Covid 19 -

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by FairmontGS

Novak Djokovic to play in Australian Open after receiving COVID-19 vaccination exemption
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-...alia/100738536

Just get a Croatian audience and he will go back home, he is a parasite on the tennis circuit, there are lots of sports people like him, think they are bigger than the game

[T3rminator]

National cabinet meeting today.... rumour is they will be discussing tweeking the definition of what is a "covid case" and "covid hospitilisation"

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Obviously got more pull and better connections than David Reynolds

.....and who would have guessed there would be an uproar, monkeys!

https://wwos.nine.com.au/tennis/tenn...n-under_040122

He is just toying with the Australian public now. He probably does have a valid medical reason for the exemption. But for someone who constantly whinges about not being liked as much as Roger and Nadal, not a very smart move to tweet it out.

[russellw]

Australia
NSW records 35,054 cases in the current period (a new record high) and the 10-day average growth rate increases to 1.12259 (from 1.1761) while the actual line is still well above the predictive trend line. That’s also 12k cases more than the previous high yesterday.



VIC records 17,636 cases in the current period (another new record high) and the 10-day average growth rate increases to 1.2814 (from 1.2319) while the actual line remains above the predictive trend.



Queensland (5,699), SA (3,246), ACT (926) and Tasmania (702) set new daily highs yesterday (4/1).

.. and here is the predictive trend graph for both NSW / Victoria based on cases since Omicron was identified which, for our purposes, will be taken as December 1st.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Thought I'd share my (potential?) covid story.

My mum came down with a cold a few days after Christmas day. Coughing, sneezing, congested head etc. Mum has suffered from bronchitis regularly every year whenever she gets a cold. No surprise, it went to her chest and in no time she was having trouble breathing. Having covid symptoms, she did a RAT to confirm it was not covid. Test was negative.

We booked mum into the local medical clinic, which also happens to be the local respiratory clinic, but the earliest appointment via online booking was for Thursday 30th Dec. Mum called the clinic on Wednesday 29th and the receptionist could hear mum was struggling to breathe and advised her that she couldn't come into the clinic because of her covid symptoms but that she would need to turn up to the respiratory clinic, get a PCR test and then see one of the doctors working in the clinic for an assessment of her condition.

Test taken, doc seen and prescriptions for antibiotics dispensed and mum home for some rest.

With little surprise, my daughter then developed the same symptoms on new years day. She spent the best part of two days not moving from her bed. She has a history of colds developing into an ear infection, and it did so again this time. We organised for a telehealth call from the doc, who issued her with some antibiotics, too. She also did a RAT which returned a negative result.

And again, with little surprise, I developed similar symptoms on 2nd Jan. I then spent two days in bed as well. I also did a RAT, again negative.

My mum has still not got back her PCR test result.

I know, by the guidance provided by the Vic government, if I'm symptomatic and even though I may have a negative RAT result, I should still get a PCR test. But, with all of the delays in getting PCR tests completed and results returned, is there any point in going to get a PCR?

And then, I read this article this morning. And in particular, this comment:

Ellen Maxwell from Melbourne Pathology, which has had to temporarily close its COVID-19 testing operations to deal with a backlog in cases, said there was a critical need to ease the pressure on PCR testing labs.

"Honestly, if you've got symptoms, then you've got COVID at the moment," she told ABC Melbourne.

So, even though all three of us returned negative RAT results, what's the thoughts; good chance we have covid?

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

National cabinet meeting today.... rumour is they will be discussing tweeking the definition of what is a "covid case" and "covid hospitilisation"

Scotty from marketing at His Finest..............

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0

So, even though all three of us returned negative RAT results, what's the thoughts; good chance we have covid?

See Pooka's post. None of the TGA approved RAT kits have submitted evidence that it can detect Omnicron.

I mentioned that I was in touch with an antivax friend of mine who was showing symptoms. She had taken a RAT which came back negative, so I thought it was fairly "safe" to have a 10 min catch up (I had to drop something off for her). I went inside her house, but she decided to put on a mask. That was more than 7 days ago. She just told me that the friends she was hanging around with during Christmas, 2 of them tested positive to Omincron, so she most likely had Omnicron. But I've had nothing, not even a sniffle.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

See Pooka's post. None of the TGA approved RAT kits have submitted evidence that it can detect Omnicron.

True, but that doesn't necessarily mean they don't, just that they haven't presented the evidence.

Originally Posted by T3rminator

I mentioned that I was in touch with an antivax friend of mine who was showing symptoms. She had taken a RAT which came back negative, so I thought it was fairly "safe" to have a 10 min catch up (I had to drop something off for her). I went inside her house, but she decided to put on a mask. That was more than 7 days ago. She just told me that the friends she was hanging around with during Christmas, 2 of them tested positive to Omincron, so she most likely had Omnicron. But I've had nothing, not even a sniffle.

Yeah, it's odd, because my sister and her hubby were here over the Christmas period, too, and probs spent more time with my mum than I did, as they were staying at her place. And for Christmas lunch, my mum's family side went to a business place for lunch. There were 8 of us there. So far, my daughter, myself and an auntie are the only ones showing symptoms.

Perhaps I should go and get a PCR test just to be on the safe side? If nothing else, at least it will allow me to work from home for the next week or so whilst I await a result

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Also on the point of RATs being able to detect the Omicron variant, there is some evidence that existing RATS in other countries at least (I haven't cross checked the brands mentioned against the TGA provided list yet due to time constraints) are able to detect Omicron successfully.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/special...clusives/96287

[russellw]

Data valid as at 00:00 GMT January 4th 2022.

47,173 new cases for Australia (a new record) and 4 deaths so the CMR is 0.415%.

NZ recorded 59 cases and 0 deaths for a CMR of 0.355%.

The UK recorded 218,705 cases and 48 deaths for a CMR of 1.092%.

980,103 new cases in the USA yesterday and 1,642 deaths sees CMR at 1.480%. That’s >400k more cases than the previous high last week.

Other notable points:
Global cases pass 295M, the last 3M in 1 day – the fastest ever;
Global cases set a new record daily high with 2,105,687 recorded;
Europe sets a new daily high with 1,092,014 cases recorded;
Europe passes 90M cases;
North America passes 68M cases and 1.25M deaths;
South America passes 40M cases;

Guyana (485);
Mauritania (825);
Suriname (745);
French Guiana (960);
Burkina Faso (1,005);
Cabo Verde (1,025);
Aruba (1,028);
Iceland (1,130);
Mayotee (1,939)
Channel Islands (2,517);
Montenegro (2,590);
Dominican Republic (3,700);
DRC (4,481);
Cyprus (5,457);
Réunion (9,358) – almost twice the previous high;
Denmark (23,372);
Australia (47,173);
Greece (50,126);
Argentina (81,210) – 30K above the previous high;
Italy (170,844);
France (271,686); and
The USA (980,103)

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

Uruguay, Lithuania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Morocco and Austria move above the 90th percentile for the 10 day period and South Africa drops below.

We are still waiting for 2 countries in North America (Costa Rica, Honduras) to report data for 31st December before doing the annual summary.

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Scotty from marketing at His Finest..............

Probably wait to see what that entails. I am betting it will be the ability to register a positive RAT result online, so they can keep track of those along with PCR tests, just like the do under the NHS in the UK.

Pretty smart if that is the case.

[russellw]

While we don't know what variant they are, hospitalisations in this country have more than doubled in the last fortnight from 722 to 1,862 and those in ICU from 156 to 225.

The 14 day average hospitalisation rate is about 0.77% and, in fairness, case numbers in that same 14 day period totalled more than 320k compared to only 43k cases in the previous fortnight.

Indeed, at the current case rates we'll exceed the total cases for 2021 (371,259) by the end of the weekend given we have already recorded 213,884 in 5 days with a couple of States yet to report and we are adding about 50k cases per day.

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0

Thought I'd share my (potential?) covid story.

My mum came down with a cold a few days after Christmas day. Coughing, sneezing, congested head etc. Mum has suffered from bronchitis regularly every year whenever she gets a cold. No surprise, it went to her chest and in no time she was having trouble breathing. Having covid symptoms, she did a RAT to confirm it was not covid. Test was negative.

We booked mum into the local medical clinic, which also happens to be the local respiratory clinic, but the earliest appointment via online booking was for Thursday 30th Dec. Mum called the clinic on Wednesday 29th and the receptionist could hear mum was struggling to breathe and advised her that she couldn't come into the clinic because of her covid symptoms but that she would need to turn up to the respiratory clinic, get a PCR test and then see one of the doctors working in the clinic for an assessment of her condition.

Test taken, doc seen and prescriptions for antibiotics dispensed and mum home for some rest.

With little surprise, my daughter then developed the same symptoms on new years day. She spent the best part of two days not moving from her bed. She has a history of colds developing into an ear infection, and it did so again this time. We organised for a telehealth call from the doc, who issued her with some antibiotics, too. She also did a RAT which returned a negative result.

And again, with little surprise, I developed similar symptoms on 2nd Jan. I then spent two days in bed as well. I also did a RAT, again negative.

My mum has still not got back her PCR test result.

I know, by the guidance provided by the Vic government, if I'm symptomatic and even though I may have a negative RAT result, I should still get a PCR test. But, with all of the delays in getting PCR tests completed and results returned, is there any point in going to get a PCR?

And then, I read this article this morning. And in particular, this comment:



So, even though all three of us returned negative RAT results, what's the thoughts; good chance we have covid?

The same chance that you may have a million other diseases with similar respiratory symptoms!
I hope you are all OK, maybe just a seasonal thing, everyone is very close to other family members at Christmas time, I cough, sneeze and sniffle all the time, allergies I suppose, the whole world is going downhill, we just have to ride this one out, but hope ya all get well soon.

[Pooka]

Originally Posted by FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0

Also on the point of RATs being able to detect the Omicron variant, there is some evidence that existing RATS in other countries at least (I haven't cross checked the brands mentioned against the TGA provided list yet due to time constraints) are able to detect Omicron successfully.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/special...clusives/96287

From that article, it lists 5 kits that have detected the Omicron variant in a laboratory environment. But they were in the lower range readings.

• Flow Flex ‘self-test’
• Innova Biotime ‘self-test and professional use test’
• Orient Gene ‘self-test’
• SureScreen ‘professional use test’
• SureScreen ‘self-test’

The evaluation is performed using dilutions of cultured virus stock in Hanks Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) plus mucin with 5 samples at each dilution. The dilutions provide 3 concentrations of virus in the following ranges, >1,000,000, >100,000, >10,000 viral copies per millilitre (ml). The Omicron variant was isolated from a primary clinical sample sourced in the UK and confirmed as being Omicron by sequencing.

In summary, the LFDs evaluated, all of which target the nucleocapsid protein, have detected the new Omicron variant that contains 4 amino acid changes from the original viral sequence. This does not affect their performance in the laboratory setting and we will monitor further variant changes as they arise as part of our ongoing evaluation programme.

It also states that "Real world data for Omicron are currently being processed and a separate technical report will be released when analysis has been completed."

Going by the name only, none of those 5 kits are on TGA's approval list. But the UK could be using different names, and different packaging.

Interesting to note that most of these RAT kits used worldwide are made in.... China. Almost 9 out of 10 are Chinese manufacturers from what I can see. Hmmm...

[Pooka]

You know how the "official" word is that this virus started at a wet market in Wuhan, China as of November 2019. When I was in Japan in early part of 2020, there were quite a number of reports that Japanese people were sick and infected with a strange virus going back to August 2019, and some even earlier.

Various investigations/reports have recently said that this Covid-19 was around in China as far back as March - April 2019. A report published in Japan October of last year said PCR test kit demand in China ramped up significantly in May of 2019.

China PCR test orders soared before first confirmed COVID case

TOKYO -- Purchases of PCR tests in China's Hubei Province surged months before the first official reports of a novel coronavirus case there.

About 67.4 million yuan ($10.5 million at current rates) was spent on PCR tests in Hubei during 2019, nearly double the 2018 total, with the upswing starting in May, according to the report.

Orders doubled from universities, jumped fivefold from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and surged tenfold from animal testing bureaus. Purchases from hospitals declined by more than 10%.

Monthly procurement data shows a spike in orders in May, especially from CDC buyers and the People's Liberation Army.

"We believe the increased spending in May suggests this as the earliest start date for possible infection," the report said.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Mo...med-COVID-case

[BENT_8]

My Daughter tested positive to Covid on a RAT and then PCR, 6 days later whilst still suffering symptoms bad enough to require an ambulance attendance, she returned a negative on a different RAT.

[T3rminator]

An interesting take.....


'More painful than lockdown': Australia's hospitality industry left reeling from latest COVID wave
https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/...0220103-h20vca

Pandemic assistance for businesses has generally been based on lockdowns or capacity restrictions. Victoria currently has neither; NSW has density limits yet no financial aid. But being theoretically able to trade means nothing without staff: a depleted workforce has put many businesses into "lockdown lite" without any financial aid.

A manager at one prominent restaurant, preferring to remain anonymous, says, "I never thought I'd wish for another lockdown. That's how bad it is." Jason Jones has closed his Le Petit Marche offshoot to Entrecote in inner Melbourne's Prahran. "For the first time in two years I am at breaking point," he says. "It's never been this hard."

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

My Daughter tested positive to Covid on a RAT and then PCR, 6 days later whilst still suffering symptoms bad enough to require an ambulance attendance, she returned a negative on a different RAT.

This was interesting

He thought it was negative, but later after a positive noticed the faintest of lines

https://www.news.com.au/world/corona...e325ea3931703b

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by prydey

My sister came home from overseas 3 weeks ago. Double vaxxed etc. Had to have a PCR test on day 5 and day 12. Both negative. Day 14 she gets a fever and the sniffles. We had 4 Rapid kits in preparation for returning home from Brisbane but the rules were constantly changing and in the end we didn't need them. We gave one packet (2 kits) to sister to use while waiting for a 3rd PCR appointment.

She used both and both tested negative on both. Long story short, her 3rd PCR returned a positive result for covid.

Fat lot of good rapid tests are.

My sister felt fine the next day too. Still stuck in isolation for another 7 days though but time to ignore case numbers and move on. The health system will cope as long as people do the right thing and protect themselves and practice good hygiene.

We just spent 3 weeks in bris. Came home today. Ignored the news outlets for 3 weeks and had a great holiday. Wearing masks and practising good hygiene and social distancing was a small price to pay.

They’re not perfect but they assist.

A mate of mine got a PCR test while he had a cough, it came back negative. Couple of days later did a rat and it was positive so he got another PCR and it was positive.

We do rats every day at work before our shift starts and they have picked up at least 2 staff members who were positive but didn’t know it yet.
They have also shown a number of false positives too.

Not perfect but at least they can help.

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by Pooka

You know how the "official" word is that this virus started at a wet market in Wuhan, China as of November 2019.

The whole world already knows China can't be trusted, always military on parade, makes me wonder how cruise ships became havens for Disease but all the World's navies seem immune?
And I mean very close quarter living, sleeping and eating, what do the world's navies use for immunity? Not just Communist countries but the Western World navies too, always seem odd to me, cruise ships contaminated, and the World's navies are immune

[George V]

Well well,

Looks like , we are all set to stop counting cases - no PCR test, RAT at home and report if positive etc - effectively make it a voluntary notification. Hospital admission will be the only reliable indication of the severity of the situation (until they change it of course).

So, let it rip and get over with; sincerely hope it is that simple.

Just booked an appointment for our under 12 kid to get the jab around end of Jan, hope it becomes effective enough when school starts.

Little bird tells me that positive rate of PCR test in one major lab is running between 40 to 50%, so it is only a matter of time....


Cheers,
George V

[LG17]

Originally Posted by George V

Well well,

Looks like , we are all set to stop counting cases - no PCR test, RAT at home and report if positive etc - effectively make it a voluntary notification. Hospital admission will be the only reliable indication of the severity of the situation (until they change it of course).

So, let it rip and get over with; sincerely hope it is that simple.

Just booked an appointment for our under 12 kid to get the jab around end of Jan, hope it becomes effective enough when school starts.

Little bird tells me that positive rate of PCR test in one major lab is running between 40 to 50%, so it is only a matter of time....


Cheers,
George V

And if you don't get tested and confirmed positive you'll have no comeback later on if you get complications. Officially it'll be no you didn't have Covid...

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by tweeked

This was interesting

He thought it was negative, but later after a positive noticed the faintest of lines

https://www.news.com.au/world/corona...e325ea3931703b

My Daughter used that type (Suresign) first off, supposed to take up to 15 minutes to give a result, hers gave 2 lines for a positive in under a minute and there was nothing faint about them I can tell you.
The second one she did was a saliva type (Ecotest) which gave a negative.
We all used the same saliva type for our day 6 test and all showed negative but then none of us had a positive PCR or symptoms either.

No one I tell believes me when I say 4 of us spent the entire fortnight with a Covid positive person and didnt catch it, crazy when its supposedly spread so easily.

[Ben73]

Scomo has gone full Trump with the “numbers will drop if we stop testing” logic.

Saliva rat tests have a pretty high rate of false positives. This may cause some issues for my work place if false positives can no longer get a PCR to show they are negative.

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

My Daughter used that type (Suresign) first off, supposed to take up to 15 minutes to give a result, hers gave 2 lines for a positive in under a minute and there was nothing faint about them I can tell you.
The second one she did was a saliva type (Ecotest) which gave a negative.
We all used the same saliva type for our day 6 test and all showed negative but then none of us had a positive PCR or symptoms either.

No one I tell believes me when I say 4 of us spent the entire fortnight with a Covid positive person and didnt catch it, crazy when its supposedly spread so easily.

I think it has been shown that some people are “spreaders” and some are not.

On that, just found out the next door neighbour is positive, two doors down, the young girls BF positive. It is everywhere. Got my booster today, just need to lay low now for a few weeks.

[Pooka]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

My Daughter used that type (Suresign) first off, supposed to take up to 15 minutes to give a result, hers gave 2 lines for a positive in under a minute and there was nothing faint about them I can tell you.
The second one she did was a saliva type (Ecotest) which gave a negative.
We all used the same saliva type for our day 6 test and all showed negative but then none of us had a positive PCR or symptoms either.

Where did you purchase the 'Suresign' kit from? There is no 'Suresign' listed as one of the 160 kits approved for sale in Australia. There is a Suresign RAT kit, but it's NOT to be sold in Australia, so someone is doing a dodgy.

The Ecotest comes in 3 different kits. Two saliva and one nasal. Only one is on the TGA approval list.

• Ecotest COVID-19 Antigen Saliva Test Kit - This kit is TGA approved.
• Ecotest COVID-19 Antigen Nasal Test Kit
• Ecotest COVID-19 Antigen Saliva Test kit (COV-S35Pen)

[Pooka]

RAT kits are a load of bull****. They have always had a bad reputation, and most medical experts have been saying for a while now that they're 50/50, if that. False readings are a given. Heck, you can get a positive reading by putting drops of water, or drops of soft drinks in it apparently.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by Pooka

Where did you purchase the 'Suresign' kit from? There is no 'Suresign' listed as one of the 160 kits approved for sale in Australia. There is a Suresign RAT kit, but it's NOT to be sold in Australia, so someone is doing a dodgy.

The Ecotest comes in 3 different kits. Two saliva and one nasal. Only one is on the TGA approval list.

• Ecotest COVID-19 Antigen Saliva Test Kit - This kit is TGA's approval list.
• Ecotest COVID-19 Antigen Nasal Test Kit
• Ecotest COVID-19 Antigen Saliva Test kit (COV-S35Pen)

I might be wrong, but I'm going to take a punt and suggest that Bent meant the Rightsign brand, not Suresign, as is listed in the list you provided earlier, pooka.


Name: RightSign COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Cassette
Type: Nasal
Sensitivity: High
Variants detected: No evidence provided to TGA as of 21/12/2021

This is the brand my ex, who works in a local pharmacy, has been getting access to via staff discount and that I've been using.

[Pooka]

Originally Posted by FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0

I might be wrong, but I'm going to take a punt and suggest that Bent meant the Rightsign brand, not Suresign, as is listed in the list you provided earlier, pooka.

Could be. But there is a Suresign kit.

https://www.suresignprofessional.com/covid19

Maybe this kit is part of the "secret stash" Bent_8 was referring to earlier in the thread that he had access to? (jokes)

[roddy1960]

I hope bloody Djokovic gets wiped off the court like a dirty bum ASAP when the tennis starts ...Bloody disgrace Tennis Australia and whoever else allowed this . Not on . Covid is no joke but he is ..

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

My Daughter used that type (Suresign) first off, supposed to take up to 15 minutes to give a result, hers gave 2 lines for a positive in under a minute and there was nothing faint about them I can tell you.
The second one she did was a saliva type (Ecotest) which gave a negative.
We all used the same saliva type for our day 6 test and all showed negative but then none of us had a positive PCR or symptoms either.

No one I tell believes me when I say 4 of us spent the entire fortnight with a Covid positive person and didnt catch it, crazy when its supposedly spread so easily.

I will believe you, my daughter's spouse and children tested positive and she remained negative for the full 15 days last year under the same roof.
She did however asked DHHS if she can be tested to see if she had previously been infected by covid but they declined to test her as they thought it was unnecessary and waste of resources.