mfd101

Over 4 million Aussies out of a population of 25 million have installed the relevant app so far, as urged by the Oz government. With more to follow.

So far the Oz world has not come to an end, the heavens have not fallen and there is no plague of locusts.

Just laughable.

All the worst of Thai culture on display: (1) Vague rules vaguely & inconsistently enforced (2) Thais as individuals their own worst enemy - failure to register or to change registration or address/occupation last year or 10 years ago and so not within the scope of the exercise, but still complain bitterly.

Rules don't apply to ME but I should still benefit from them!!

In a well-run society an example could always be made of one, to encourage the others.

I've never had a flu shot and I'm not some conspiracy loony.

I first inquired after one with my then Canberra doctor about 15 years ago and he said: Nah, you don't need one. Besides, it's always a vaccine for last year's flu, not this year's.

And I've never had 'the flu' in all my 70 years, despite spending my childhood in cold & wet NZ with miserable winters in a cold damp house (as they all were in those days). I got sore throats and 'colds' but never to my recollection the flu.

From tomorrow's 'Australian' (it being the 250th anniversary of Cook arriving at Botany Bay).

Taking a new vaccine for something as complex & difficult as this is like downloading Apple's latest big upgrade the day after it arrives. No thanks. Wait several months.

But it does also depend on other risk factors (such as underlying health & lifestyle). I'm almost 71 but healthy & reasonably fit, don't drink or smoke, eat healthy. So for me the risk is in taking the vaccine when it's not quite OK, rather than not taking it.

Venus, which used to be called 'Lucifer' - light-bearer. But in the C16th-17th our ignorant forebears thought that Venus falling rapidly in the night sky was a symbol of Satan being booted out of Heaven so 'Lucifer' became an alternative name for Satan ...

(Sorry about that. Couldn't resist.)

52 minutes ago, jaiyen said:

Most people have said they will not download it, I wont

Did you actually read (and understand) the article above?

Just imagine all of Thailand's beautiful clean, lovely, well-maintained beaches and islands with 2 or 3 times the number of tourists each year. Wow! can't wait.

The question posed is really really important. All the current assumptions & institutional rules & behavioral regulations would be in chaos if reactivation or reinfection becomes the norm.

That would be an exceedingly grim outlook, at least until a vaccine comes along - which may be some time in the next 6 months or maybe 2 years or maybe a decade away. Noone knows.

God will not be pleased. One way or another.

If your testing system is totally inadequate, then your numbers of infections will necessarily look wonderfully good ...

And if people start dropping dead of assorted pneumonias and other breathing difficulties, then the lack of testing allows you to announce a number of unrelated deaths from eg seasonal flu, or smoking, or even pollution ...

Yes, certainly all 'Western' countries will be looking to diversify their supply chains and to rebuild domestic capabilities.

The obvious outcome of the virus - longterm, semi-permanent (as much as anything is in this world) - is a kind of parochialism at every level of society: Individuals learn & reinforce the possibility, the capability & the pleasure of working from home; incompetent national governments see their functions taken over at domestic state/province & city levels; and international organisations (UN anyone? Security Council anyone? WHO? Europe anyone?) are shown incapable in an emergency and the nation-state comes out greatly reinforced.

What used to be The Future is in full retreat, and likely won't recover in our lifetimes.

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of the ban on money exchange. Is it to avoid infection from foreign notes? or is it some strange economic measure?

Ha ha. My doctor in Canberra years ago used to joke that, if my blood pressure got any lower, I'ld be dead. ????

Roman concrete has lasted 2 millennia & still good. Modern concrete lasts 30 or 50 years if you're lucky.