COVID-19 Virus.

[willedoo]

37 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I reckon that you can't trust the next bloke in this, so wear a mask to filter the air you are breathing in. It's not a case of my trying to protect the other bloke from my bugs.

I heard a so called expert on the radio saying the research indicates that the primary infection cause is airborne. So in spite of all our hand washing and 1.5 metre distancing, wearing masks is what we should be doing. 1.5 metres would only stop the bug with normal breathing. They've proven that a cough will send particles several metres.

 

.

[Yenn]

It isn't over yet and maybe it is just starting. We have done fairly well in Australia and we cannot put that down to our federal government.

If Scomo had his way we would have had many more cases than we  actually have and that is down to our state premiers and health advisors.

Other countries are in a bad way, because it is the politicians making all the decisions and they are based on doing what will keep the population happy, Not safe.

[red750]

Get off your bike, Yenn. Gladys and her lot let the Ruby Princess mess happen, and is handling the current mess like someone with all thumbs, (cricket test with 20,000 plus spectators, softly softly on masks, etc), while Dan Andrews wouldn't know if a brass band was up him till someone gave him the drum. Still can't tell us who stuffed up the hotel quarantine situation.

[old man emu]

Eighty years ago posters like these were commonplace around Britain. The warning was to protect the populous from something that could be seen coming and who was bringing it.

 

Today we are being told to wear these to protect the populous from an invisible enemy.

 

 

It soon became clear that Hitler was not likely to use poison gas anywhere but recognised battlefields, so people stopped carrying their gas masks. Unfortunately, we don't know when our invisible is about, or if it will ever withdraw. 

 

Is there any simpler argument for wearing a mask in public places?

[willedoo]

9 minutes ago, red750 said:

Gladys and her lot let the Ruby Princess mess happen, and is handling the current mess like someone with all thumbs, (cricket test with 20,000 plus spectators, softly softly on masks, etc

Crikey Peter, don't tell her cheer squad that. Scotty will have to give up his baton twirling.

[Yenn]

Gladys was blamed and maybe rightfully so, but it was not her responsibility. Maybe the feds handed over quarantine to the state governments, but if the states failed it was still the feds responsibility. They should be held responsible.

Scomo has been vocal about the states not allowing Aussies back from overseas, because of lack of hotel quarantine room, but it is his responsibility and he is too gutless to carry it.

[Bruce Tuncks]

In the old days, they knew enough to put quarantine stations onto islands. How come they knew more than we do and a hundred years have passed?

[spacesailor]

All those quarrentiine stations are big monet earning tourist attractions.

BUT

what is the chance, of Someone in that testing queue having a Positive result !.

Or are they All in cars, with no pedestrian attendees.

Just my thought, like keep well away from crowds.

spacesailor

[facthunter]

The Virus needs host people to get places. One or two silly bu@@ers crossing half a state can set it all  the good work back. weeks. . Nev

[Yenn]

They don't even need to be silly buggers. The cleaner who got a positive test in Qld was just doing her job. We all do our job and if we come into contact with someone who is spreading the virus, we do not know immediately. the only way we can be sure we don't spread the virus is to become a hermit. Go to work, go home and nothing else. Who is willing to do that when there are no unaccounted for cases in the state. Is anyone who doesn't do this a silly bugger. Then again we had the woman who went to Blackwater to view the sunset, or so she said. Was she a silly bugger? too right, but her lawyers and union have made her out to be victimised.

I heard today some expert talking about laboratory made food such as milk and meat, made from stem cells. He was saying that the world population would be so any billion by 2050 that we would have to have food made this way. He obviously has no idea about viral diseases, nor the forces of nature. We cannot afford to have an ever increasing population and I can't even guess at why we should want that.

Even if we could provide all the food for a massive population, where do all the other requirements come from. We already have good agricultural land being ruined by mining to provide coal for electricity to power our air conditioners. We have global warming caused by our pollution of the atmosphere.

Maybe Covid 19 is the answer to mother natures requirements. Save the world, be a silly bugger!

[facthunter]

I put off having any air conditioning until I had solar  We need WATER and clean aquifers and good topsoil. Talk about Brazil WE clear more land as a %.  Population explodes because most religions want to grow THEIR numbers. Go forth and multiply till there's no room left and we'll have to fight over everything. Nev

[onetrack]

I've just flown back to Perth from the Gold Coast after 9 days there, visiting the stepson and his family with SWMBO. We were sweating all the time we were there, that there would be a QLD outbreak of the virus - and we were justified in being worried. We have been relatively untouched by the virus up to this stage, apart from a short lockdown in mid-2020 in W.A.

 

We heard about the infected Brisbane cleaner on Thursday the 7th January, and we were booked to fly out from Brisbane at 2:50PM on a Virgin 737-800 on Friday the 8th January.

Early Friday morning we got the news that W.A. was closing the border to QLD from midnight on Friday night - and then the news came that every arrival in W.A. from QLD on Friday, would need to get tested and go into 14 day quarantine. That was a reported 1400 people alone.

What is probably worse for many travellers, is that everyone from QLD who has arrived in W.A. since the 2nd of Jan, has to go into quarantine! That would really pixx me off, if I was one of that group.

 

So here we are, locked into our property until 23rd January, unable to even go outside the front gate, and no-one is allowed in - except for critical maintenance or an emergency.

To say I'm pixxed-off is an understatement. The damage is wide-ranging. All flights to Perth were delayed, some by up to 2-1/2 hrs. That was just the start.

 

We took off 40 mins late, but managed to arrive on time, probably thanks to a lack of jetstream headwinds. But when we landed, we were told we would only be allowed off in groups of 20 to facilitate processing. We were lucky, we got an upgrade to business and were in the first 20 to be allowed off. Once off, it was staggering the gamut of health people and enforcement people we had to run.

 

I was actually one of the first through, and I felt like an Auschwitz victim being processed. Extended interview by a police officer first, then processed again by a table of "full PPE" health workers, all clad in face shields, gloves and hospital gowns. Then into a booth for the COVID test and more processing and double checks of personal details.

The W.A. authorities are dead-set on every detail being correct, and having 100% tracking ability through the app, or via calls to your mobile, which you must have with you at all times. 

 

You get a location check notice through the app and you must provide a photo of where you are at the time. I got handed the legal terms notice by the police officer, and the terms are pretty draconian and nothing is left to chance. I couldn't see any "liberty-loving" American agreeing to any of this stuff - and I guess the results in America, show the end result of their "liberty-loving" attitude.

 

After being processed, it took another 1-1/4 hours for our luggage to be unloaded - because they couldn't unload the luggage until every passenger was off the 737, for fear of it tipping up, and sitting on its tail. That made a heap more waiting passengers cranky.

 

So, now I'll end up losing almost a whole month of progress in my projects, jobs, items to be picked up, and repair and restoration work. I guess it's the price I have to personally pay for the protection of the general population.

I started thinking about what the potential would be if I was found positive. I've been through quite a number of markets, cafes and shopping centres in SE QLD between 30th Dec and 8th January - as well as the airport, hire car and Didi/Uber rides. I've got a full log of my travels, both in Google timeline and receipts.

The infection potential is enormous, and not a lot of the people I encountered in SE QLD were practising good anti-virus procedures. Many cared little about personal spacing, and very few I came across were wearing masks.

 

What did surprise me, was the number of mask wearers who were pretty casual about mask use, and the proper fit of masks. Even the Virgin crew were pretty casual.

The Captain wasn't wearing a mask, he stepped out of the cockpit, and BS-ed with the crew in the galley - twice, for about 20 mins each time. All the crew took their masks off in the galley for extended periods.

The Captain also walked the length of the cabin with no mask. I though that was a bit poor. This is from a bloke who is supposed to be practising leadership, and following company policies.

 

The W.A. Govt is especially worried because this QLD outbreak is the new British mutant strain that spreads like wildfire. I'll have the first test result back within 24 hrs, the testers told me, and then I have to have a second test on the 11th day of quarantine. Ah well, I guess we can catch up with a pile of house maintenance in the next 14 days.

Edited January 9, 2021 by onetrack

[onetrack]

Well, I've got the first test results back, at 10:40AM yesterday, and they were negative, so all is good, so far. Just have to have the second virus test next Tuesday, and then we'll be out of quarantine the evening of Friday 22nd.

 

In other news - today, Jan 11th., marks the 1st anniversary of the first reported COVID-19 death in China. The world is still looking for the origin of the virus, and China is not exactly willing to help.

 

There's quite a good article below, from the Jakarta Post. As one would expect, the epidemiology experts are still deeply divided over how the virus came to be transmitted to humans, and exactly where it might have originated. The general feeling is that it was in circulation for a considerable period before December 2019 - possibly more than a year, according to one disease expert.

 

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2021/01/10/a-year-after-first-death-in-china-coronavirus-source-still-a-puzzle.html

Edited January 11, 2021 by onetrack

[Old Koreelah]

[willedoo]

There's moves underway in the Russian parliament to ban foreigners from using Russian surrogate mothers to have children. Due to the Covid situation,  a lot of foreign couples didn't come to Russia to pick up their newborn babies. At present, there's several hundred of them without identity documents and an uncertain future. Ukraine has a similar problem and I'd hazard a guess that it's happened in other East European countries as well.

[red750]

You no doubt all know by now that Larry King has passed away in the last day or so, after contracting coronavirus. My daughter tells me he didn't believe in the afterlife, and requested to be cryogenically frozen so he can be brought back to life when a cure is found.  

[red750]

Covid-19 may damage sperm quality and reduce fertility in men, according to a new study based on experimental evidence.

 

The viral disease – which has swept the globe, claiming nearly 2.2 million lives – can cause increased sperm cell death, inflammation and so-called oxidative stress, researchers reported Friday in the journal Reproduction.

 

"These findings provide the first direct experimental evidence that the male reproductive system could be targeted and damaged by Covid-19," the authors concluded.

 

Read more here.

[nomadpete]

Maybe there is a positive side to covid after all....

[Yenn]

Reducing the reproduction rate is not in the interests of the virus. What the virus wants is to be able to live in us for as long as possible, without killing us. For the virus to wipe us out is for it to wipe itself out. no matter what happens there must be some of us survive to ensure the virus survives. Survival of the fittest will ensure that happens.

[nomadpete]

I don't really think a virus looks that far ahead

[octave]

An Italian Plane Manufacturer Developed A Craft Just For Transporting COVID-19 Vaccines

 

Not so much developed but rather adapted. Still quite interesting and probably useful in a country like Australia.

Edited February 1, 2021 by octave

[willedoo]

47 minutes ago, octave said:

An Italian Plane Manufacturer Developed A Craft Just For Transporting COVID-19 Vaccines

 

Not so much developed but rather adapted. Still quite interesting and probably useful in a country like Australia.

It will be interesting to see the follow on from this, re how many they make. I would guess some sort of lease arrangements would be the way to go.

[old man emu]

Coulda dun it wiv a Cessna!

[nomadpete]

No, not in a Cessna.

Everyone knows Cessna's crash too much!

[onetrack]

I can't see any reason why the portable freezer arrangement can't be organised as a standard freight container dimensions, so it could be fitted at a moments notice to any aircraft.

The problem with Tecnams setup is, that if their aircraft goes unairworthy for even the simplest reason, or gets held on the ground for an extended period, waiting for a part (and Deity knows, we've all had to wait for parts from Italy!), then the whole scheme shows up its weak point. Your large supply of vaccine is completely stopped in its tracks for an extended period, by the smallest failure.