Australian pub cluster adds to second-wave coronavirus fears

[webfact]

Australian pub cluster adds to second-wave coronavirus fears

By Colin Packham

 

FILE PHOTO: An essential worker sanitises surfaces after lockdown restrictions were implemented in response to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Melbourne, Australia, July 10, 2020. REUTERS/Sandra Sanders/File Photo

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's most populous state reported 14 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, with a growing cluster at a pub used by freight drivers travelling the country adding to fears of a second national wave of the virus.

 

The new cases in New South Wales come after neighbouring Victoria state last week forced about 5 million people back into lockdown after a surge of new coronavirus cases.

 

Australia has avoided the high COVID-19 casualty numbers of other nations with swift and strict measures, recording fewer than 10,000 coronavirus cases in total, or about a sixth of the daily cases seen in the United States in recent days.

 

However, authorities are worried about rising cases of community transmission.

 

This accounted for 8 of the 14 new cases in New South Wales in the last 24 hours, while the rest were people who have returned from overseas and are already in hotel quarantine or have returned from Victoria.

 

The bulk of these community transmission cases were people who recently visited a pub in southwest Sydney, the Crossroads Hotel, taking the cluster to 13 in all.

 

"The concern is that this hotel is used by freight drivers who are transporting essential supplies across the country," Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

 

"They are not being tested."

 

In Victoria state, authorities on Monday reported 177 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the eighth consecutive day of triple digit rises in COVID-19 cases, but down from 273 cases the previous day.

 

"It may not be our peak yet," Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters in Melbourne. "I would like to see a week of decreasing numbers."

 

Scientists, meanwhile, have begun trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed at the University of Queensland.

 

Volunteers were due to receive the first vaccine dose on Monday morning. Preliminary results of the trial are expected to be released by the end of September, the university said.

 

(Reporting by Colin Packham; editing by Richard Pullin)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-13

 

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[steven100]

Australia, and particularly Victoria appear to be struggling to get this under control. Although not surprising following pictures of young entering night clubs, on the disco floor, it was as though nothing had changed.

Now one can see why Thailand took such stringent measures to stop transmission.

Had the Australian public not been so complacent, they might have faired better with the numbers,  sadly it looks like they are paying the price now.   imo

[samran]

Wouldn't be surprised if Sydney is locked down in 2 weeks.

[steven100]

1 hour ago, samran said:

Wouldn't be surprised if Sydney is locked down in 2 weeks.

the Australian public need to start taking this virus and social distancing more seriously ....

or pay a heavy price.   imo

[welovesundaysatspace]

And people are wondering why Thailand isn’t letting foreigners in. Please, protect us from all those stupid westerners. Let Darwin do his job first. 

[simple1]

11 minutes ago, steven100 said:

the Australian public need to start taking this virus and social distancing more seriously ....

or pay a heavy price.   imo

I live on the Sunshine Coast and every shop, restaurant and so on have social distancing, hand sanitisers, but very few wearing masks, I guess due to the lack of Covid transmissions. The transmissions interstate are largely due to a number of security lapses, some large family gatherings and from your photo stupidity by some venue owners.  Overall I would say Covid had been taken seriously in Oz, but the success has led to some complacency. Hopefully the current issues will be bought under control quickly. Politicisation of Covid by some has not helped, as is the case in some other countries.

[steven100]

15 minutes ago, simple1 said:

I live on the Sunshine Coast and every shop, restaurant and so on have social distancing, hand sanitisers, but very few wearing masks, I guess due to the lack of Covid transmissions. The transmissions interstate are largely due to a number of security lapses, some large family gatherings and from your photo stupidity by some venue owners.  Overall I would say Covid had been taken seriously in Oz, but the success has led to some complacency. Hopefully the current issues will be bought under control quickly. Politicisation of Covid by some has not helped, as is the case in some other countries.

agree what you say,  well i bet every night club in Mooloolaba, Brisbane, Gold Coast, The rocks Sydney and others would have been crowded and packed like sardines on friday, saturday nights. 

You may be correct on day time restaurants being seen with plastic and gloves and sanitizers and doing everything correct, however once 10.00pm comes along the younger drunks and drugs take over and social distance or responsibility goes out the window. 

The police need to get tougher on licensees and owners.  imo 

[simple1]

7 minutes ago, steven100 said:

agree what you say,  well i bet every night club in Mooloolaba, Brisbane, Gold Coast, The rocks Sydney and others would have been crowded and packed like sardines on friday, saturday nights. 

You may be correct on day time restaurants being seen with plastic and gloves and sanitizers and doing everything correct, however once 10.00pm comes along the younger drunks and drugs take over and social distance or responsibility goes out the window. 

The police need to get tougher on licensees and owners.  imo 

Where i live, due to the lack of tourists, most places close by 9:30PM. The Thai restaurant where my wife works is closed by 9:00PM. These days, don't go out to clubs etc but you could be correct. I do know police are being active in the area.

Edited July 13, 2020 by simple1

[steven100]

4 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Where i live, due to the lack of tourists, most places close by 9:30PM. These days, don't go out to clubs etc but you could be correct. I do know police are being active in the area.

right .....   let's hope i'm wrong and some responsible bar / pub owners are making patrons follow strict guidelines. Some maybe, some maybe aren't.  

[DoctorG]

Yesterday 6 young Victorians were caught trying to enter Queensland. Each fined $4000.

[steven100]

1 hour ago, DoctorG said:

Yesterday 6 young Victorians were caught trying to enter Queensland. Each fined $4000.

$4,000 is alot of cash in anyones language ....   so what would happen if you were unemployed or laid off and you had zero in the bank ?

[jaiyen]

At the moment Perth is the envy of Australia. We had a few severe measures to start with and it has worked. Keeping the border almost closed has been a great help

[DoctorG]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

$4,000 is alot of cash in anyones language ....   so what would happen if you were unemployed or laid off and you had zero in the bank ?

No idea. Guess that might be the case at some time soon and we will find out.

[metisdead]

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[simple1]

3 hours ago, steven100 said:

$4,000 is alot of cash in anyones language ....   so what would happen if you were unemployed or laid off and you had zero in the bank ?

Can always do some time to pay off the debt or do a deal to pay off over time. Whatever happens they  will have to pay the fine, otherwise they can't renew their licence.

[Letseng]

6 hours ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

And people are wondering why Thailand isn’t letting foreigners in. Please, protect us from all those stupid westerners. Let Darwin do his job first. 

Unless the govt. lets "speciak" flights in like the Egyptians into U Tapao.

[welovesundaysatspace]

10 minutes ago, Letseng said:

Unless the govt. lets "speciak" flights in like the Egyptians into U Tapao.

Agree. Seems even the current regimen is not strict enough. I haven’t been to any of the quarantine hotels, but unless they turned it into a high security facility, I wouldn’t be surprised if the hotel staff isn’t able to prevent a western nutjob from sneaking out because he thinks it’s all just a “hoax” or the “flu”. 

[lee b]

5 hours ago, DoctorG said:

Yesterday 6 young Victorians were caught trying to enter Queensland. Each fined $4000.

I think it needs to be done as people just dont listen. Bite them where it hurts.

[Cryingdick]

9 hours ago, steven100 said:

Australia, and particularly Victoria appear to be struggling to get this under control. Although not surprising following pictures of young entering night clubs, on the disco floor, it was as though nothing had changed.

Now one can see why Thailand took such stringent measures to stop transmission.

Had the Australian public not been so complacent, they might have faired better with the numbers,  sadly it looks like they are paying the price now.   imo

Won't the virus spike as soon as Thailand tries to reopen as well? The thing is the clock is still ticking. I guess with Thailand's strategy one must accept the fact that bars may never reopen or be a part of the entertainment economy again. Other things as well but bars are the most obvious. International travel would be the other obvious one that would make Thailand never the same again.

 

That brings up the argument the cure could be worse than the problem. Depending upon what happens with people already infected and how the antibody works it could mean every infected person now can be an antibody donor. They are asking people here in the US to donate blood if you have had the virus.

 

It doesn't seem like the virus is going away anytime soon. So in this sense maybe Thailand is just putting off the suffering. At the rate it is spreading in the US it seems like it will mushroom and in a year everybody will have had it. 

 

Thailand hasn't outsmarted the disease. It is trying to out wait a virus that isn't going away. It could get ugly when forced to reopen and nobody has any antibodies.

[steven100]

7 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Thailand hasn't outsmarted the disease. It is trying to out wait a virus that isn't going away. It could get ugly when forced to reopen and nobody has any antibodies.

you mention some good points, and I think with the way things are going it could be months before they open any border to general public. It's really hit Australia now and they are looking to act with more stringent measures.  This is just an absolute financial catastrophe that has affected billions of people and it's not going to be an easy fix.  It is paramount that a vaccine is produced and work effectively. That's the only way economies and the markets will find slate rock footing again instead of mud and slosh.   imo 

[Cryingdick]

4 minutes ago, steven100 said:

you mention some good points, and I think with the way things are going it could be months before they open any border to general public. It's really hit Australia now and they are looking to act with more stringent measures.  This is just an absolute financial catastrophe that has affected billions of people and it's not going to be an easy fix.  It is paramount that a vaccine is produced and work effectively. That's the only way economies and the markets will find slate rock footing again instead of mud and slosh.   imo 

 

Well the only positive thing I can take away from all of this is that in certain countries reopening has been tried. We know the result now. I don't think the result will be different anywhere else it is attempted. Obviously I could be wrong there maybe some unknown factor.

 

However it seems like with the stay at home and keep closed approach the only way that doesn't end in serious disaster is a vaccine. If there is no vaccine for let's say a year it is going to be an unmitigated disaster for the countries that choose what is for now the safest approach.

 

[simple1]

16 hours ago, simple1 said:

I live on the Sunshine Coast and every shop, restaurant and so on have social distancing, hand sanitisers, but very few wearing masks, I guess due to the lack of Covid transmissions. The transmissions interstate are largely due to a number of security lapses, some large family gatherings and from your photo stupidity by some venue owners.  Overall I would say Covid had been taken seriously in Oz, but the success has led to some complacency. Hopefully the current issues will be bought under control quickly. Politicisation of Covid by some has not helped, as is the case in some other countries.

Just been announced a person returning from the US to Sunshine Coast has Covid. In Oz a number of returnees from the UK & the US have been infected. Both countries having very poorly implemented Covid mitigation.