You could end up being right of course, but I reckon the PM activating a national emergency plan tells you all you need to know. He might be pre-empting the WHO so he doesn't look like he's been slow to move, but it hasn't happened before in my lifetime.
Then there is this, which to me seems a concession of defeat.
Questions over home isolation rules for Chinese students returning to Australia
Sue Dunleavy, Natalie Wolfe, Ellen Whinnett
Herald Sun
February 27, 2020
Government guidelines are telling quarantined Chinese students to “walk quickly” past members of the public under loose rules that could potentially spread the deadly coronavirus.
Hundreds of Chinese Year 11 and 12 school students hosted by Aussie families are expected to arrive in Australia shortly to continue their studies but they will have to be in home isolation for 14 days after arriving from China.
The students will be living in the same household as Australian families who are allowed out into the community to go to work and to school every day – even though they are cohabiting with someone who potentially has the coronavirus.
The slack quarantine rules recommend the Chinese student stays in their own room and to “walk quickly “if they have to cross commonly used spaces in the hosts home.
If possible they should use their own bathroom but this is not compulsory.
“If the student lives in an apartment it is also safe for them to go outside into the garden while wearing a surgical mask. They should, however, go quickly through any common areas on the way to the garden. They should wear a surgical mask if they have to move through these areas,” the guidelines said.
State and federal governments last week agreed to lift the travel ban to allow Chinese students enrolled in Year 11 and 12 courses in Australia into the country because of strict rules that require them to physically attend school to gain their qualification.
Students from Hubei province in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, will not be allowed into Australia under the relaxation of the rule.
Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan estimated around 760 Chinese students could be allowed into Australia if they met strict criteria including being tested for the virus before they left China and again when they arrived here.
They must then undergo home isolation for 14 days before being allowed to attend school.
Victoria’s Education Minister James Merlino has said there are 389 Chinese students enrolled in the state’s VCE that could come to Australia as a result of the rule change.
In New South Wales the number is around 153 and other state and territories have a smaller number.
Victorian Government quarantine rules state the families that host these students do not have to quarantine themselves from the community nor do they even have to wear a mask while in the community.
“Other members of the household are not required to be isolated unless they have also travelled to mainland China in the past 14 days, or have been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19. Other members of the household do not need to wear a mask at any time,” the guidelines issued by Victoria’s Department of Health state.
Federal Department of Health guidelines for students say students in isolation only need to wear a mask when they develop symptoms of the virus and when this happens should try to use a separate bathroom.
“Do not see visitors. Where possible, ask others such as friends or family, who are not required to be isolated, to get food or other necessities,” the federal guidelines state.
Griffith University Infectious diseases exert Paul Van Buynder said the guidelines were working on the principle that the virus was only transmitted once a person began displaying symptoms.
“It’s totally dependent on how well we are monitoring them,” he said.
“If they can’t transmit until they have symptoms it is safe.”
nymag.com
