Blog Day 180 - 21 September 2020

A gorilla walks into a bar, where does he sit? Anywhere he wants to!

It was good to see that Richie Porte held onto his 3rd position for the final day of Le Tour.  Amazing at the end of 21 days racing and however many kilometres travelled that at the end there was 3 minutes 30 seconds between the overall 1st  and 3rd place holders.  The other Australian in the race, Caleb Ewan, came 6th in the overall sprint standings.  An amazing effort by both.

I was listening to the radio this morning and I heard Shayne Elliott (CEO of the ANZ bank) interviewed and I thought wouldn't it be great if we could have some sort of benevolent dictatorship running this state for the next two years made up of Elliott and his ilk.  I have heard him speak on a number of occasions and he always projects a quiet confidence with a very practical attitude.

So, on my walk I got to thinking who I would have running the state.  I am thinking of getting rid of all politicians and replace then with a selected panel to run the state for the next two years which would include managing the virus and the economic recovery of the state.  On my panel I would have the following;

• Shayne Elliott - CEO ANZ
• Alan Joyce - CEO Qantas
• Rob Scott - MD Wesfarmers
• Professor Catherine Bennett - Professor Epidemiology - Deakin University

These four would run the state for two years and then hand over to an elected government who could go back to stuffing us and the state around. Who know we might like their work and keep them on.

Any senior public servants found to have been dishonest, negligent or incompetent, or all of these, during this current crisis or not wanting to come on board would be got rid off and replaced by senior people from the private sector. 

Our former deputy CHO, Dr VD, has popped her head up again.  Apparently at the height of the pandemic she refused to put supplies of PPE out into the nursing homes as apparently "the staff would steal it".  Elitist arrogance?

The head of the premier's department, the state's most senior public servant, is currently giving evidence to the Hotel Quarantine enquiry.  He has stated that he didn't make the decision about the private security guards being used in the quarantine hotels and doesn't know who did.  So that is 100% of the people who have appeared before the enquiry don't know anything about the private security people being used.  Royal Commission anyone? 

In the last 24 hours Victoria recorded 11 new infections and 2 deaths.  The total number of infections for the state now stands at 20,053 and nationally 26,909.  Victoria now has 92 of its citizens in hospital due to the virus and 6 in ICU with 3 on ventilators.

The Casey cluster, of which we must not speak, is now 43, up from 40 in the last 24 hours.

The rolling 14 day average is still heading in the right direction;

20/09: Metro 36.2, Regional 1.8, Total 38.0

21/09: Metro 34.4, Regional 1.6, Total 36.0

The worldwide figures are still rising but are notoriously unreliable on a Monday.

Corona Virus Daily Stats – Stage 4 Lockdown – 2 Week Extension – Day 8

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	Aus Death	Vic Death	Aus Hospl	Vic Hospital	Aus ICU	Vic ICU
13/09	26,648	41	19,841	41	810	723	221	116	26	11
14/09	26,686	35	19,870	35	817	729	137	122	17	12
15/09	26,739	50	19,911	42	816	729	141	118	18	11
16/09	26,772	52	19,943	42	824	737	139	117	17	11
17/09	26,807	35	19,971	28	832	745	127	107	16	11
18/09	26,864	51	20,015	45	837	750	127	90	16	11
19/09	26,885	21	20,036	21	844	757	108	89	15	8
20/09				14			106	94	12	8
21/09	26,909	11	20,063	11	851	763	109	92	10	6

Date	World Infection	Daily Increase	World Deaths	Daily Increase
14/09	29,181,882	243,787	928,267	3,709
15/09	29,433,477	251,595	932,390	4,123
16/09	29,727,389	293,912	939,186	6,796
17/09	30,025,096	297,707	944,680	5,494
18/09	30,340,279	315,183	950,429	5,749
19/09	30,691,801	351,522	956,421	5,992
20/09	30,986,826	295,025	961,400	4,979
21/09	31,228,511	241,685	965,037	3,637

And now the stage 4 lockdown 2 week extension remembers.

Remember: to follow the legal instructions of a police officer, not to get carried away with false optimism (again), if you are going to run a road block do it when it is raining, tell the truth, don't go to any protests, avoid the City of Casey.