Blog Day 194 - 05 October 2020

An ant walked into a bar and the innkeeper said, "how come you haven't caught the virus"? and the ant said "because I have the antidote".  You can blame my sister for that one.

Two weeks more of this level of lockdown to go.  If all goes well we will move to step three on 19 October, however the premier is already hinting that the 5km travel restriction may not be lifted then. I think that this is as a response to the disgraceful behaviour of some members of the community over the weekend.  People flocking to the beaches, ignoring the 5km rule, ignoring the masks laws and ignoring the social distancing rules.   

The Chaddie cluster has increased to 24.  Remember this cluster was caused by one infectious cleaner attending work in a butcher shop in Chadstone whilst infectious.  The 24 people infected include members of the cleaner's family, other employees at the butcher's shop, employees of a nearby coffee shop, customers of the butcher shop and other contacts of the these infected people.  The cluster now includes people in Frankston and at least one person outside of the ring of steel in regional Victoria.  There is the possibility that this is a "super spreader" event, whatever that means.

What is interesting here is that the customers who caught the virus from employees of the butcher shop would have been unlikely to have close personal contact with the employee and certainly not for 15 minutes.  Fifteen minutes has been the generally accepted period of contact necessary for casual transmission of the virus.

There has been silence as to the ethnic background of the original carrier of the virus.  

The authorities are counting their blessings that Chadstone was pretty much closed down at the time of these infections.  Imagine if there had been the 10's of thousands in the shopping centre that would normally be there over the two or three days that these infections were occurring.  

However of far more concern than any of the above is the big question, "should halloween go ahead"?  How is this even a question.  In these troubled times what sort of responsible parent would allow their little children to go to strangers homes begging for treats sourced from who knows where and touched by who knows who.  

A program for the return to school for all Melbourne metropolitan students has been announced to day.  All primary students and years 7, 11 & 12 return next Monday 12/10 and the balance on 26/10.  Everybody at the schools must wear masks and there will be staggered pick up and drop off times and no hanging around during drop off and pick up.

Good news with the daily figures, Victoria reported 9 new infections for the last 24 hours, down from 12 the previous day, and the really good news is that we reported no new deaths for the 24 hour period.  Lets hope that this isn't just a weekend lapse in reporting.  There are 30 Victorians in hospital due to the virus, which is also good news as this figure is continuing to drop.  There are 3 Victorians in ICU and 2 on ventilators.

The 14 day rolling average;

4/10: Metro 11.9, Regional .2, Total 12.1

5/10: Metro 11.6, Regional .2, Total 11.8

The worldwide figures are a bit lower in both infections and deaths but this is probably as a result of the usual weekend under reporting.

Corona Virus Daily Stats – Stage 4 Lockdown – 2^nd Step Restrictions – Day 8

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	Aus Death	Vic Death	Aus Hospl	Vic Hospital	Aus ICU	Vic ICU
27/09	27,033	17	20,145	16	872	784	68	51	12	9
28/09	27,045	5	20,150	5	875	787	65	49	12	8
29/09	27,056	12	20,159	10	882	794	63	46	11	5
30/09	27,076	20	20,171	13	886	798	60	44	8	6
01/10	27,096	18	20,183	15	888	800	55	38	9	6
02/10	27,110	13	20,190	7	890	802	50	38	9	4
03/10	27,122	9	20,199	8	893	805	50	34	9	4
04/10	27,133	11	20209	12	894	806	49	34	9	4
05/10	27,144	10	20,206	9	894	806	49	30	9	3

Date	World Infection	Daily Increase	World Deaths	Daily Increase
27/09	33,053,144	294,804	998,716	5,303
28/09	33,303,226	250,082	1,002,385	3,669
29/09	33,541,701	238,475	1,006,072	3,687
30/09	33,843,973	302,272	1,012,657	6,585
01/10	34,147,215	303,242	1,018,209	5,552
02/10	34,471,182	323,967	1,027,525	9,316
03/10	34,824,101	352,919	1,033,195	5,670
04/10	35,122,298	298,197	1,037,524	4,329
05/10	35,388,157	265,859	1,041,537	4,013

And now the stage 4 lockdown 2nd step restrictions remembers.

Remember: if you are doing anything wrong don't get caught, it could cost you $5,000!; you gotta wear a face mask no more face shields - thems the rules; somebody somewhere is testing your poo!; do not under any circumstances annoy a Cassowary; if you need a boost to your morale watch Zulu.