Australia - overseas returnees enforced isolation

[Nemises]

Doctors do a runner from Rydges Sydney Airport! So much for "enforced" isolation.

 

 

Hunt for 33 runaway visitors 

 

A GROUP of doctors who landed at Sydney Airport from Chile fled the hotels where they had been quarantined, with 27 managing to dodge police and board domestic flights.

In an extraordinary breach of quarantine orders, NSW Police Force tonight confirmed they had instructed the Australian Federal Police to issue Public Health Orders to the missing medical professionals at their destinations.

The incident occurred at 11pm on Friday at a hotel believed to be Rydges Sydney Airport, when NSW Health requested police help to process passengers on two flights out of Santiago, including 77 medical professionals who had attended a conference.

When officers returned to serve Public Health Orders telling the doctors to stay in the hotel, 33 were missing. Six were found at the domestic airport and 27 had already flown out.

NSW Police Minister David Elliott expressed fury at the breach. “I’m disappointed to hear medical professionals chose to ignore rules in place to save lives and protect the most vulnerable in our community,” Mr Elliott said.

 

 

- Sydney Sunday Telegraph (March 29)

[RJRS1301]

The quarantine of returning persons is an overdue move, but from reports poorly implimented

People are confined to rooms 24/7, without any fresh air or structured social distance measures for exercise.

I fear this will lead to mental ill health for many, many of the rooms have no balconies, poor planning, rushed decisions.

How are they catering for dietary requirements for those who require them for health reasons, reports are filtering out this has been inadequately preplanned.

 

[Lacessit]

41 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

maybe just a rumour but i believe we are all getting triple-value smilies as a TV stimulus measure and we can spend some of those on our own posts. Yummy!

Even in these days of isolation, one would have to be pretty bored to start thinking about triple-value smilies. Think I'll listen to some music now.

[RJRS1301]

23 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

whoops, maybe you need to check out the actual standard of (free) accomodation ... these Quest places for example, are not exactly low-rent ...

https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/hotel-chain-offers-11-000-rooms-for-quarantine-as-infection-rate-jumps-20200328-p54etu.html

 

... but sadly, even as an affluent nation, Australia cannot compete with this jerk ... sorry ... guy ...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/28/billionaire-david-geffen-isolation-coronavirus

 

Where did I indicate they were "low rent", that is your wording not mine.

Some of the hotels have no balconies, and windows unable to open, and they are not allowed from their rooms for exercise.

This is directly from several quarantined persons with at some (not all) hotels in Sydney.

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by RJRS1301

[RJRS1301]

1 hour ago, pdtokyo said:

Strange times indeed ... as you say, during and post-the recent bushfires we got rapid-fire mixed messages ''stay away! stay away!" then "come and visit!! come and visit!!" ...

 

... now the locals are digging out the pitchforks and flaming torches ready to repel city folk ... fair enough i suppose ... many vulnerable people in bush ... diabetics etc over-represented in rural Australia ... many places lack even basic hospital services, running water, small overcrowded multi-generational houses etc etc. Not new problems. Plenty of enquiries/media report/failed government interventions over many many years.

 

Silver lining of all this ... there's a good chance that many of those ''city folk'' will get a crash course in the realities of life outside the capital cities as their jobs, food, toilet rolls and lifestyle options generally come under threat.

 

Maybe a second wave pandemic of empathy? Hope so.

 

As for the grey nomads? (i used to be one) maybe they will survive like Mad Max characters ... black-painted Toyota Coasters with super-charged nitro V8's, wheel spikes, pointy roo bars and a crossbow turret up there where the sunroof used to be ... Mavis crochetting full-face skull masks ... George Miller, get cracking.

Unfortunately some city dwellers had hired small buses with trailers attached and driven to smaller towns/cities and like the locusts stripped shelves of goods for their own stockplies. Many country towns only get deliveries once or twice a week. Leaving locals sometimes without basic items.

Greed and avarice at its worst fuelled by fear.

 

Greed and avarice

[RJRS1301]

Just now, pdtokyo said:

Yes, "low rent" were my words, not yours. That's why they appeared in my post, not yours. The clear implication in your post is these people are provided with inferior accommodation ... that is your belief, it is not mine. Quest hotels and Swissotel (the other hotel appearing in many of the current stories) are not known for their low standards.

 

Maybe the Sydney Swissotel website photos are fake ...

https://www.swissotel.com/hotels/sydney/media/photos/

... but i doubt it.

 

Channel 7 isn't my media of choice but if this clip ...

https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/coronavirus-quarantine-what-its-like-inside-the-guarded-isolation-hotel-rooms-c-769437

is at all accurate then the standard of accomodation isn't bad and certainly (for what it is worth) superior to my current accomodation and look! may also include opening window/balcony!!

 

But the absence of said window/balcony does not indicate sealed chamber (yes, again, my post so my words) but the presence of air-conditioning. Again, for what it is worth, a luxury i cannot currently afford.

 

Dig into any situation involving 292 people and it will be easy enough to find a Melissa who complains about a cold breakfast ... that's how media works now ... find the squeaky cog and point a mike at it.

 

... but in the end ... you spend your sympathy and empathy how you choose and i'll do the same. OK?

 

Sorry that was not my belief, that was your misreading, and misinterpretation.

I am well aware some are at Swisshotel, somehwere where I have stayed , so you mistaken belief totally.

Isolation, along lack of exercise, and concern about health can impact on ones mental health, fact.

 

[RJRS1301]

11 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

 

You state this as a fact.  In the reports available to you ... can you provide a link to an article or possibly a video or photo that shows this locust-like stripping actually happening?

 

Love to see it.

 

Sure, there's ample evidence of many ordinary Australians going troppo over toilet paper but i've yet to see any pix of this city dweller plague. Small Australian city/town dwellers are to my knowledge, all equipped with smartphones ... 

 

 

 

 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/bus-loads-of-city-dwellers-stripping-regional-shelves-bare-20200317-p54ax1.html

Edited March 29, 2020 by RJRS1301

[Nemises]

2 hours ago, pdtokyo said:

 

You state this as a fact.  In the reports available to you ... can you provide a link to an article ... that shows this locust-like stripping actually happening?

 

Love to see it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Police are launching a massive crackdown on criminal groups hoarding essential items from supermarkets and reselling them overseas as the government plans a targeted home delivery program for the elderly.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told 2GB's Ray Hadley organised criminal groups were being investigated for depriving everyday Australians of critical groceries.

"We do have some people profiteering, hoarding not for consumption and either selling overseas or in a black market arrangement in Australia. We are going to come after those people and give them a fair warning now it won't be a pretty experience.

Police were swooping in on the behaviour, targeting areas where hoarding has been reported, Mr Dutton said.

"We will come down like a tonne of bricks on those individuals because I think they're the ones that have created this pattern of behaviour with hoarding and clearing shelves and normally sensible people have been wrapped in this because they've panicked when they've seen the shelves empty," he said.

The government is now urging Australians to do the right thing and not follow the lead of criminals in hoarding items for resale.

"You're making it harder for people who are the most vulnerable, those on a pension, self-funded retirees who may not be buying more than a couple of days groceries because they can't afford it. You need to stop," he said.

Dutton also reassured Australians that we have "more food in this country than we can consume" and urged everyone to only buy what is necessary.

"Please show an example to your neighbour, person shopping beside, be sensible about purchases and we can restore normality," he said.

It was put to Mr Dutton by Hadley that organised groups were sending buses into regional towns and clearing out supermarkets

"It's a busload of Asian Australians I presume with a trailer on the back, just going to these shopping centres and shops... Aldi, Coles and Woollies and clearing the joint out." Hadley said.

"I'm at a loss, do they sell it at local stores or take it elsewhere? Do you know where all the items are going?"

"Yes, I do but investigations are underway so I'm not going into more detail," Mr Dutton replied.

Photos and footage have shown people of all ethnicities hoarding groceries across Sydney.

 

 

 

https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/shoppers-urged-to-avoid-stockpiling-goods/3972376/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supermarkets in regional Victorian towns have reportedly been swamped by bus loads of city-dwellers from Melbourne, who are stripping shelves and leaving locals empty-handed.

On Tuesday, there were numerous reports that grocery stores shelves in towns like Gisborne, Kyneton, Romsey, Seymour, Ararat, Woodend, Daylesford, amongst others, have been emptied by people travelling hours on buses from the city.

Ararat local Rhys told Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio that people have been arriving in town on buses.

 

“We had a supermarket attendant tell my partner yesterday that they had busload of people come in, get all their shopping, get back in the bus and then take off,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“It makes me angry but at the same time we’ve all got to eat.”

Kilmore resident Diane said it was also happening in her regional town.

“It’s happening all around here. It’s in Seymour, Wallan,” she said.

“Someone came into our bakery yesterday and took every loaf of bread!”

One Twitter user said she lives in a small town of 1500 people, 100 kilometres from Melbourne. On Tuesday, four tour buses, carrying around 200 people, arrived.

 

https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/melbourne-panic-buyers-are-emptying-supermarket-shelves-in-regional-towns/

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Nemises

[RJRS1301]

26 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

 

 

 

 

That's it?

 

No picture beyond a generic pic of empty shelf caption containing reference to ''city-based shoppers" and the best evidence i can find in the story is a bit of hearsay from Kate ...

<quote>

Kate Bossence, from Kerang in northern Victoria, said supermarket shelves there started emptying during a rush of Melbourne tourists on the long weekend last week.

The 47-year-old said she had noticed mini-buses full of people stopping off at the local supermarkets that had "cleaned out absolutely everything".

<end quote>

 

So ... your reference is based on what Kate said she had noticed but (my words again) failed to record. Nobody else was around to supply the Age journalist with even a blurry picture? Really? And apparently there were mini-buses plural too. All full of people.

 

You can react to that level of evidence however you like. I'll take it with a grain of salt, if all those city-folk haven't sucked up all the salt supplies.

Perhaps if you listened to non commercial radio, looked at reliable news broadcasts, news channels, you may be a little better informed than you seem to be. 

Several news channels carried footage of buses with trailers attached, but if nit picking floats your boat feel free to indulge

Do your own research since no one else is able to provide you something satisfy you

 

[scorecard]

19 hours ago, emptypockets said:

Saw on the news earlier it will be 24 days isolation. 14 at Port of entry and another 14 if going home in another state.

A lot of people will use all of their annual leave just in quarantine. Not the public service of course. Some companies, just a few I believe, have made special leave provisions to cover this, but there is no obligation to do so.

And at the arrival city there is no option of 'self-isolate' at home etc., all passengers are taken to buses (except anybody showing any signs of sickness direct to hospital), all monitored by police and army and taken to city hotels where they must stay in their rooms for 14 days, cannot go to hotel coffee shop, gym, shopping for food etc., all monitored by police and army. No cost to Australian passport holders. Afater the 14 days if they have to travel (fly) again to their home city, taken to airport on a controlled bus and monitored to ensure they do board the next flight.  

[scorecard]

14 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

Gawd ...

 

... a ream of hearsay and still not one single picture or video from any of these people?

 

''someone came into ...."

“We had a supermarket attendant tell my partner ..." 

"It's a busload of Asian Australians I presume with a trailer on the back, just going to these shopping centres and shops... Aldi, Coles and Woollies and clearing the joint out." Hadley said.

“It’s happening all around here."

"Yes, I do but investigations are underway so I'm not going into more detail," Mr Dutton replied.

etc

etc

 

Dog-whistling and hearsay and journalism built around social media posts and from the politician, evasion ... he can listen to hearsay but can't comment because it's ''under investigation" (bet it's not) ... same playbook as "Can't comment on on-water matters" they trotted out when the subject was refugees.

 

Wake up and look for actual first-hand evidence. Then believe it.

 

 

... typical <deleted> report.... e.g. ''...assume with a trailer on the back..."

[Nemises]

1 hour ago, pdtokyo said:

Gawd ...

 

... a ream of hearsay and still not one single picture or video from any of these people?

 

 

 

You asked to "provide a link to an article OR videos and photos " so I tried to help by posting two (!) article links for you.

 

You didn't say that the article links had to also show videos and photos of the accused.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Nemises

[Farma]

Just had an update from my friends under quarantine in NT

 

Quote

 

Forced quarantine update

 

From midnight on Wednesday 1 April anyone entering the territory from interstate or overseas will be quarantined in hotels for 14 days.

 

From midnight on Friday 3 April anyone entering the territory will be quarantined and will have to pay.

 

This will be enforced by the government.