Wednesday 29 June 2022

Remember over the last couple of years when we had a natural disaster of some sort how the media jumped on ScoMo from a great height because he wasn't on the front line with a hose, shovel or chainsaw in his hand single handedly fighting the fire, flood, earthquake that was engulfing us.

Hmmmmm......has anybody seen Albo on the frontline of the floods in NSW filling sandbags, driving a rescue boat or even swimming out to the helpless freighter with a rope between his teeth single handed saving the day?

Hmmmmm.....has anybody noticed the silence in the media over Albo's absence in said disasters, or is it just me?

At least in these days of doom and gloom with have glimmer of sunlight for a few weeks at least, of course I talk about Le Tour. Yes, the Tour De France is back on the telly for the next few weeks.  For those of us prepared to sit up until all hours of the early morning we can revel in the magnificent scenery and wonder at the amazing athleticism and determination the the bicycle riders competing in said tour.

That said, the Australian riders aren't leaving us with much to revel in at the moment.  Our GC (General Classification) hope for the yellow jersey is Michael Matthews and he is currently coming eleventh in this classification.  Our best chance for the green jersey (sprint category) is Caleb Ewan and he is currently coming eighth in this classification.

That said it is still early days and as we know anything can happen in Le Tour.

Tonight's stage is157km long and of this 20km is pave (cobbles) over eleven sections.  The pave is particularly hard on bikes and riders and if it has been raining is very dangerous.  This stage will sort out some competitors and is well worth watching if you can stay awake.

The RBA announced rate rise of .5% (or as they put it "50 basis points") yesterday. This is the 3rd rate rise in as many months and brings the official cash rate to 1.35%.  The RBA is increasing interest rates to try and bring inflation under control.  Of course the folk with mortgages are screaming blue murder, woe is us etc (any boomer remember interest rates of 17.5%, then they would have something to complain about).  But, for every loser there is a winner and of course I talk of the poor old self funded retiree (POSFR).  At some time in the not too distant future the POSFR may eventually get some return on their money sitting in bank accounts  

 

The following is an interesting table that I have only recently discovered.  The "cases" column is the actual number of reported new covid cases for the current day and the 7 day average is the average number of reported new covid cases for the previous week.  The large variance in some cases is caused by discrepancies in reporting on a day to day basis .

Tue 5 Jul - Confirmed Cases

COUNTRY	VAR	CASES	7d Av
France		243,366	110,670
USA		43,028	102,433
Germany		147,489	89,749
Italy		36,885	78,071
Brazil		45,501	57,944
Taiwan		23,115	35,960
Australia		36,552	33,381
Japan		16,785	22,010
New Zealand		9,802	7,438
Worldwide		851,017	779,886

And below is similar table with the number of covid related deaths for the current day and the average number of deaths per day for the last seven days.  Again large variances between the daily death number and the seven day average.  This can be attributed the the vagaries in daily reporting, although the Australian figures are consistent. 

Tue 5 Jul - Confirmed Deaths

COUNTRY	VAR	DEATHS	7d Av
USA		67	244
Brazil		122	214
Taiwan		69	97
Germany		102	79
Italy		59	63
UK		0	59
Russia		43	51
Australia		45	47
New Zealand		22	14
Worldwide		1,034	1,368

The main thing to take from these international figures is that covid is still with us and people are still getting infected and dying with or from covid.

Nationally the Australian new daily covid infection numbers continue to rise with nearly 33,000 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.  The Victorian daily covid infections numbers are remaining relatively stable at around 10,000 per day.  The Victorian active covid infection numbers are continuing to rise on a week to week basis with an increase of active infections from 234,000 last week to 280,000 this week.

Covid hospitalisation numbers have also increased in the last week from 468 last week to 523 this week.  Victorian ICU and ventilator numbers are down from last week at 29 and 5 respectively.

Unfortunately Victorian covid death numbers are remaining around the 20 per day with 23 deaths in the last 24 hours making a total of 127 in the last 7 days.  

  Corona Virus Weekly Stats – From 22 March 2022 – Week 9 Reasonably Covid                             Normal

D	Aus Infected	Aus Increase Daily	Aus 1st Dose Vacc	Vic Infected	Vic Increase Daily	NSW Increase Daily	*Aus Active Infection	NSW Active Infection	Vic Active Infection	Aus 2nd Dose Vacc
22/03	3,975,559	32,379	96.7%	1,195,239	9,594	9,594	387,622	211,527	52,983	94.9%
30/03	4,436,572	50,082	96.8%	1,271,494	11,749	25,235	479,116	258,112	58,488	95.1%
04/04	4,715,763	35,015	96.8%	1,320,678	10,011	15,572	500,914	266,110	63,545	95.2%
13/04	5,207,650	54,185	96.9%	1,410,828	10,907	18,265	443,901	234,081	60,756	95.3%
20/04	5,494,804	36,856	97.0%	1,471,567	10,628	15,414	311,570	188,676	53,518	95.4%
27/04	5,780,569	24,135	97.0%	1,532,685	10,734	12,188	340,481	157,589	51,835	95.4%
04/05	6,072394	42,725	97.1%	1,597,464	10,779	11,939	317,353	139,572	57,154	95.5%
11/05	6,387,747	53,338	97.2%	1,673533	13,973	12,265	350,262	137,336	67,608	95.5%
17/05	6,683,581	33,281	97.2%	1,747,794	13,694	10,972	382,835	135,280	77,809	95.6%
25/05
15/06					8,687
22/06	7,885,040	30,303	97.5%	2,049,802	7,769	9,472	214,105	88,746	41,690	95.8%
29/06	8,078,931	24,986	97.5%	2,091,140	10,777	11,067	234,276	104,191	43,174	95.9%
06/07	8,324,143	32,886	97.6%	2,156,525	10,056	13,775	280,368	124,706	50,376	95.9%

Corona Virus Daily Stats Hospitalisation Etc – From 22 March 2022 – Week 9 Reasonably Covid Normal
Date	Aus New Infection Daily	Aus Hospital	Aus ICU	Aus Ventilate	Vic New Infection Daily	Vic Hospital	Vic ICU	Vic Ventilate	AUS Daily Deaths	Vic Daily Deaths
22/03	32,379	2,090	93	21	9,594	256	24	5	26	7
30/03	50,082	2,446	100	21	11,749	280	18	5	28	7
04/04	35,015	2,645	108	21	10,011	305	17	3	7	1
13/04	54,185	3,147	126	29	10,907	391	19	2	39	14
20/04	36,856	3,325	155	39	10,628	437	34	12	35	14
27/04	24,135	3,385	144	N/A	10,734	456	32	8	33	13
04/05	42,725	3,111	148	N/A	10,779	473	25	6	44	11
11/05	53,338	3,102	114	N/A	13,973	533	33	5	40	17
17/05	35,281	3,154	129	N/A	13,694	516	31	3	49	20
15/06		2,887	104	N/A	8,687	476	35	8	57	18
22/06	30,303	3,029	110	N/A	9,472	402	29	10	59	24
29/06	24,986	3,237	115	N/A	10,777	468	35	9	36	23
06/07	32,886	3,757	137	N/A	10,056	523	29	5	38	23