The coronabrexit thread. I mean, coronavirus thread

[maxjam]

19 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

I get your point, but with that many cases, it's achievable to get back to zero cases with only a couple of weeks in lockdown

As opposed to 3+ months in lockdown trying to get cases down to a manageable level in terms of hospitalisation, but that just immediately seed a further wave as soon as you open up

Not saying I agree, I'm just saying it's not that crazy

I haven't followed Australia since we got over debating it the first time around but as well as many 'mini lockdowns' they have also had some of the longest and strictest;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-54686812

It also looks like this latest outbreak is on the verge of becoming unmanageable and there have been calls for even tougher restrictions due to less than 5% of the population being fully vaccinated;

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/29/australia-covid-lockdowns-spread-amid-confusion-over-vaccine-advice

I personally think that all countries have had successes and failures.  It would be nice to think we all pooled our knowledge and were better able to prevent the next pandemic but I'm probably being extremely naive. 

[RoyMac5]

3 minutes ago, maxjam said:

I personally think that all countries have had successes and failures.  It would be nice to think we all pooled our knowledge and were better able to prevent the next pandemic but I'm probably being extremely naive. 

Is there another way out of these situations other than vaccinations? As far as I am aware from small amounts of reading, viruses that are found in animal populations cannot ever be 'gotten rid of' entirely unlike say smallpox which exists only in human populations (and I may have used the wrong example there)? But the jist of something I read ages ago was Covid is never going away entirely.

Edited June 30, 2021 by RoyMac5

[Gone]

2 hours ago, GboroRam said:

And that's the kind of response that's meant they've been living a normal life for the last year. Thank god we've got a world class test and trace system.

Locking down huge Cities for a handful of cases, that’s a normal life now. Ok ?? 

[maxjam]

Seeing as we're talking about Australia, this is trending on twitter right now;

They are not exactly encouraging vaccine take up over there are they!

To be fair however, imo once you've vaccinated everyone over 50 and the vulnerable the risk to everyone else is minimal enough to open back up anyway.  The alternative is to keep locking down forever in the vain hope of preventing future variants and achieving covid zero.  

[angieram]

It must have been easier for Australia to cut itself off from the rest of the world due to its geographical location. Their economy is not so heavily reliant on international commerce and they are not a major travel hub. Also citizens are less likely to be clamouring for travel when they already have a fantastic lifestyle at home! 

But sooner or later they had to open up so they should have been just as keen on getting everyone vaccinated as the rest of the world. That they are so far behind others is quite sad and just demonstrates that it is necessity that fuels action. Britain has been so good at vaccination because it was our only practical route out of the pandemic, so we got on with it.

[Tamworthram]

24 minutes ago, angieram said:

It must have been easier for Australia to cut itself off from the rest of the world due to its geographical location. Their economy is not so heavily reliant on international commerce and they are not a major travel hub. Also citizens are less likely to be clamouring for travel when they already have a fantastic lifestyle at home! 

But sooner or later they had to open up so they should have been just as keen on getting everyone vaccinated as the rest of the world. That they are so far behind others is quite sad and just demonstrates that it is necessity that fuels action. Britain has been so good at vaccination because it was our only practical route out of the pandemic, so we got on with it.

Not only that but, although I’ve never been to Australia, given the country is so large and diverse in terms of landscape and climate (I’m guessing and happy to be corrected) I would imagine remaining within the same country for your holiday is a lot more appealing than in the UK. Same with the US.

[ariotofmyown]

2 hours ago, Archied said:

If your auntie had balls springs to mind , all ifs and if only s ,,, it would be perfect??‍♂️

That is the sort of response when someone tries to say Derby would have won the league if we had beaten a,b,c and x,y,z.

The post you replied to was simply saying if Aus had done their vaccination programme as well as their track and trace system, they would have done a brilliant overall job throughout the pandemic.

Under 1k deaths shows they have successfully manage to keep deaths low, of which their tracking system was clearly a important component.

Why do you think it's ludicrous to suggest they could have had a successful vaccination programme too? After dealing with tracking and tracing so well, I'd have thought a successful vaccination programme was more likely than not.

[ariotofmyown]

10 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Not only that but, although I’ve never been to Australia, given the country is so large and diverse in terms of landscape and climate (I’m guessing and happy to be corrected) I would imagine remaining within the same country for your holiday is a lot more appealing than in the UK. Same with the US.

I'm not sure, one reason I've never wanted to live there is that you are so far away from any different sort of places.

I think the US has far more variation than Aus, even though both are similar huge places. 

[Stive Pesley]

2 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

Is that true of the more highly transmissible Delta variant?

No idea mate - i'm not a virologist!

[Stive Pesley]

2 hours ago, maxjam said:

I personally think that all countries have had successes and failures.  It would be nice to think we all pooled our knowledge and were better able to prevent the next pandemic but I'm probably being extremely naive. 

It would be good if we had some sort of "world health organisation" that could provide global health advice on pandemics ?

[maxjam]

47 minutes ago, ariotofmyown said:

Why do you think it's ludicrous to suggest they could have had a successful vaccination programme too? After dealing with tracking and tracing so well, I'd have thought a successful vaccination programme was more likely than not.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-56825920

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-57181038

In short there seems to be several problems;

- supply shortages

- logistical problems

- vaccine hesitancy

- low covid infection rate leading to no rush to get jabbed

- fears over the AstraZenica vaccine

[Wolfie]

3 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

 But the jist of something I read ages ago was Covid is never going away entirely.

True. The devastating Spanish Flu virus from 1918 is still with us but has mutated over the years into one which now only causes the common cold.

Over time, viruses tend to mutate into versions which are more contageous but not as deadly (i.e. it's not a good long term strategy to kill your host)

[jimmyp]

Interesting survey. Quite surprised by the results. 

[Boycie]

Apparently there’s a big out break in Cleethorpes?

Im not mentioning any names mind.

The boss wouldn’t be happy.

[Anag Ram]

3 minutes ago, jimmyp said:

Interesting survey. Quite surprised by the results. 

Yeah, we would dearly love our granddaughter (17) to get the vaccine. She's the only one in the family who hasn't been vaccinated and her social group is amongst the highest incidence. 

[GboroRam]

28 minutes ago, maxjam said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-56825920

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-57181038

In short there seems to be several problems;

- supply shortages

- logistical problems

- vaccine hesitancy

- low covid infection rate leading to no rush to get jabbed

- fears over the AstraZenica vaccine

Items 1 and 2 point to a failure by the health service in Aus to organise their programme.

Items 3 and 5 point to a failure of public health to convince the public that the vaccination programme is the best method to achieve the outcomes they all want.

Point 4 is a down side to having such a good test, trace and isolate programme. But still, the public health campaign should be pushing people to get the vaccine if they want to avoid lockdowns in future.

We've failed spectacularly in some areas in this country, but I think on the whole the response by the NHS has been exemplary. Australia seems to have been a beacon of success until it comes to the vaccine rollout, which for whatever reason has been utter tripe compared to the UK. I'd say, without knowing much of the detail, it appears that the Australian politicians did a better job than ours, and their health service did a worse job than ours.

[i-Ram]

26 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Apparently there’s a big out break in Cleethorpes?

Im not mentioning any names mind.

The boss wouldn’t be happy.

Has someone chained up that disability carriage?

[maxjam]

24 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

Yeah, we would dearly love our granddaughter (17) to get the vaccine. She's the only one in the family who hasn't been vaccinated and her social group is amongst the highest incidence. 

Assuming she is fit and healthy why would you want her to take a vaccine for which we don't yet know whether there maybe any long term complications?

[maxjam]

18 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

Items 1 and 2 point to a failure by the health service in Aus to organise their programme.

Items 3 and 5 point to a failure of public health to convince the public that the vaccination programme is the best method to achieve the outcomes they all want.

Point 4 is a down side to having such a good test, trace and isolate programme. But still, the public health campaign should be pushing people to get the vaccine if they want to avoid lockdowns in future.

We've failed spectacularly in some areas in this country, but I think on the whole the response by the NHS has been exemplary. Australia seems to have been a beacon of success until it comes to the vaccine rollout, which for whatever reason has been utter tripe compared to the UK. I'd say, without knowing much of the detail, it appears that the Australian politicians did a better job than ours, and their health service did a worse job than ours.

I'd agree with that - ideally we can all learn from each other to help limit future pandemics.

Amongst other things our threat assessment and containment strategies were borderline useless, which resulted in a rush to get vaccinated - whereas Australia's quick and decisive actions now seem to be backfiring as the public don't perceive the threat to be as great.

[Anag Ram]

7 minutes ago, maxjam said:

Assuming she is fit and healthy why would you want her to take a vaccine for which we don't yet know whether there maybe any long term complications?

Because her sister is at risk due to a congenital condition. 

Every injection we have comes with risk. 

She wants the vaccination herself so she doesn't unwittingly pass it on to someone more vulnerable.