Blog Day 299 - Wednesday 20 January 2021

 Did yesterday feel like Saturday or was it only me?

One of my regular readers and contributors has reminded me that I haven't made any comments on the political situation for a while, so understanding how much you all look forward to my opinion on such matters I will ensure that I rectify that matter immediately.

Some of you will understand how disappointed I am to see President Trump riding off into the political sunset, all we can hope for is his return in four years time.  In the meantime we have four years of sleepy Joe (SJ) to look forward to, I can hardly wait to see him shuffle onto the world stage in his carpet slippers.  I am sure that at least the Iranians, Chinese and North Koreans are celebrating his upcoming inauguration knowing full well that they will be able to run rings around him.

I just hope that SJ and his fellow Democrats keep up President Trump's good work in working towards peace in the Middle East, rebuilding the American economy, increasing the employment of minorities, withdrawing responsibly from Afghanistan, closing down or limiting the Iranian nuclear program, reducing the amount of red and green tape businesses had to contend with amongst many other things.

I caught the end of a speech that SJ was giving the other day where he said that he wanted to do something to make things safe for his 'grandparents' (remember SJ is 78) so his grandparents would have to be 130 or thereabouts.  He then realised that he had made a mistake and changed his comment making things safe for his 'grandchildren'.  If President Trump had of said something like this it would have been a headline in the Age and the lead item in the ABC news.

Next, there appears to be some confusion over who is paying for the tennis player's hotel quarantine.  The Victorian government has previously stated that TA will be picking up the tab for all the costs associated with transporting and accommodating the tennis players and their entourages in Melbourne for the AO.

Craig Tiley, the tournament director for TA stated this morning on 3AW that the state government is picking up part of the $40 million tab for the hotel quarantine although he wouldn't say how much that would be.  In a later media conference Lisa Neville the state minister in charge of the quarantine program said that the state is not picking up any of the hotel quarantine costs.  

When the premier was queried on this he said that 'essentially' the state government wasn't paying for the hotel quarantine, whatever that means.  Sounds a bit like weasel words to me.

Lets hope the Ms Neville is correct and none of this debacle is being paid for by the good folk of Victoria.

The AO is a story that keeps on giving, Ms Neville has claimed that the the tennis players who had complained about a mouse in their room had apparently been feeding it.  Must be nice to have a pet in your room.

Victoria has now experienced 14 days of zero new local infections.  There were 3 new cases reported yesterday amongst the AO cluster although TA is disputing the figure as it may include players/officials who are shedding the virus.  NSW reported 3 new cases and Qld 2, all ROTs.

There maybe a player and a coach who have tested positive today who weren't part of the hard lockdown group, these people are now in isolation will be subject to further testing.

In the last 24 hours Victoria received the results of 19,800 tests, NSW nearly 20,000 and Qld nearly 8,000.

Currently Victoria has 34 active cases, 32 of which are ROTs, NSW 98 active cases excluding 77 ROTs and Qld 25 active cases all of which are ROTs.  Australia wide there are 185 active cases including 85 ROTs.

Worldwide the numbers are creeping back up again from the weekend lows.  There were 616,000 new infections reported worldwide in the last 24 hours and 16,400 deaths.

Corona Virus Daily Stats – Day 20 – New Year 2021 – Covid Normal (as much as possible)

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	Aus Death	Vic Death	Aus Hospl	Vic Hospital	Aus ICU	Vic ICU
01/01	28,421	13	20,376	8	909	820	21	0	0	0
02/01	28,441	13	20,388	12	909	820	19	0	0	0
03/01	28,483	14	20,391	3	909	820	26	0	0	0
04/01	28,499	16	20,395	4	909	820	30	0	0	0
05/01	28,518	14	20,399	4	909	820	26	0	0	0
06/01	28,533	10	20,402	3	909	820	36	0	0	0
07/01	28,544	8	20,402	0	909	820	35	0	0	0
08/01	28,658	21	20,403	1	909	820	40	0	0	0
09/01	28,582	12	20,404	1	909	820	40	0	0	0
10/01	28,595	13	20,410	6	909	820	41	0	0	0
11/01	28,611	16	20,411	1	909	820	47	0	1	0
12/01	28,633	19	20,411	0	909	820	43	0	1	0
13/01	28,647	13	20,414	3	909	820	45	0	1	0
14/01	28,658	8	20,414	0	909	820	47	0	1	0
15/01	28,665	7	20,414	2	909	820	47	0	1	0
16/01	28,689	20	20,417	3	909	820	48	0	1	0
17/01	28,707	18	20,424	7	909	820	47	0	2	0
18/01	28,721	13	20,428	4	909	820	36	0	2	0
19/01	28,730	9	20,432	4	909	820	33	0	1	0
20/01	28,740	10	20,433	3	909	820	32	0	1	0

Date	World Infection	Daily Increase	World Deaths	Daily Increase
01/01	83,771,040	1,448,870	1,824,387	28,095
02/01	84,342,947	571,907	1,834,255	9,868
03/01	84,984,546	641,599	1,843,112	8,857
04/01	85,489,462	504,916	1,850,209	7,097
05/01	86,041,606	552,144	1,859,179	8,970
06/01	86,834,551	792,945	1,875,519	16,340
07/01	87,619,457	784,906	1,889,556	14,037
08/01	88,495,963	876,506	1,906,630	17,074
09/01	89,331,906	835,943	1,921,160	14,530
10/01	90,077,029	745,123	1,934,801	13,641
11/01	90,662,902	585,873	1,942,390	7,589
12/01	91,298,922	636,020	1,952,020	9,729
13/01	91,983,757	684,835	1,968,523	16,503
14/01	92,747,904	764,147	1,985,405	16,882
15/01	93,507,781	759,877	2,001,209	15,804
16/01	94,282,394	774,613	2,016,604	15,395
17/01	94,949,414	667,020	2,030,914	14,310
18/01	95,479,062	529,648	2,039,601	8,687
19/01	96,005,763	526,701	2,049,238	9,637
20/01	96,621,459	615,696	2,065,624	16,386

Covid Safe Summer Reminders;

Remember; stay safe and sober for the new year, I know I will be; no hugging and kissing strangers on new years eve!; don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things; as the captain of the Graf Spee said "you have to be bigger than anything faster and faster than anything bigger"; to wear your mask indoors (again); if you have a tickle in your throat, get tested (again); to add Brissie to your list of places to avoid; at a 1st birthday party be first in line for the fairy bread; try not to spend too much at Bunnings; bowls is the only game where the players are allowed to have a bias; if you see a big hole, take a photo; vote 1 Trump in four years time.