Coronavirus in Australia

[ellie1145]

Hope all will be well and that they recover. We were in Oz in October and had a simply wonderful time, prior to a cruise to Fiji. We love the people and their amazing passion for their country. We hope Australia can escape the worst of this terrifying pandemic.

 

However, people are not taking it seriously enough, not here in the UK, not in the USA, and most likely not in Australia. Younger people think it is only us oldies who are at risk - they may get it milder but they could end up giving it to those more likely to suffer badly. Worryingly, it also appears that even younger people are being admitted to ICU.

 

Statistics coming out of the USA confirm this.

 

“American adults of all ages — not just those in their 70s, 80s and 90s — are being seriously sickened by the coronavirus, according to a report on nearly 2,500 of the first recorded cases in the United States.

The report, issued Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that — as in other countries — the oldest patients had the greatest likelihood of dying and of being hospitalized. But of the 508 patients known to have been hospitalized, 38 percent were notably younger — between 20 and 54. And nearly half of the 121 patients who were admitted to intensive care units were adults under 65, the C.D.C. reported.

“I think everyone should be paying attention to this,” said Stephen S. Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “It’s not just going to be the elderly. There will be people age 20 and up. They do have to be careful, even if they think that they’re young and healthy.”

[Aus Traveller]

10 hours ago, brian1 said:

Hi all,are there any "homegrown" cases in Aus,or have they been imported.There are theories that summer heat will kill off the virus.We are in Southern Italy at the moment,but feel quite safe at present,loads of precautions but no panic buying etc.We drove down last week with the lockdowns chasing our arse all the way.The UK is a nightmare at the moment,with the rabble steaming supermarkets.Keep well everyone and hope the heat theory is right,cos it gets into the 40s here also.

All the original infections were imported, but these people have passed the virus to others ..... and to others ..... and to others ....

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, Russell21 said:

Speaking as one who is pushing close to 76 I say to her and all who have the same attitude, "IT MAY SEEM A LARK TO YOU LOT BUT TO PEOPLE MY AGE, INCLUDING THE ONES YOU LOVE, THIS VIRUS IS A POTENTIAL DEATH SENTENCE!

I agree with you totally. The person I mentioned who arrived from Europe with the infection, has parents who are very, very vulnerable. (I won't go into personal health details.) However, her parents seem to have listened to her opinion of the virus and are not taking any precautions. Maybe they only hear what they want to hear and don't want to curtail their activities.

[MMDown Under]

10 hours ago, brian1 said:

Hi all,are there any "homegrown" cases in Aus,or have they been imported.There are theories that summer heat will kill off the virus.We are in Southern Italy at the moment,but feel quite safe at present,loads of precautions but no panic buying etc.We drove down last week with the lockdowns chasing our arse all the way.The UK is a nightmare at the moment,with the rabble steaming supermarkets.Keep well everyone and hope the heat theory is right,cos it gets into the 40s here also.

80% of new infected people were from USA (including returning Aussies).  There are cases they haven't been able to trace.

Now we have passengers from Ruby Princess who have disembarked prior to tested case being returned positive. (1 crew, 3 passengers).  Health Department NSW are now contacting all passengers and requesting they self isolate.  

I live in the tropics, so hope the heat slows down the spread of the virus.  I doubt it will stop it.  Keep well and happy.

[NSWP]

We can only hope and pray deaths do not reach the proportions they have reached in Europe, like 600 in Italy yesterday.

[Russell21]

2 hours ago, NSWP said:

We can only hope and pray deaths do not reach the proportions they have reached in Europe, like 600 in Italy yesterday.

Any Idea what they are doing wrong, or not doing at all Les? I'm surprised it is not India who is leading the toll but I haven't heard anything about them.

[Aus Traveller]

14 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

Any Idea what they are doing wrong, or not doing at all Les? I'm surprised it is not India who is leading the toll but I haven't heard anything about them.

Just because India isn't reporting doesn't mean they have no or very few cases. Maybe the Indian government doesn't know the figures. On the other hand, maybe they haven't had a lot of people arriving in the country since this health emergency started. That could be a good thing.

[NSWP]

33 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

Any Idea what they are doing wrong, or not doing at all Les? I'm surprised it is not India who is leading the toll but I haven't heard anything about them.

OK, here is my theory for what it is worth. I have done a lot of research on Coeliac Disease (gluten intolerance) as I have been Coeliac - medically diagnosed since 2010.   Now Italy per capita has some of the highest incidence of coeliac disease world wide, it is written. A lot of GF products like pasta, biscuits etc come from Italy, lot of market for them there.   Coeliacs like me have a low immune system, I catch everything going around, noro on the ships, flu etc even with flu shots.   

 

So I would be interested in finding out if the thousands of Italians who are infected badly or who have died are/were Coeliacs thus having low immune systems and more prone to pickup up viruses like Corona than those non coeliacs.

 

I will rest now on the subject, some on here might think I am a nutter, but the above is my theory.   

 

BTW Americans spell coeliac as celiac, we spell it the Roman way as per the Queens's English.

Edited March 21, 2020 by NSWP

[LittleFish1976]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

We can only hope and pray deaths do not reach the proportions they have reached in Europe, like 600 in Italy yesterday.

 

Well unfortunately they will at the rate they are increasing here in Australia.

 

Just seen we have exceeded 1,000 cases. 1,049 now in Australia.

 

Can we close everything but essential food and medical serivices, now?

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by LittleFish1976

[brian1]

7 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

All the original infections were imported, but these people have passed the virus to others ..... and to others ..... and to others ....

I'm still keeping an open mind on the heat theory.It hasn't been proved either way yet and previous strains were killed off by it.

[brian1]

Bondi beach being cleared by the police is on UK news today.

[getting older slowly]

Things are grim.....

 

Basically staying at home.... except for the shopping expeditions.... 3-4 supermarkets to get food......

 

yet to see the things they call toilet paper or tissues...... now it is meat....

 

Plus we must shop and look after my mum of the 90 plus group... she in good health  but the spirits are not so good..

 

Fingers crossed ... we all come out the other side...

 

Don

  

[Chiliburn]

Listening to a special on ABC radio today.

They had all the experts,Chief commonwealth medical officer ,world health,infectious disease experts.

 

We are 2-3 weeks behind Italy,USA as they were in our position then .

 

Give it 2-3 weeks and the #hit is going to hit the fan.

[Pushka]

South Australia was doing rather well until today. 10 out of 18 tourists from the USA are positive. They arrived less than 2 weeks ago. USA is a toxic hot mess for Covid and they are sharing that with us! If this had happened with a group of Aussie tourists our medical bill would be eye watering but I bet they don't get charged. That's 10 beds just gone! And the resort they were found at in the Barossa Valley now has to close for 2 weeks but that's effectively killed their business. 
 

All of our cases are directly related to travel and there's been no human - human transmission. 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Pushka

[pully8]

Yes watched the press conference and new cases in SA.

It seems they will be kept together at the resort unless they need med treatment.

Rather nice place good food and wine too by all accounts.

Wonder how they will get back to the US with borders closed and reduced flights?

The other report was about 90 beds being opened at the old repat site for quote mild Covid 19 cases. 

Wonder what happens if mild Covid 19 cases deteriorate? No ICU beds at that site or negative pressure rooms, unless they are going to build them. Or just declare the whole unit as an infectious disease unit. As was done with the polio epidemic. 

So many questions remain unanswered. these patients would be contagious too.

So much grim news, still want to escape but where?

Lord Howe now restricted wonder if Kangaroo Island will be next? 

Interesting times.

[Aus Traveller]

8 minutes ago, pully8 said:

Yes watched the press conference and new cases in SA.

It seems they will be kept together at the resort unless they need med treatment.

Rather nice place good food and wine too by all accounts.

Wonder how they will get back to the US with borders closed and reduced flights?

The other report was about 90 beds being opened at the old repat site for quote mild Covid 19 cases. 

Wonder what happens if mild Covid 19 cases deteriorate? No ICU beds at that site or negative pressure rooms, unless they are going to build them. Or just declare the whole unit as an infectious disease unit. As was done with the polio epidemic. 

So many questions remain unanswered. these patients would be contagious too.

So much grim news, still want to escape but where?

Lord Howe now restricted wonder if Kangaroo Island will be next? 

Interesting times.

Limited flights will be operating for a while, and probably USA will allow their citizens to enter. If there aren't any commercial flights, maybe the US citizens can pay for a private charter to get them home (as Aussies are trying to do from South America).

[Tara Jane]

My son is awaiting a bone marrow transplant due to leukaemia.

He has a match in Europe but this virus is delaying the transplant.

I ask that everyone stops and thinks of those who have no immunity and other health and age related issues.  Just stay home forget about shopping and socializing.  It's not going to kill you to stay home but by going out you can potentially be responsible for someone else's death by unknowingly contracting and spreading the virus.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Tara Jane

[Aus Traveller]

Here is an interesting graph showing where coronavirus cases in Australia travelled from. Maybe the number who came from China is so low because travel from that country was restricted early in the pandemic. The people who came from the other countries, would have contracted it someone whose infection would have been traced back to the original source.

 

I found the number of infected people came from USA to Australia very interesting. Maybe it demonstrates that the virus is more widespread in USA than is currently acknowledged.

 

In a small number of cases, authorities have named the countries visited by people who have tested positive for the virus. Among these cases, the United States was the most common country visited, followed by Italy, the UK, China and Iran.

 

Sorry - the graph did not transfer from the original document. The main figures are

USA                         38

Italy                         19

UK                           16

China                      15

Iran                          14

Philippines               9

Singapore                7

Diamond Princess  7

Europe                      6

Dubai                        6

France                      5

Spain                        4                      

The other countries listed were three or fewer people

Edited March 25, 2020 by Aus Traveller

[Pushka]

I think the statistics from Ruby Princess far outweigh Diamond now. Bloody debacle. And going from the Princess Boards, many have returned to USA totally oblivious. Not to worry, my posts there are being deleted anyway so status unchanged.  

[NSWP]

37 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I think the statistics from Ruby Princess far outweigh Diamond now. Bloody debacle. And going from the Princess Boards, many have returned to USA totally oblivious. Not to worry, my posts there are being deleted anyway so status unchanged.  

What is today's tally for the Ruby ?   Nothing has been said yet re crew results. 

 

I think I will go to Antarctica for a B2B  x 100  expedition cruise, the virus has not hit there  yet.  I might get a discount.😅

Edited March 25, 2020 by NSWP

[By The Bay]

On 3/21/2020 at 6:04 PM, brian1 said:

I'm still keeping an open mind on the heat theory.It hasn't been proved either way yet and previous strains were killed off by it.

One of many myths out there. I will be guided by the experts at the WHO. Source W.H.O.

 

"COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in areas with hot and humid climates

From the evidence so far, the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in ALL AREAS, including areas with hot and humid weather."

[The_Big_M]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Here is an interesting graph showing where coronavirus cases in Australia travelled from. Maybe the number who came from China is so low because travel from that country was restricted early in the pandemic. The people who came from the other countries, would have contracted it someone whose infection would have been traced back to the original source.

 

I found the number of infected people came from USA to Australia very interesting. Maybe it demonstrates that the virus is more widespread in USA than is currently acknowledged.

 

In a small number of cases, authorities have named the countries visited by people who have tested positive for the virus. Among these cases, the United States was the most common country visited, followed by Italy, the UK, China and Iran.

 

Sorry - the graph did not transfer from the original document. The main figures are

USA                         38

Italy                         19

UK                           16

China                      15

Iran                          14

Philippines               9

Singapore                7

Diamond Princess  7

Europe                      6

Dubai                        6

France                      5

Spain                        4                      

The other countries listed were three or fewer people

 

Not sure where the graph/figures came from, but I expected that a lot were imported to us from the US - many by cruise ship i.e. I'd expect many of the breakouts on cruise ships came from US travellers.

 

As for your comment about the US, it's the place the WHO are most concerned about as they now hold 40% of the world's cases - and their increase has been massive. Of course, their "leader" has at various times called it a hoax and not an issue, and currently says it's all under control so wants to remove any restrictions. And that's why things are getting dramatically worse over there...

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Not sure where the graph/figures came from, but I expected that a lot were imported to us from the US - many by cruise ship i.e. I'd expect many of the breakouts on cruise ships came from US travellers.

 

As for your comment about the US, it's the place the WHO are most concerned about as they now hold 40% of the world's cases - and their increase has been massive. Of course, their "leader" has at various times called it a hoax and not an issue, and currently says it's all under control so wants to remove any restrictions. And that's why things are getting dramatically worse over there...

The graph comes from the ABC.

 

I agree that the situation in the US is a major cause for concern.

[Blackduck59]

Be glad the US is thousands of miles away from you, It's less than 20 mile from my house. Thankfully we live on an island so we do have that mote.

The orange clown is a menace and not having a clue is his trademark.

[Pushka]

So we know that many here are in blithe denial, most likely younger ones although my family is well up to speed. But the States - they seem to have no idea what is happening around the world, once it gets past their borders there is brain freeze. But it seems like many many people within are completely oblivious to what is happening within their own country and continue to ask numpty questions about cabins, drink packages and dress codes yada yada on cruises that are going to go start exactly within a day of the supposed, mythical 'resumption' dates posted by seemingly naive (but actually protecting their cash flow) cruise lines. One thing about Viking - European owned - they totally get it!

Edited March 25, 2020 by Pushka