Blog Day 141 - Wednesday 12 August 2020

Sometimes I think that we need to remind ourselves what a marvelous thing this internet thingy is.  Yesterday I attended a zoom meeting of Shrine staff and volunteers where we discussed a movie that we had previously watched by the good graces of Youtube.  I then watched a webinar on the Korean war presented by two historians from the AWM and then I did a couple of sessions of my history studies presented by the University of Newcastle provided by FutureLearn.  

If had been so inclined I could have done some of my French lessons provided online by Babbel, although given the opportunity to travel to France in the foreseeable future is highly unlikely I am experiencing a little difficulty in generating any enthusiasm for attending to my French studies.

Later in the day I read a couple of ebooks on my tablet and even though my local bookshop is closed I can purchase almost any book that interests me on line either as an ebook or in hard copy for delivery by snail mail.  I also have access to three local and national newspapers and their associated trivia quizzes and crossword puzzles.

Talking about trivia, every Friday evening I attend a zoom trivia night with a group of friends from all parts of the world including Deland in Florida, Cairns in FNQ and various parts of Melbourne and it's environs.  

Just imagine how difficult this lockdown would be without this access to the information, distractions and means of keeping in touch with those around us, and of course access to this educational, informative, amusing and occasionally over the top blog.

Today's figures are reason for concern but not panic.  After three days of declining new infections the infection rate has gone up again.  Victoria reported 410 new infections in the last 24 hours an increase over the previous day's figure of 331.  We reported 21 deaths in the last 24 hours, Victoria's highest daily figure so far, but still likely to keep increasing for some time yet.  Of these 21 deaths there were 2 females and 1 male in their 70's, 6 females and 5 males in their 80's, 1 female and 5 males in their 90's and 1 female in her 100's.  There are 662 Victorians in hospital, 43 in ICU and 25 of those are on ventilators. 

Disturbing news out of New Zealand today.  After 100 plus days of no new community infections they have reported four infection in a family group with no contact to overseas travellers or obvious sources of infection.  Auckland has been placed in stage 3 lockdown for 3 days and the rest of the country stage 2 lockdown whilst the authorities try and identify the source of the infection.

To paraphrase a famous saying "the price of a corona free society is eternal vigilance'. (Before anybody asks the original quote is "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance").

The world figures are a bit disturbing also, at 7,192 deaths in the last 24 hours.  This is the highest number of daily deaths since 23/07.  Further examination of the world figures tomorrow

Corona Virus Daily Stats – Stage 4 Lockdown – Day 10

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	Aus Death	Vic Death	Aus Hospl	Vic Hospital	Aus ICU	Vic ICU
02/08	17,920	685	11,557	671	208	123	366	385	44	38
03/08	18,318	444	11,937	429	221	136	408	416	46	35
04/08	18,728	451	12,335	439	232	147	439	456	43	38
05/08	19,444	740	13,035	725	247	162	483	538	44	42
06/08	19,890	483	13,469	471	255	170	566		51
07/08	20,270	461	13,867	450	266	181	600	607	52	41
08/08	20,697	475	14,283	466	278	193	632	636	51	44
09/08	21,084	412	14,659	394	295	210	659	634	53	43
10/08	21,397	337	14,957	322	314	229	657	640	51	47
11/08	21,713	353	15,251	331	332	247	664	650	54	47
12/08	22,127	428	15,646	410	352	267	673	662	51	43
13/08

Date	World Infection	Daily Increase	World Deaths	Daily Increase
03/08	18,234,936	211,579	692,794	3,855
04/08	18,442,382	207,446	697,175	4,381
05/08	18,700,833	258,451	704,347	7,172
06/08	18,973,478	272,645	711,181	6,834
07/08	19,255,137	281,659	717,655	6,474
08/08	19,542,626	287,489	724,075	6,420
09/08	19,804,408	261,782	729,586	5,511
10/08	20,022,265	217,857	733,971	4,385
11/08	20,249,553	227,288	738,726	4,755
12/08	20,521,644	272,091	745,918	7,192
13/08

Remember: to ask "are you OK"?, to work from home when you can, keep your vodka in the freezer, wash your hands, keep your distance, keep your mask on, sneeze into your elbow (yuk), don't sneeze with your mask on (yuk), don't touch your face, press the traffic light button with your foot, eat your vegies, don't ride your bike on the footpath, sanitize often, keep your glasses unfogged, obey the police at roadblocks, don't put your hat on the counter at the bakery (cause the lady will shout at you), don't go to work if you are crook, the lime in your V & T is a good source of vitamin C, don't go to a day spa and then boast about it on FB, pay with a card, don't use cash (because you are wearing a mask you could run away without paying) and be kind.

And now the State of Disaster remembers;

Remember: to stay indoors between 8.00pm and 5.00am, stay safe & stay strong, respect the 5km limits, don't try & get a haircut, drink your coffee at home, don't dither at the supermarket checkout, don't get Jim's Mowing in to cut your grass, get some virus approved exercise, shop at Harvey Norman for good service, be honest, and be kind.