Covid 19 -

[FairmontGS]

I read it more as an establishment piece - I don't think it will be long until we see Dr. Coatsworth as a candidate, most likely Coalition.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by leesa

How are they so certain? Now that we're pushing hard on letting it rip the number of mutations into a new variant is a lot higher. What's to stop us breeding a new mutation that keeps the pandemic going even longer?

It just seems awfully presumptive that we're going to let everyone get omicron and it's such a mild illness and then it's going to be over because we'll all have immunity.
We will always have immunocompromised people and they're the ones that tend to cultivate the new mutations, aren't they?

I hope not, my wife's still got 12 months of Chemo and radiation to go yet

[Work Horse]

When things look difficult the good Lord above may have answers.

[Pooka]

So rapid antigen tests are hard to come by at supermarkets and pharmacies. Not many test kits available in the country apparently.

Then how, and why, are Harvey Norman stores now selling RAT kits?? An electronics and furniture outlet now selling rapid test kits?? While the pharmacies have low, or no stock? Did Harvey Norman sell toilet paper during the great TP crisis of 2020 too?

[FairmontGS]

https://youtu.be/x5x1sSjfknM

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Pooka

So rapid antigen tests are hard to come by at supermarkets and pharmacies. Not many test kits available in the country apparently.

Then how, and why, are Harvey Norman stores now selling RAT kits?? An electronics and furniture outlet now selling rapid test kits?? While the pharmacies have low, or no stock? Did Harvey Norman sell toilet paper during the great TP crisis of 2020 too?

Like i said almost a week ago, the major players werent prepared at all whereas the company I work for had been sitting on 10's of thousands and we are in no way considered a part of the health scene.

[T3rminator]

$170 for a pack of 5.....bargain....


https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/tools-n...7088650584222/

[arm79]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

$170 for a pack of 5.....bargain....


https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/tools-n...7088650584222/

I would assume the ACCC would consider that price gouging and might have something to say about it.

Maybe a group buy might be in order.

https://rapidproof.com.au/products/w...t-pack-5-tests

[arm79]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Like i said almost a week ago, the major players werent prepared at all whereas the company I work for had been sitting on 10's of thousands and we are in no way considered a part of the health scene.

I don't get what you are trying to say.

Last week you teased that you could buy them if you knew where to look. Yet you wouldn't tell anyone where it was because you got them from your employer and you didn't want your employer known.

But they apparently had 40,000 kits in storage waiting on approval to sell them, so we couldn't buy them anyways, but yet they mailed some to you.

So how did you get hold of a kit they apparently weren't selling because they weren't approved for sale, yet kits have been approved for months.

Now you are saying the major players weren't prepared but apparently your employer is because you've been sitting on 10's of thousands.

Why are they sitting on them? What approval is needed? Or are they sitting on them until the demand has skyrocketed it so they can cash in? If you sell these 10's of thousands in minutes and can't get anymore quickly does that mean your unprepared as well? That 40,000 wouldn't satisfy a day's testing in NSW at the moment.

I'm confused... Is anyone else?

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by arm79

I don't get what you are trying to say.

Last week you teased that you could buy them if you knew where to look. Yet you wouldn't tell anyone where it was because you got them from your employer and you didn't want your employer known.

But they apparently had 40,000 kits in storage waiting on approval to sell them, so we couldn't buy them anyways, but yet they mailed some to you.

So how did you get hold of a kit they apparently weren't selling because they weren't approved for sale, yet kits have been approved for months.

Now you are saying the major players weren't prepared but apparently your employer is because you've been sitting on 10's of thousands.

Why are they sitting on them? What approval is needed? Or are they sitting on them until the demand has skyrocketed it so they can cash in? If you sell these 10's of thousands in minutes and can't get anymore quickly does that mean your unprepared as well? That 40,000 wouldn't satisfy a day's testing in NSW at the moment.

I'm confused... Is anyone else?

RAT tests weren't approved for sale in SA until 24/12. I happened to enquire about them at a chemist shop whilst doing xmas shopping that day, got told they didnt have them yet and wouldnt do until this coming week.
I already knew I could get them from work, like Harvey Norman we arent a health/Wellness specific industry but we had the forethought to have 40k units in stock waiting on the green light, the chemist chain obviously didnt.

We sold out almost straight away.
My Employer gets a notification when a new customer signs up, he had to switch it off xmas day as it went off constantly.
We had thousands more on order and sitting in an interstate warehouse.
They arrived late last week and were available when I mentioned it.
We wouldnt be hard to find if you we're searching online and im sure we also werent alone in having them available for delivery online.
The point of me mentioning it initially was to highlight that going to your nearest woolies or chemist chain wasnt the only option,.

My Daughter tested positive to Covid xmas eve so I rang my manager and secured a kit, he delivered it when they opened up after xmas as im on leave and was in isolation.
I dont have to reveal my Employers identity in a public forum, you can thank the hypersensitive for that.

Ok.

[BENT_8]

Might as well give an update on my Daughters experience.
Shes 21, suffered from upper respiratory issues from Birth, if anyone gets a cold its her.
She came down with a case of headaches, congestion and a slight cough on the 22/12 and believed she picked it up from a sick work colleague who claimed her GP said she didnt have Covid and not to bother getting tested.
By xmas eve my Daughter had become worse, sourced a RAT test from a friend, returned a positive and so attended the 24hr Victoria park testing site where she sat for about 6hrs.
She came home and we isolated whilst she awaited her result which came back positive early on boxing day.
My Wife, 10yr old, 17yr old and myself immediately attended the same testing site as close contacts and received our negative results by 10am the following morning, we had to complete another 5 days of isolation,.

My Daughter learnt that she should receive contact from SA Health and a kit to keep an eye on oxygen levels etc. To manage at home, a week passed by and she heard nothing, she tried numerous times to contact the covid helpline and couldnt get through having been on hold for hours.
On Friday, day 6 for the rest of us we did a RAT test and again returned negatives.
Shes a stubborn bugger and didnt like the idea of taking up a bed or wasting ambo's time but by late new years eve was struggling to take breath, felt like drowning and had terrible chest and back pains, we convinced her to get an ambulance and she agreed.
They arrived quite quickly, assessed her and left telling her to make an appt. At the RAH the next day.
She went there, they did some obs and sent her away.

Today she is much better, still got mild pains and the occasional runny nose but apart from that on the mend.
Considering 4 of us live in the house with her and have all avoided contracting it I'd guess that she didnt have the very transmissible Omicron

Its a weird situation to be in. Im a firm believer that avoiding it is wishful thinking but just spent almost 2 weeks with it in our house.
Part of me wishes we did get it and dealt with it together whilst were all on holidays, now as our isolation and leave from work is over we head back out into the masses and await our turn.

Originally Posted by arm79

I'm confused... Is anyone else?

Yeah it seems like a weird flex, 'hay guyz i know where to get test kits, my company are so cool they predicted the need and bought up tens of thousands. you can get some if you know where to look but i'm not going to tell you, you have to be in the know'

It seems to be like those kids who pipe up that they know a secret and then refuse to say any more because it's a secret. what's the point of speaking up at all?

[russellw]

Australia
NSW records 20,794 cases in the current period and the 10-day average growth rate increases slightly to 1.1769 (from 1.1613) while the actual line has turned downwards although still well above the predictive trend line.





VIC records 8,577 cases in the current period (a new record high) and the 10-day average growth rate increases to 1.1691 (from 1.1540) while the actual line remains above the predictive trend.




Queensland (3,587), SA (2,298), ACT (506) and NT (102) set new daily highs yesterday (2/1).

[slowsnake]

I am actually enjoying, or getting a type of perverse pleasure watching the world fall to pieces, compounding if you like!..its like watching a race horse that is a sprinter trying to run out the 3200m of the Melbourne Cup.
I like it......

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

$170 for a pack of 5.....bargain....


https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/tools-n...7088650584222/

My Local Woolworths has them @ 2 for $30... They're at the Smokes counter & you have to ask for them..

[T3rminator]

Any punters taking bets whether we will see a full match played out at plagued GSS? I'll give it two days, and Aus will miss out on a 5-0 white wash.


ENGLAND COACH SILVERWOOD TESTS POSITIVE TO COVID-19
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2022/01/...e-to-covid-19/


Glenn McGrath to miss the start of the Pink Test after being diagnosed with COVID
https://wwos.nine.com.au/cricket/ash...0-bd9863692134

[russellw]

Data valid as at 00:00 GMT January 2nd 2022.

32,210 new cases for Australia and 7 deaths so the CMR is 0.488%.

NZ recorded 137 cases (over 2 days) and 0 deaths for a CMR of 0.361%.

The UK recorded 134,943 cases and 73 deaths for a CMR of 1.125%.

240,883 new cases in the USA yesterday and 341 deaths sees CMR at 1.514%.

Other notable points: (weekend reporting)
Global cases pass 290M, the last 1M in 1 day;
Oceania passes 600k cases;
The USA passes 56M cases;

Curaçao (816) on 1/1;
Togo (1,002); and
Uganda (1,936);


... recorded new highs; those in blue for the second consecutive day and those in red for a third or more consecutive day.

Qatar moves above the 90th percentile for the 10 day period and Czechia drops below.

We are still waiting for 3 countries in Europe (Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) and 3 in North America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras) to report data for 31st December before doing the annual summary.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by leesa

Yeah it seems like a weird flex, 'hay guyz i know where to get test kits, my company are so cool they predicted the need and bought up tens of thousands. you can get some if you know where to look but i'm not going to tell you, you have to be in the know'

It seems to be like those kids who pipe up that they know a secret and then refuse to say any more because it's a secret. what's the point of speaking up at all?

leesa, the point of mentioning it was to suggest people look outside the square, like the hundreds of new customers who did their own 'footwork' and signed up to purchase our kits as 'new' customers.

I said I wouldnt disclose it on a public forum, you could easily have PM'd me your email or mobile number and id have helped you out but no you just threw your toys out of the cot when it didnt get handed to you and im the one with the problem.

Originally Posted by BENT_8

leesa, the point of mentioning it was to suggest people look outside the square, like the hundreds of new customers who did their own 'footwork' and signed up to purchase our kits as 'new' customers.

I said I wouldnt disclose it on a public forum, you could easily have PM'd me your email or mobile number and id have helped you out but no you just threw your toys out of the cot when it didnt get handed to you and im the one with the problem.

lots of people are looking outside the square but that doesn't exactly guarantee success. lots of people are placing orders on websites that say they have them in stock, only for their orders to never ship because they had no stock. that's the scenario for me, i have already ordered from a website that said it had stock. i've already paid money for a product that still hasn't shipped... because they have no stock despite accepting orders. how many websites am i (and others) expected to gamble with and pay money for goods that won't be sent for probably a month when australia gets new stock? in a month i'm not going to need several orders arriving at once.

if you want to stick your hand up and say you know where stock is, then just tell people. it just comes across like you want some sort of praise for knowing where stock is but then you won't actually tell anyone.

you could even have worded it like "Hey guys i just ordered from this website and it arrived in 2 days, they definitely have stock". You didn't need to say it was your work or mention your connection to them in any way if privacy was your concern. presumably you just want praise for knowing someone who's got stock? I dunno, seems weird.

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Lol, leesa, think about what youre suggesting.
You admit you've been stitched up by online sellers but then want me to say hey try this mob without disclosing why I know they have stock apart from saying I got some in 2 days,.
Doesnt that just bring you back to square 1 where you have a seller advertising online that may or may not have stock to ship as the tip was provided by an unsubstatiated random source?

if someone has reported they've received stock then i'd say that's a fairly reliable indicator yeah.

you've basically said it's my own fault that i haven't been able to get my hands on a test because i haven't done my "footwork" so i'm expecting tests to basically be handed to me. i'm just pointing out that's not really an accurate reflection for anyone in australia right now - tests are almost impossible to come by now matter how much footwork you do and it's not a reflection of how much effort someone has or hasn't put in.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Pooka

So rapid antigen tests are hard to come by at supermarkets and pharmacies. Not many test kits available in the country apparently.

Then how, and why, are Harvey Norman stores now selling RAT kits?? An electronics and furniture outlet now selling rapid test kits?? While the pharmacies have low, or no stock? Did Harvey Norman sell toilet paper during the great TP crisis of 2020 too?

Hmmm I wonder if they are TGA approved? might be the clue why there are many available.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by leesa

if someone has reported they've received stock then i'd say that's a fairly reliable indicator yeah.

you've basically said it's my own fault that i haven't been able to get my hands on a test because i haven't done my "footwork" so i'm expecting tests to basically be handed to me. i'm just pointing out that's not really an accurate reflection for anyone in australia right now - tests are almost impossible to come by now matter how much footwork you do and it's not a reflection of how much effort someone has or hasn't put in.

It could have been the last kit in stock too yeah?

How long have they been on sale for in the state you live in leesa?

[b0son]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Like i said almost a week ago, the major players werent prepared at all whereas the company I work for had been sitting on 10's of thousands and we are in no way considered a part of the health scene.

Ever heard of the phrase once bitten twice shy?

They were well prepared last year. But after successful lobbying of the government by the private pathology industry (who wanted to protect their PCR-testing-related profit), the approval granted was conditional.... they could only be administered clinically. This made them as good as useless for the vast majority of users.

Little wonder nobody wanted to get burnt a second time.

And like sanitisers, your profit will be determined not so much by how much you can sell, but by how well you time getting out of the market (and not being left with unsaleable stock, etc). Because once the panic passes (end of January?), they'll be collecting dust on shop shelves just like sanitisers do now.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by b0son

Ever heard of the phrase once bitten twice shy?

They were well prepared last year. But after successful lobbying of the government by the private pathology industry (who wanted to protect their PCR-testing-related profit), the approval granted was conditional.... they could only be administered clinically. This made them as good as useless for the vast majority of users.

Little wonder nobody wanted to get burnt a second time.

And like sanitisers, your profit will be determined not so much by how much you can sell, but by how well you time getting out of the market (and not being left with unsaleable stock, etc). Because once the panic passes (end of January?), they'll be collecting dust on shop shelves just like sanitisers do now.

How is leaving them in storage as we did getting burnt twice?
You just moved the sale date back, the stock is still there.
Again, my point is, why does it take a chemist chain a week or so to have dispatched to their retail outlets what we did in 24hrs.

[b0son]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

How is leaving them in storage as we did getting burnt twice?

The kits have expiry dates. Not all kits have the same shelf life. I know another supplier who basically tossed their stock because their kits had something like a 12/18mth shelf life. They said by the time they'd have mobilised, they could well have been trying to bring stock into a flooded market, which is exactly what happened with sanitisers.

Originally Posted by BENT_8

How is leaving them in storage as we did getting burnt twice?
You just moved the sale date back, the stock is still there.
Again, my point is, why does it take a chemist chain a week or so to have dispatched to their retail outlets what we did in 24hrs.

Perhaps government can intervene in chemist supplies in times of public health issues? Alls i know is the chemist said they had a lot of stock coming in and then poof it's gone when the government announces their approval. Whether it was redirected to somewhere else, who knows.

Or maybe it was like early days in the pandemic where china sent its australia-based staff on missions to strip our pharmacies for supplies and ship them back to china? anyone remember that? fun times. https://www.smh.com.au/national/chin...25-p54du8.html

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by russellw

[B][COLOR=green]

We are still waiting for 3 in North America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras) to report data for 31st December before doing the annual summary.

Good luck with those 3!… When it’s holidays… EVERYONE is on holiday at the beach (nuclear holocaust or not)

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by b0son

The kits have expiry dates. Not all kits have the same shelf life. I know another supplier who basically tossed their stock because their kits had something like a 12/18mth shelf life. They said by the time they'd have mobilised, they could well have been trying to bring stock into a flooded market, which is exactly what happened with sanitisers.

Then that supplier is a bloody idiot and people are now paying the price for that stupidity.
Yes they have a shelf life, no they arent all the same but buying product with a 12 to 18 month shelf life and then 'tossing' it because somewhere in that time period you may have competition is rediculous to say the least.

[GasoLane]

I realise that both of you just have to have the last word, so lets just end it here please before you monopolise another page with your bickering.

[b0son]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Then that supplier is a bloody idiot and people are now paying the price for that stupidity.

They didnt buy that stock in the last few months, this was stock purchased in 2020, so it is likely expired now or very soon to be. Most shops have minimum shelf-life requirements and wont take short-dated stock.

What price are people paying for kit unavailability? If you're testing once you get symptoms, it's too late. If you need a test result to tell you to isolate when you already have symptoms, you're the problem, not the lack of kits.