Coronavirus | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
  • IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.

Coronavirus

What happened to the the million per week that this incompetent Federal Government said was arriving next week, 2 weeks ago ?
With all the panic with the outbreak criticism hightens.
The government can only order it. They dont control the shipment. Yet the microscopic focus as a the second hand is ticking, as anxiety kicks in...


adding Pfizer statement
"In a statement, Pfizer said it was committed to delivering the 40 million doses it had been contracted to provide during 2021.

"The total number of 40 million doses we are contracted to deliver to Australia over 2021 has not changed. We continue to work closely with the government to support the ramp-up of their rollout program," it said."
 
With all the panic with the outbreak criticism hightens.
The government can only order it. They dont control the shipment. Yet the microscopic focus as a the second hand is ticking, as anxiety kicks in...


adding Pfizer statement
"In a statement, Pfizer said it was committed to delivering the 40 million doses it had been contracted to provide during 2021.

"The total number of 40 million doses we are contracted to deliver to Australia over 2021 has not changed. We continue to work closely with the government to support the ramp-up of their rollout program," it said."
No. Morrison and Hunt said to the nation we would receive 1 million per week 2 weeks ago. Don’t make promises or statements you can’t keep.

Still in “discussions” with the Pharmacy Guild and pharmacists as well ?

What about the distribution of AZ ? Oh sorry that’s off the menu. Or is it back on ? *smile* I can’t remember anymore.


Onshore MRNA production ? Now pushed out to some time in 2023. Maybe. Who knows.

Approval, purchase and receipt of other MRNA options ? Again who would **** know.

And on and on it goes with this unfit to govern PM.

Thank goodness “it’s not a race.”
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Only 40pc of Sydney people staying at home, modelling says (paywalled)

Modelling by scientists at the University of Sydney has estimated that only 40 per cent of people in Sydney are staying home, and predicts it is unlikely that NSW will be able to reduce case numbers of the Delta variant at current lockdown settings.

The modelling predicts that if 80 per cent of Sydneysiders complied with public health orders and stayed home, it would take a month for cases to reduce from the peak to below 10. However, if compliance fell to 70 per cent, it would take more than two months to bring the outbreak under control.

Covid-19 modeller and director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Complex Systems, Mikhail Prokopenko, says Sydney’s current level of social distancing is inadequate for outbreak control.

Professor Prokopenko said that to see a drop off in case numbers in one month, Sydney residents must reduce their social interactions including shopping to one tenth of their normal activity.

“Our estimation shows that with only 40 per cent of people staying at home, that would be inadequate even for a less transmissible variant, and for Delta it doesn’t even scratch the surface. It’s inadequate to bring the incidence down.

“If that trend continues then the incidence numbers will not start reducing, they will keep growing and then the suppression will not be achieved and the lockdown will continue.

“What would be required would be for everyone to reduce their shopping frequency or duration to just 1 out of 10 typical trips or hours. So, if someone spent 10 hours a week doing the shopping, now it needs to reduce to just one hour of shopping a week,” Professor Prokopenko said.

“The same goes for chatting with neighbours, and other activities which involve being around people outside your household.

“Crucially, 80 per cent of social distancing also means that many services currently deemed essential would need to be included under the lockdown restrictions.”

Professor Prokopenko said that when he ran his modelling, he was shocked at the level of non-compliance with public health orders.

“I totally was surprised because our previous model during lockdown last year was showing that we immediately switched to 80 if not 90 per cent compliance,” he said. “I thought it would be something in this interval.”

He said many of the 60 per cent of people who were active in the community were going to work. “Some of them may have a legitimate reason not to stay at home because they’re engaged in essential services,” Professor Prokopenko said. “Maybe 30 per cent are doing essential services and maybe the other 30 per cent are simply not complying.”

The University of Sydney modelling comes after similar modelling completed by the Burnet Institute found that tougher restrictions would likely be needed to control the outbreak of the Delta variant in NSW.

The Burnet Institute’s modelling found that if the current restrictions in NSW are kept in place, it would take at least two months for daily cases to fall below 40 and many more months for cases to reduce to zero.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
The government can only order it. They dont control the shipment.
Pfizer offered unlimited doses to the Australian Govt 12 months ago ( july 2020 ) to be rolled out in January 2021. They saw Australia as a great test case for mass vaccination and the Australian Govt said "No" because Astra Z was cheaper.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Brain fog and tinnitus among 200 symptoms of long Covid (paywalled)

Long Covid has more than 200 symptoms that affect ten organ systems, the biggest international study of “long-haulers” suggests.

British health experts are calling for a nationwide screening program to help to identify the condition in people who may be suffering in silence.

The study, led by University College London (UCL), has identified 203 symptoms affecting the organs, with 66 lasting up to seven months.

The most common symptoms reported by almost four thousand sufferers of long Covid were fatigue, brain post-exertional malaise - where symptoms worsen after physical or mental exertion - and cognitive dysfunction, often called “brain fog”.

Other symptoms included hallucinations, tremors, itchy skin, changes to the menstrual cycle, sexual dysfunction, heart palpitations, bladder control issues, shingles, memory loss, blurred vision, diarrhoea and tinnitus.

The research team, who have all had or continue to have long Covid, are calling for clinical guidelines on assessing the condition to be significantly widened. Clinicians test heart and breathing function but the researchers say that neuropsychiatric, neurological and activity intolerance symptoms need to be included.

A national screening program should also be made accessible to anyone who thinks they have long Covid to address the large number of long-haulers who are “suffering in silence”, the authors say.

More than two million adults in England have experienced coronavirus symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks, government data suggests - double the previous estimate for long Covid.

The study, in the EClinicalMedicine journal published by The Lancet, involved 3,762 participants from 56 countries who connected through the Body Politic online Covid-19 support group. They answered a survey designed to profile the symptoms and period of time patients had confirmed or suspected long Covid, including the impact on daily life, work, and return to health. Of the 3,762 respondents, 3,608 (96 per cent) reported symptoms beyond 90 days, 2,454 experienced symptoms for at least six months and 233 had recovered after seven months.

Eighty-nine per cent of participants experienced relapses, with exercise, physical or mental activity and stress as the main triggers. Forty-five per cent reported requiring a reduced work schedule and 22 per cent were not working at all at the time of the survey. The three most debilitating symptoms listed by patients were: fatigue (2,652 patients), breathing issues (2,242) and cognitive dysfunction (1,274).

Dr Athena Akrami, a neuroscientist at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at UCL and senior author, said: “We have gone directly to ‘long-haulers’ around the world in order to establish a foundation of evidence for medical investigation, improvement of care, and advocacy for the long-Covid population. For the first time this study shines a light on the vast spectrum of symptoms, particularly neurological, prevalent and persistent in patients with long Covid.

“Along with the well-documented respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, there is now a clear need to widen medical guidelines to assess a far wider range of symptoms.

“Furthermore, there are likely to be tens of thousands of long-Covid patients suffering in silence, unsure that their symptoms are connected to Covid-19. Building on the network of long-Covid clinics, which take GP referrals, we now believe a national program could be rolled out into communities able to screen, diagnose and treat all those suspected of having long-Covid symptoms.”
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
As a nation we are obviously happy to say that to Indonesia and other struggling nations who cannot get access to vaccines. Most decry our government for not having more vaccines. Given the relative small risk from covid we have here in Australia shouldn't we be a long last on the world vaccination program list?

Indonesian lives < Australian lives

Should be an ethical dilemma and it should have been debated and discussed but clearly not an issue. #whereareallthesocialists?
Made this same argument to my socialist leaning friend calling the vaccine rollout a debacle. Got crickets.

by its very nature there is limited supply and although simplistic any vaccine that goes to one country doesn’t go to another one. So any country at higher risk than Australia is more likely to have deaths and the vaccine will save more lives there.

self interest still rules which is why we don’t have this debate - it’s like triage. And I’m happy for us to ramp up our country ASAP.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Pfizer offered unlimited doses to the Australian Govt 12 months ago ( july 2020 ) to be rolled out in January 2021. They saw Australia as a great test case for mass vaccination and the Australian Govt said "No" because Astra Z was cheaper.
Ok. Wasnt aware of that.

But at that point in time AZ was the preferred vax as we could produce it here too. UK had used it successfully.

Hindsight shouldnt be applied imo. AZ issues happened after that.
 
Ok. Wasnt aware of that.

But at that point in time AZ was the preferred vax as we could produce it here too. UK had used it successfully.

Hindsight shouldnt be applied imo. AZ issues happened after that.

Its not about hindsight. The prudent approach isn't to focus on 1 unproven vaccine regardless of which is preferred. Spreading the risk of failed vaccines should have been the way to go. The Aussie government did the below.

Uni of Queensland - No idea of numbers as they didn't state it
AZ - Somewhere around 50m-60m does
Pfizer - 5m (the original decision on this is what we are reviewing)
Novavax - 50m doses

Now I work in an environment that manages risk in my business and for a risk mitigation strategy, that is complete and utter dogshit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Made this same argument to my socialist leaning friend calling the vaccine rollout a debacle. Got crickets.

by its very nature there is limited supply and although simplistic any vaccine that goes to one country doesn’t go to another one. So any country at higher risk than Australia is more likely to have deaths and the vaccine will save more lives there.

self interest still rules which is why we don’t have this debate - it’s like triage. And I’m happy for us to ramp up our country ASAP.


No doubt we would all like to get more vaccines available (well maybe not all, the anti-vaxxers are happy), but the disgust in the lack of vaccines is a consequence of having been told we were at the front of the queue, we were going to stay in front, the whole country would be fully vaccinated by October this year I think. Then to find out there the government *smile* up everything and have been blame shifting at every opportunity and gaslighting the nation.

Back to helping poorer countries, if we have the facilities we should keep making AZ vaccine at full tilt. If Australians don't want it, we can ship the vaccine to our neighbours.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
The argument that we can't criticise the slow rollout in Australia because other countries have much worse Covid situations is the worst take on this thread to date.

Except Lee's "vaccination is a low priority for Australia" take maybe. Tough call.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
The argument that we can't criticise the slow rollout in Australia because other countries have much worse Covid situations is the worst take on this thread to date.

Except Lee's "vaccination is a low priority for Australia" take maybe. Tough call.
I’m not saying you can’t criticise it. But if your purpose was to minimise global deaths then it would actually support that.