mike carey

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.

The Australian Government has just announced that they are imposing similar restrictions to those announced yesterday by New Zealand. After tomorrow,From midnight tonight everyone arriving in Australia will be required to self-isolate for 14 days, and cruise ships will not be permitted to arrive in Australian ports for the next 30 days.

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Exactly.

I may have mentioned it before, at least one of supermarkets has taken sanitiser off the shelves and you have to ask for it at the service desk.

But that would exclude most of the Caribbean countries and territories and Belize (Ok, I know they are in here for being south of the border, not South America) and the Guianas. I can't see a big issue with the current delineation.

[MEDIA=twitter]1238419691267223559[/MEDIA] (Coles and Woolworths are the two major supermarket chains in this country. I assume that Aldi has a similar reputation in the US as it does here, and from the thread also in the UK, of selling some odd merchandise to get people into their shops.)

There is serious discussion here from the medical folks that appear in the media (and I'm talking about our public broadcasters, not the more excitable commercial media) that if we are going to impose any further travel restrictions it would be for people coming from the US rather than Europe (there are already restrictions on arrivals from Italy). The view here is that the situation in the US is not under control. That said, we are not likely to impose any further travel restrictions as the possibility of importing cases would not affect the overall caseload now that community transmission is increasing.

I have two conflicting thoughts about this. First, I don't think airports are a problem, contact with other people is passing, so they are no more risky than going to the shops. Wash your hands, don't touch your face. Aeroplanes, slightly more of an issue, you're near three or four rows of people for an hour or so (the rest of the plane probably doesn't matter). Second thought, I enjoy road trips (generally by myself), so treating yourself to a drive down CA1 could be delightful.

This just appeared in my time line. Probably not for the first time. So, if anyone needed a bit of cheering up ... [MEDIA=twitter]1238081405713821698[/MEDIA]

A couple of ABC News productions on the virus: A Q&A with a GP and an ABC medical reporter - And a podcast home page. This is produced each week day - https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/coronacast/

About 6pm on Friday evening, Peter Dutton, the Home Affairs Minister, who is one of the most senior cabinet ministers announced that he had contracted the virus. The last cabinet meeting was on Tuesday so the medical advice is that other ministers don't need to self-isolate. Nevertheless, the PM has decided not to attend the football on Saturday night. Unfortunately his announcement said he decided not to attend to avoid his attendance being misrepresented rather than just to set an example.

The meeting has wound up and a presser held involving the PM and all the first ministers. — About half the nine members of COAG are from each side of politics, but this was a complete unity ticket. Only the PM, the Chief Medical Officer and the premiers of the two biggest states (one from each side of politics) spoke. — They are setting this group up as a National Cabinet that will meet weekly. — The cabinet will be supported by the already established Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) which consists of the chief medical or health officers of each jurisdiction. (With eight states and territories, this sort of coordination mechanism is easier than it would be with 50 states.) — Non essential gatherings of 500 or more people should not happen from Monday (the PM will still go to the football, the opposition leader who was also going to attend will not). Schools, universities and shopping centres will not be affected. — The Chief Medical Officer explained that the risk in static events like sports crowds, where people stay in the same spot for two hours or more, were greater than railway stations and airports, where contact with other people was more in passing. — The government has increased the travel advisory for Australians to defer any non-essential overseas travel to any country (I don't plan to follow this advice, at least not now). — No additional inbound travel bans are being contemplated. Reduced overall levels of international travel mean that monitoring will be easier, most travellers will be Australians returning home, and as community transmission increases the significance of imported case declines in the scheme of things. — One thing that stood out is the extent to which the roles of the CMO and the AHPPC have primacy in the decision processes. The Australian stock exchange opened the day and fell by over 8% but late in the day it had a remarkable turnaround and a few minutes ago it closed up 4.4% on the day.

When I saw your previous reply before you deleted it, I assumed that would be the reason. I should clarify, the COAG meets as a heads of government meeting, but the name is also used for other counterpart minister meetings, attorneys general, health ministers and so on.