Blog Day 548 - Friday 01 October 2021 - Day 57 Covid Lockdown V6.0 Extended

If nothing else this virus thing is the gift that keeps on giving.  Each time I think that there is nothing left that will surprise or amaze me something always pops up.

Yesterday we had 1,429 new infections and 1,143 today.  The premier and his lackeys have berated us all as naughty little Victorians, it is all our fault that the numbers have bounced up dramatically.  We have been told that the reason for the increase in the daily infection numbers is because we all held grand final parties over the grand final long weekend.  Now, there are a number of issues with this claim;

1. These numbers came out three days after the weekend.  Contact tracing is that far behind they would have no idea of the source of the current cases.
2. It takes up to two weeks for infections to become symptomatic.
3. No private residences have been listed as tier one exposure sites.  If these infections were as a result of private parties in private residences surely these residences would be listed as tier one exposure sites.
4. The long weekend was imposed on the state by the government, nobody really wanted it!

The next gift to the keen blogger is the proceedings issued by the state government authority known as Worksafe against the other state government department known as the Health Department.  These proceedings relate to the cockups in the hotel quarantine program last year and that the Health Department failed to provide a safe working environment for the people working in the program.

Worksafe as issued 56 charges and each charge carries a maximum penalty of $1.5m so if found guilty on all charges the Health Dept could be up for a total fine of $95m!  The good news out of all this is that the poor old long suffering Victorian taxpayer could be up for a payment of $95m from one government department to another.

The other interesting thing in these proceeding is that no proceedings have been issued against any individual only the corporate entity.  In proceedings of this nature usually Worksafe would issue proceedings not only against the corporate entity but also the directors, owners or responsible managers of the entity.  The potential punishment of individuals is draconic with the possibility of massive fines and prison terms.  So why hasn't Worksafe included any individuals as defendants in these proceedings?

Call me cynical, but how convenient this is for the premier, for the next couple of years (including an election year) the premier will decline to answer any questions on the hotel quarantine stuff up "as it is before the courts".  The end result even if the Health Dept is found guilty on all charges (which is unlikely) will be the transfer of $95m from one government department to another.  And given no individual has been charged the premier and his cronies will again escape scrutiny over their role in the hotel quarantine program.

It has started, in the media conference this morning the premier was asked questions about the Worksafe proceedings and of course he couldn't or wouldn't comment because "the matter is before the court". 

My initial thought when I first heard of these proceedings was that it was bad timing for the premier and the government as it would be running through an election year.  Then I realised that nothing that happens to this government happens by accident and that the timing works in the premier's favour, I wonder how much pressure was brought on Worksafe to issue these proceedings now.

Maybe we need an enquiry into the Worksafe enquiry.

If the enquiry last year into the hotel quarantine program is any guide the taxpayer will be up for massive legal costs for these court proceedings.

The budget last year for the enquiry was around $5.0m however another $15m was spent on legal representation for the various government departments and and individuals, and still nothing was discovered.  Will there be similar costs for the Worksafe proceedings?

I suppose we have to leave the interesting stuff behind and have a look at some virus figures.

In the last 24 hours Victoria reported 1,143 new infections which is less than the 1,429 new infections reported in the 24 hours prior.  The next few days will be crucial in which way these figures are going to go, back up over the current figure or some sort of decline.  

The NSW figures are a bit upsy downsy, with 866 new infections reported in the last 24 hours against 943 the previous day and 866 the day before that.  However the general trend in NSW is downwards not by any great degree but at least it is downwards.

In the last 24 hours Victoria received the results of 63,000 tests and NSW 112,000.  I am a little surprised by the Victorian test numbers as given the high infection numbers I thought people would have been turning up for testing in greater numbers.  But maybe where the greater number of infections are occurring the population doesn't give a stuff.

Fifteen people died in NSW from the effects of covid and 3 in Victoria.

Currently 54.2% of the eligible population Australia wide has been fully vaccinated and 49.8% of the Victorian population.  77.8% of the Australian eligible population has received one dose and 80.1% of the Victorian eligible population.

We are 8 weeks into the current lockdown with at least another three weeks to go and then it will probably take me a further two weeks to get into the barber shop.  The way I am going at the moment maybe I should be looking at booking into a dog groomer, and they can clean my ears and trim my nails as well.

     Corona Virus Daily Stats – 01 October 2021 – Day 57 of Covid Lockdown V6.0 Extended

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
01/09
02/09	56,564	1,482		22,361	176	1,288	21,481	20,148	1,029
03/09	58,288	1,660		22,570	209	1,433	22,767	21,296	1,180
04/09
05/09	61,619	1,686		22,942	183	1,487	25,590	23,903	1,417
06/09
07/09	64,641	1,487		23,433	246	1,222	28,131	26,082	1,786
08/09
09/09
10/09
11/09
12/09	73,625	1,669	66.9%	25,136	392	1,262	19,206	15,798	3,112	41.9%
13/09
14/09	76,901	1,605	68.5%	26,036	445	1,136	18,553	14,460	3,799	43.2%
15/09
16/09	80,400	1,883	69.2%	26,942	514	1,351	18,956	14,299	4,370	43.9%
17/09
18/09	84,055	1,884	70.5%	27,968	535	1,333	19,526	14,272	4,974	45.4%
19/09
20/09	87,128	1,514	71.7%	29,008	567	936	20,926	14,984	5,675	46.7%
21/09
22/09					620	1,021
23/09					745	1,043
24/09	93,942	1,796	74.1%	31,679	733	1,044	19,585	12,173	7,160	49.3%
25/09	95,807	1,887	74.8%	32,515	847	1,007	19,807	11,928	7,611	50.1%
26/09	97,583	1,768	75.4%	33,273	779	964	19,940	11,658	8,011	51%
27/09					705	788
28/09					867	866
29/09	102,723	1,839	76.7%	35,904	950	866	20,542	10,381	9,890	52.6%
30/09					1,429	943
01/10	107,181	2,064	77.8%	38,476	1,143	866	21,114	9,862	10,944	54.2%