Blog Day 569 - Sunday 24 October 2021 - Day 03 of Covid Lockdown V6.0 Lite

In his media conference this morning, the premier, in his usual long winded way, told us that we had all been good little Victorians and for that he would magnanimously reward us with a few more tit bits of release from covid restrictions.  All hail the good premier!

Well, what is going to happen next? I hear you all excitingly say.  

At 6.00pm next Friday evening (30/10), when it is predicted that Victoria will achieve 80% of the eligible population being fully vaccinated having received two doses, the following changes to the lockdown restrictions will occur;

• All restrictions and rules will apply to the entire state.
• All travel restrictions within the state will be removed.
• All hospitality venues will be able to open without any capacity caps except for the social distancing rules and subject to all staff and patrons being double vaxed.
• Entertainment venues, including cinemas, theatres and gyms etc will be able to open subject to some capacity rules and patrons being double vaxed.
• Retail? Nothing was said about retail so I am assuming all general retail can open subject to capacity and vaccination rules.
• Masks will still be required to be worn indoors however not compulsory outdoors except in high risk areas.
• Looks like the 10 visitors in the home per day restriction will still apply.

The premier also announced the possible changes to the covid rules and regulations on or before 24/11 when it is envisaged that 90% of the population 12 years old and older will be fully vaccinated.

• No capacity caps on venues etc
• Masks to be worn only in high risk areas, such as public transport.
• Employees and patrons to be fully vaccinated - including retail.

Essentially the premier is saying as at 24/11 the economy will be fully open for those that are fully vaccinated, this will be "covid normal" for the foreseeable future.

My U3A has advised that we will be back to face to face sessions next year but only fully vaccinated people will be allowed on the premises.

It will be interesting to see how the non vaccinated are going to cope once the vaccination requirements are in place across the board.  

Two stories below indicate the lengths that some people will go to to avoid being vaccinated.  Why would you bother?

In an article in the Age today a woman offered a pharmacist a $1,000 to squirt her vaccination down the drain and give her a false vaccination certificate, naturally enough he refused and told her that the vaccination dose was either going in her arm or in the arm of the next person in line. She got the jab.

It has been reported in the media that lines of people and traffic have been seen around doctors' surgeries where doctors have been offering to provide vaccination exemptions to people who don't qualify for them.  I trust that all parties involved in this are dealt with appropriately.

And now to the figures, the figures, remember them, they are why we are here.

In Victoria we reported 1,935 new infections in the last 24 hours, these figures are remaining stubbornly around the 2,000 mark.  Currently Victoria has 787 patients in hospital with the virus, of these 146 are in ICU and 93 are on ventilators.  Victoria also recorded 11 deaths in the last 24 hours.  Apart from daily fluctuations there isn't any significant movement in these numbers, certainly no reductions of any consequences.  Makes you wonder what we achieved out of the last 11 weeks of lockdowns and curfews.

There is good news on the vaccination front, Australia wide 86.5% of the eligible population have received their 1st dose and 72.5% are fully vaccinated.  In Victoria the figures are 90.3% and 73.16% respectively.  

Victoria is still receiving the results of something like 70,000 plus tests per day, with most results available within 24 hours of testing.  I think that this is an incredible logistical exercise day in and day out and all concerned are to be congratulated. Well done those folk.

    Corona Virus Daily Stats – 24 October 2021 – Day 03 of Covid Lockdown V6.0 Lite

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Aus 1st Dose Vacc	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	NSW Increase	*Aus Active Infection	NSW Active Infection	Vic Active Infection	Aus 2nd Dose Vacc
01/10	107,181	2,064	77.8%	38,476	1,143	866	21,114	9,862	10,944	54.2%
02/10		2,360		39,749	1,488
03/10	111,388	1,928	79%	41,128	1,220	668	21,378	9,215	11,785	56%
04/10					1,377	623
05/10	115,800	2,406	79.9%	44,251	1,763	608	23,376	8,571	14,368	57.4%
06/10					1,413	594
07/10	120,079	2,272	80.5%	47,302	1,638	587	23,435	7,868	15,074	58.4%
08/10					1,823	648
09/10	125,080	2,574	81.9%	51,012	1,965	581	24,984	7,296	17,199	61.2%
10/10					1,890	479
11/10	129,567	2,144	82.2%	54,470	1,612	498	26,276	6,747	19,012	61.9%
12/10					1,466	360
13/10	133,444	2,069	82.8%	57,470	1,572	446	26,479	6,055	19,861	63.4%
14/10					2,297	407
15/10	138,720	2,615	83.6%	61,869	2,179	400	27,123	5,253	21,324	65.4%
16/10					1,993
17/10	143,135	2,172	84.4%	65,605	1,838	301	29,087	5,131	23,376	67.2%
18/10					1,903
19/10	147,301	2,046	84.8%	69,206	1,749	273	27,121	4,168	22,476	69.3&
20/10					1,842	283
21/10	152,024	2,642	85.8%	73,233	2,235	374	28,577	5,220	22,889	70.8%
22/10	154,489	2,552	86.1%	75,340	2,189	345	28,714	5,050	23,230	71.7%
23/10
24/10	158,604	2,240	86.5%	78,821	1,935	296	30,074	4,626	24,993	72.5%

Corona Virus Daily Stats Hospitalisation Etc – 24 Oct 2021 – Day 03 of Covid Lockdown V6.0 Lite
Date	Aus New Infection	Aus Hospital	Aus ICU	Aus Ventilate	Vic New Infection	Vic Hospital	Vic ICU	Vic Ventilate	AUS Daily Deaths	Vic Daily Deaths
01/10	2,066	1,483	300	166	1,143	395	87	59	20	3
02/10	2,360	1,468	302	156	1,488	429	97	54	12	2
03/10	1,928	1,494	298	153	1,220	476	98	57	13	3
04/10
05/10	2,406	1,535	298	161	1,763	517	101	66	11	4
06/10
07/10	2,272	1,517	305	165	1,638	564	115	74	10	2
08/10					1,823	620	114	76	16	5
09/10	2,574	1,437	288	163	1,965	578	117	83	16	5
10/10									11	5
11/10	2,144	1,490	295	170	1,612	677	133	94	16	8
12/10										8
13/10	2,069	1,463	306	173	1,572	705	146	92	17	13
14/10					2,297	706	147	100
15/10	2,615	1,413	311	183	2,179	695	157	101	11	6
16/10
17/10	2,172	1,440	299	170	1,838	777	151	94	16	6
18/10						851	155	103	12	7
19/10	2,046	1,420	288	174	1,749	784	149	100	15	11
20/10
21/10	2,642	1,343	276	165	2,335	779	141	96	13	12
22/10	2,552	1,307	281	166	2,189	784	145	94	21	16
23/10
24/10	2,240	1,312	277	165	1,935	787	146	93	15	11
25/10