quarantine has been flawless. In fact it has been the opposite, it has been a horrendous comedy of errors and egos. I'd like to think they learn and have learnt from their mistakes but I am not hopeful.

What I am saying is that attacking the lockdowns as being the root of all evil, various State Premiers as being the devil incarnate and the vaccines as being the thin edge of the wedge is specious when the only skin you have in the game is that of a bunch on unknown random old people that are going to die anyway.

The facts are that the various vaccines and restricting civil liberties are the only viable options governments have for trying to control the spread of this virus so it doesn't run rampant through the more vulnerable sections of our communities. If the Federal Government had been a bit more forward-looking in regards to procuring vaccines and if people had complied with the lockdowns and restrictions in a more selfless manner then we would not be having this discussion.

For the people that like to bleat and snipe and criticise what are your suggestions for getting us all (not just you personally) out of this mess given you have the benefit of (a) hindsight and (b) zero accountability?

...unwarranted my bottom.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Going out on a high.

I’m disappointed, she was a known quantity. That’s not an endorsement overall, but comment on the relative merits of any replacement. Bad timing, for sure.

Whilst there is speculation that she has resigned because of the ICAC probe into whether she breached public trust when she awarded grants to several community organisations between 2012 and 2018, it would be understandable if any state premier resigned after being at the helm during the covid period. Whether you agree with the approach they've taken or not, whether you think they have done a good job or not, the workload and pressure on each of them has been huge.

Kudos to every single one of them for the efforts they have put in.

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

She was prompt with her 11am pressers I'll give her that.

Will be interesting to see who the replacement will be, and if there will be any subtle change in direction or focus on Covid response going forward.

Please someone check up on FairmontGS. No joke.

You rang?

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

as long as it is not your close family and someone else's it is OK if they die then?

Jeez some people just want to live in a cave scared of a virus with a 99.XX% survival rate?

If someone I know dies from it, it's god's will. If they have had their vax and it wasn't enough to save them then that's just the way it is. People die everyday from all sorts of things.

I'd rather die living my life than being locked up and scared of a virus. That's no life.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Those Melbourne protests didn't do them any favours.

I'm just waiting for this to be all over. We are so very close to the finish line now.

An article I read today from the Daily Mail suggested that from December we have the ability to travel absolutely anywhere with only a 7 day home quarantine upon return.

No traffic light system, no bubbles so to speak? That is well above and beyond even my own expectations.

Not sure how accurate that is?

We have had some vaccinated for several months now. Any word on boosters?

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Here y'are, YT, some info on international travel for you:

International border will reopen next month for states that have reached 80 per cent vaccination rates, starting with NSW

Fully vaccinated Australians and permanent residents arriving in NSW will be able to home quarantine for a week, instead of paying thousands to quarantine at a hotel for a fortnight, pending the success of the state's home quarantine trial

Commercial flights out of Australia will resume for vaccinated Australians

Mr Morrison said the government would consider quarantine-free travel between some countries, such as NZ, "when it is safe to do so"

Travellers must be fully vaccinated with an approved vaccine to home quarantine unless they are under 12 or medically exempt

The TGA has advised that the Sinovac and the Covishield vaccines would be considered "recognised vaccines" when determining whether an incoming international traveller has been appropriately vaccinated. The recognition of those vaccines will remove a significant barrier for international students seeking to study in Australia

South Australia will also be able to implement home quarantine for vaccinated arrivals once 80 per cent of people over 16 are fully vaccinated in the state. Unvaccinated travellers will be required to hotel quarantine for a fortnight

COVID-19 testing is expected to continue to be a part of travel, but the government is looking at using rapid antigen testing as part of the arrangement

[Citroënbender]

I must concede, this latest NSW political development has shifted my mood from guarded optimism to pensiveness.

[HIPO]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I must concede, this latest NSW political development has shifted my mood from guarded optimism to pensiveness.

...........

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Going out on a high.

I’m disappointed, she was a known quantity. That’s not an endorsement overall, but comment on the relative merits of any replacement. Bad timing, for sure.

Rats always leave a sinking ship first!

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

I'd rather die living my life than being locked up and scared of a virus. That's no life.

Ha, that's exactly what I just told my oncologist, except I said working on a neighbours car, not sitting watching TV!

[xkxlxm]

I wonder if she can be compelled to front the inquiry if she is no longer in parliament.

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by xkxlxm

I wonder if she can be compelled to front the inquiry if she is no longer in parliament.

She has resigned as Premier, not from Parliament afaik

[Citroënbender]

Media is indicating resignation from both positions, but the waters are still muddy.

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Media is indicating resignation from both positions, but the waters are still muddy.

That would mean a by election, but I am not seeing any media talking about that, unless I am missing it.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Media is indicating resignation from both positions, but the waters are still muddy.

If the quote is correct, then Gladys will be resigning from Parliament too.

Ms Berejiklian hasn't yet resigned, at least not officially, but said she will step down from the NSW Parliament "once I have consulted the electoral commission on appropriate timing for a by-election given the COVID restrictions".

E: A gratuitous reference to Covid included to keep it on topic

[T3rminator]

"Authorised worker" mandatory jab requirement annouced by Vic Gov today.... Probably would have been easier to make a list on who it doesn't cover.....pollies are now on the mandated list too.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/v...01-p58whn.html

Edit: Full list from Vic Gov site: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/a...ed-worker-list

I suspect Vic might see further emmigration of population to other states in the short term....thats assuming other states don't follow.

[MITCHAY]

Bad day for ACT. 52 cases and two deaths. And we relax restrictions today too

[Citroënbender]

However, twenty people now permitted at a funeral. They’re a weird feeling when you just have ten people plus an MC.

[CoupeKing]

Originally Posted by slowsnake

Rats always leave a sinking ship first!

Well if she hits the water and starts to swim back-stroke people will scream ''SHARK!''

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by Ratmick

I was not going to participate in this thread again but I thought I'd kick this back into touch....unwarranted my bottom.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cs123]

Some development on treatments

The drug maker Merck said on Friday that it would seek authorization for the first antiviral pill for Covid after its drug, known as molnupiravir, was shown in a clinical trial to cut the risk of hospitalization or death in half when given to high-risk people early in their infections.

The treatment could become the first in a wave of antiviral pill products, which experts say could offer a powerful new tool in efforts to tame the pandemic, as they could reach more people than the antibody treatments that are being widely used in the United States for similar patients.

“I think it will translate into many thousands of lives being saved worldwide, where there’s less access to monoclonal antibodies, and in this country, too,” said Dr. Robert Shafer, an infectious disease specialist and expert on antiviral therapy at Stanford University.

Late-stage study results of two other antiviral pills, one developed by Pfizer and the other by Atea Pharmaceuticals and Roche, are expected within the next few months.

The Merck drug, which is designed to stop the coronavirus from replicating, is to be taken as four capsules twice a day for five days.

Merck said an independent board of experts monitoring its study data had recommended that its trial be stopped early because the drug’s benefit to patients had proved so convincing. The company said that the Food and Drug Administration had agreed with that decision.

For the research, the monitors looked at data through early August, when the study had enrolled 775 volunteers in the United States and overseas. For volunteers who received the drug, their risk of being hospitalized or dying fell 50 percent, without any concerning side effects, compared with those who received placebo pills, Merck said in a news release announcing the findings.

Seven percent of volunteers in the group that received the drug were hospitalized, and none of them died, compared with a 14 percent rate of hospitalization and death — including eight deaths — in the group that received the placebo.

The Merck pill’s efficacy was lower than that of monoclonal antibody treatments, which mimic antibodies that the immune system generates naturally when fighting the virus. Those drugs have been in high demand recently, but they are expensive, are typically given intravenously, and have proved cumbersome and labor-intensive for hospitals and clinics to administer. Studies have shown that they reduce hospitalizations and deaths 70 to 85 percent in similar high-risk Covid patients.

Still, Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, said that antiviral pills could have a greater impact by virtue of reaching more people.

“If that holds up at the population scale,” she said, “that is going to translate to an objectively larger number of lives saved potentially with this drug,” adding that, “Maybe it isn’t doing the same numbers as the monoclonal antibodies, but it’s still going to be huge.”

The federal government has placed advance orders for 1.7 million courses of Merck’s drug, at a price of about $700 per patient. That is about one-third of the current cost of a monoclonal antibody treatment.

Merck — which is developing the pill with its partner, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics of Miami — has not said which patients it plans to ask the F.D.A. to approve the drug for.

It may be initially approved for the limited group of patients who are eligible to receive monoclonal antibody treatments: possibly older people and those with medical conditions that put them at high risk for bad outcomes from Covid. But experts said they expected that the drug might eventually be used more widely, in many people who test positive for the virus.

If authorized, Merck’s drug would be the second antiviral treatment for Covid. The first, remdesivir, must be infused and has lost favor among clinicians as studies have suggested that it offers only modest benefit for Covid patients.

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by xkxlxm

I wonder if she can be compelled to front the inquiry if she is no longer in parliament.

My Sister worked at ICAC for most of the 90's.
Pretty sure they have the Power to Compel anyone of Interest to an Investigation to Testify..
Though Bruce Baird Did water their Powers down a fair Bit,,,

[PooDog]

Originally Posted by CoupeKing

Well if she hits the water and starts to swim back-stroke people will scream ''SHARK!''

classic nearly choked on me toast

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Sorry to hear Shepperton is back in lockdown again, Trev.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

If someone I know dies from it, it's god's will.

and there is the crux of it, a belief that some fairy is responsible for everything so that you can wipe your hands of any responsibility

Poor form to blame so imaginary fairy my friend - step up and take responsibility

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0

Sorry to hear Sheppearton is back in lockdown again, Trev.

ah well, that is what happens when you have a society with a minority of irresponsible selfish ****s mostly aged between 18 and 40 who only give a **** for themselves and not the wider community, and as a parent with kids in the latter part of that age group I have to take some responsibility, I bred them

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

ah well, that is what happens when you have a society with a minority of irresponsible selfish ****s mostly aged between 18 and 40 who only give a **** for themselves and not the wider community, and as a parent with kids in the latter part of that age group I have to take some responsibility, I bred them

Maybe you did, but that responsibility stops Trev when at age 21 they get the "key to the door"
You're not responsible for your children's actions as adults, they choose, not obey.