mike carey

Le Canada a fermé ses frontières, sauf pour les citoyens canadiens et certains autres, dont les Américains. Canada has closed its frontiers except for Canadian citizens, and some others including Americans. [MEDIA=twitter]1239610526486970368[/MEDIA]

I'd started a thread on an Australian TV documentary show in the TV thread, but rather than revive it this seems like a better place to post about it. Courtney Act is an Australian drag queen who I'd never heard of, but she featured in the local TV coverage of Mardi Gras earlier this month. I was surprised that tonight's episode of Australian Story was about her, well her and Shane Jenek, the man behind the mask. His parents are in the show and are enthusiastic fans of his work. Well worth a watch.

The federal governments in both our countries appear to be reluctant to act, despite the warning of the path of disease progression that happened in other countries after they hit 100 cases. (Apparently that is a statistically relevant point, and the size of the overall population is not relevant.) Messages here have been mixed for no apparent reason, but the so-called National Cabinet and the committee of chief health officers seem to erring on the side of waiting rather than be seen to have acted precipitately. At the moment the states and the federal government are acting on consensus and not taking different approaches. There are prominent voices in the media that are urging faster action. Two that come to mind are an expert who was instrumental in the response to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, and a physician who is an ABC medical presenter, Norman Swan. He's the guy in the four minute video I posted earlier. The government seems to have only one eye on the developing health crisis while the other one is on the economy. In the US there seems to be much more action by state and local governments that are going ahead of the otherwise prevailing wisdom of what to do. I don't know whether this will result in a complete shut-down, but it looks to me as if the apparent ad hoc-ery of this differing approaches in different jurisdictions may obviate the need for nation-wide restrictions in the US. Here, I suspect there will be a more unified, but by definition less agile response.

After I posted an ABC video on COVID-19 earlier, in which Dr Norman Swan clarified the difference between quarantine and isolation (or self-isolation) I looked it up. Fun fact: The word quarantine derives from the original period of restraint that was applied to ships and people, which was 40 days. Quarante is 40.

That's pretty much a prediction of a flu epidemic interesting that it's specific about the year. I'd say she was predicting something that epidemiologists have been saying was certain, eventually and got lucky with the prediction of the year.

Interesting panel discussion about the pandemic and what to do, all the usual issues of which medical advice to take, move quickly or be slower and more methodical. One panelist, a medical professor, although not an infectious disease specialist, made an interesting point on social distancing. He said that those that can isolate themselves to some extent, be that because they have the resources to do so, or their job can be done at home should do so, not for their personal health but because reducing the number of people out in the community makes it more unlikely that those who have to be there will contract the virus. I think he makes a good point. He was practising what he was preaching, he had returned from the US last week, before the cutoff for mandatory isolation, but had nevertheless isolated himself and was appearing on the program by Skype. While I'm here, today's Coronacast https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/coronacast/think-coronavirus-only-kills-the-old-think-again/12058160 And, edited to add the short info video from the ABC's 7.30 program. [MEDIA=twitter]1239487451166461952[/MEDIA]

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From this administration? I'm shocked. (The crowding was a result of the task of processing incoming passengers overwhelming the available federal customs and immigration staff, not state authorities.)

All clearly more than 1.5m!

I suspect it's a combination of the CCP lying and not knowing what was happening. I'm not entirely sure that the US figures will be accurate either, although given time the correct US figures will most likely come out.

Thanks for that.

I hear you. I am gratified that there are charities that can use the food from cancelled events, and the organisers of those events are prepared to give them the food. I expect the organisers have insurance so they don't lose, but I suspect even if they don't there's a tax deduction for donating it.

Good question, but I'm resigned to forfeiting my deposit. If anyone has a different experience with INNDulge, I'd like to hear about it. I plan to see if I can hand my reservation over to someone else, but not yet. That assumes my option of attending is foreclosed. To be clear, I'm not all that concerned about the idea of travelling or of the meeting itself, I am concerned about the fortnight of being locked down when I return home.

Same in this country. There is plenty of stock, and the supermarkets have been up front telling people not to panic buy. But they keep panic buying. There is plenty of toilet paper and the factories have increased production to make sure of it, but still the crowds strip the shelves. I'm sure restaurants have been tossing food but they probably order day by day, and can adjust quickly to reduce demand. However, when the restrictions on mass gatherings came in, there were venues that had catering for large crowds, and they could no longer use the food. They didn't dump it, they called charities that supply homeless shelters and other charities, so it didn't go to waste. From what I read, the organisations that channel food that would otherwise go to landfill, to people who need it are quite effective these days.

Quite so, Oliver, but there are two sides to the preparedness to be honest. One, as you rightly identified is being prepared to be honest with the person who is currently your primary healthcare provider, the other is being prepared to be honest with any health care worker. If the issue is the provider, change them, if the issue is what you are prepared to say, change yourself. Of course, this is not just an issue for sex workers. It applies equally to anyone with any degree of shame or fear about how their behaviour will be perceived: gay people in a homophobic environment, women seeking reproductive health services in a conservative area, and no doubt others.

Who are you flying with? American have cancelled almost all Asia flights, but I assume they'd reroute you if it's with them.

'Drinking from a fire hose', but in this case, literally!

I fear they might foil your advances.

Tick tock!

Well, this has all escalated rather quickly. There's no travel ban as such, at least not now, but as I mentioned in another thread, Australia now requires people arriving here to go into self-isolation for 14 days, including returnng Australians. That probably makes my trip to Palm Springs untenable. I have two weeks to decide on my air ticket, in which time I get a credit for the full value, so I won't cancel precipitately, but it ain't looking good.

I misunderstood this part, hence the correction in the original post. The announcement was about 1430AEDT, so anyone travelling from pretty much anywhere but New Zealand who weren't in the air were too late to catch a flight to arrive before the restriction came into force.

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American Airlines slashes international long-haul fights starting Monday. Australia and New Zealand flights are among those cancelled. Qantas hasn't announced any further cuts, so pending any announcement on that score, AA codeshare services on QF metal will probably be available. http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2020/American-Airlines-Announces-Additional-Schedule-Changes-in-Response-to-Customer-Demand-Related-to-COVID-19-031420-OPS-DIS-03/default.aspx

I've found that stuff lasts FOR EVVA in the fridge, and while fresh is better, it's fine for a lot of things.