Hi all,
I heard that The Vic Govt imposed a shutdown as of midnight last night (Friday 12th Feb 21). A quick 5-day shutdown to get on top of 13 new Covid cases. There was something like a day or two’s notice (I don’t recall exactly – they had time to “stop and think a little bit”), but WHY in the world would they choose midnight Friday as the start time for the lockdown?
People were watching the final stages of an exciting 5 set tennis match (the Australian Open Grand Slam event if you please, featuring the world’s #1 player) when fans were ordered to leave the stadium by 11:30pm so they could be home by midnight. They even had to STOP the match while the stadium was evacuated. To say there was discontent among the viewing public is putting it very mildly.
Now, WHO DOES THAT? They had around two days to “choose a time for lockdown to start” (well, really, they have had a bloody YEAR to get this kind of thing right) – it wasn’t like an emergency that had them do it immediately, so why midnight? Have all nightspots closed by then? Have all citizens retired to their homes by midnight usually? Has all transport stopped running by then?
If they REALLY wanted to upset people, they could have imposed a MIDDAY lockdown – that would have thrown the cat amongst the pigeons for sure. But they didn’t, so I guess they really WEREN’T trying to upset people. Midnight was better for sure, but why not 2am or 3am instead? You know, like that hour when we move the clocks forward or backward – a time when MOST of us are oblivious to the change, so the fewest of us are affected.
At times I despair – just who is running the joint, and who chose them? What were their qualifications that had us choose them over others? Why is it so hard for them to get even the simplest decisions right? Who vets their decision-making? Us I guess – once every 3 or 4 years…… Hmmmm……
Benny (having a grumble re stupidity in high places) :p
Yeah, that was me having a grumble about what seemed a quite stupid decision. In the end, that was quite a minor disruption, and yet, it didn’t need to happen if they had only thought a little more i.e use a 2am lockdown start time.
But there really has been far worse decisions, haven’t there?
One major one is this stop-start-stop-start-stop thing that goes on with borders and businesses. Borders shut with little notice leaving folks who are visiting inter-state relatives stranded. Wedding guest numebrs get restricted. Wedding caterers are pulled from pillar to post. How can most businesses run that way? Some might, but others just can’t. Imagine being a restaurant in this environment. You know you are able to open again, so you stock up with food to cook and re-sell, call your staff back in, and prepare to open up with a procedure in place to cover the required “contact tracing” et al.
Things go fine for a week, then some palooka high up decides “we must shut down again”. Really? Why? And how can this not cause even more problems? Bookings get cancelled, food spoils, staff are laid off – again! Border towns can lose half their customers at the stroke of a pen – and what of those families who live in one “twin city” but their kids go to school in the other?
NSW (along with several other countries) seem to be able to have most businesses (and borders) stay open full time. Why can’t Qld and Vic, and SA, and WA do the same? Some are worse than others – shutting a border with virtually NO notice at all. How can any business survive that kind of damage?
Why not be a wee bit slower to “shut everything down”. Surely there is a better way? Ask NSW !!!
Benny
Wow – check THIS out !!
https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/swallow-hard-reality-pill-on-virus-deaths-20210804-p58fxc – (later) it is now a Subscriber only article of the Fin Review. But you’ll still see the headline and a paragraph or two…..
Someone in Govt (a Senator) is finally taking a hard-nosed look at the “numbers” re how much we are spending/losing while endeavouring to save Covid lives. I’d previously thought Govts should be considering all sides to an economy, not just the “Covid cost”. i.e. lockdowns produce very serious health risks to so many people – especially to those businesses who are trying to keep their head above water. Lockdown after lockdown is beating many of them senseless.
And now (in the link above) a dollar value has been ascribed to the saving of a life – and it is $330 million per person !!!!!!!!
Can we really afford this? The Senator makes the statement that we as a nation “can’t afford the same healthcare facilities in the bush as in a big city – it is a fact of life”. As per the start of this paragraph, can we really afford to pay $330m to save each Covid life? And meanwhile, what other lives suffer, and how dreadfully? How about the single mum who is having to sleep with her family in their car because her work stopped and they can’t afford now to rent a house? How about the business owner who might be “going down for the third time” with yet ANOTHER lockdown that siphons income away from his business. Anxiety and depression must be having a field day in the midst of all this. What cost to those held in the grasp of THOSE “pandemics”? Is anyone counting? We focus on Covid to the exclusion of all else at our peril.
I know we don’t like to put a $ figure on “the value of a human life”, but do read the article to see how it sits with you.
Then, let me leave you with this small truthful extract from the link above:-
The hard reality is that we have become obsessed with the daily COVID-19 case numbers. But there are no press conferences announcing how many small businesses went under the night before, how many marriages broke up, or how many people lost their job.
Benny
I’m kinda surprised that nobody has needed to reply, to add more info, to disagree, or to have a rant of their own. No worries though – we are all where we are, with decisions to make, and the goalposts seem to keep on changing. Good luck with YOUR operation amongst all of the various Govts’ irrationality going on.
Just a week or so back, I heard one party from politics (I don’t recall just who…) who espoused the idea that ANY person standing for election as a candidate should be tested, and shown to have AT LEAST an IQ of 100 (i.e. to be at least an average member of our community). what do you think of THAT? I know that an IQ test is far from being the bees knees in determining suitability for any role, but hey, it is a start, and perhaps WAY better than what we have right now, yeah? And wouldn’t it be nice to know that whomever we vote for is at least “average or better” in the smarts department?
Or is that too easy? What do YOU think? Is there a better yardstick that is readily available?
Benny
After 18 months of pain, it seems several State Govts are getting serious about the economy, small business and family welfare once more – i.e. they are saying “It’s time to open up again”. Sounds good, except for what seems like being a kind of apartheid that may be coming – i.e. that all those who haven’t decided to get vaccinated will belong to a different “class” with fewer privileges than the rest.
Even Qld (with no Covid to speak of over these last 18 months) are talking of “opening up” on Dec 17th 2021 – come hell or high water. That’s quite a change from their previous locking down of the border – not even letting Qlders home in many circumstances. The stories have been vast, sobering, and (in many cases) quite disappointing, as we hear of families kept apart for months, people going interstate to visit a family member who may be sick or dying, then can’t come home to Qld again. But yesterday the Qld Govt message changed markedly – it is Dec 17th at the latest (maybe earlier if an 80% double-vax figure is achieved) and our border will open to ALL !!
Scarey? Well, it will be quite a new thing for Qld. NSW and Vic have fought high Covid numbers and have battled to overcome them. Qld has yet to face that outcome. And, perhaps the scariest thought of all, I wonder just what poor decisions might come once we are “open to the world”. Will things get so bad so quickly that the best thought from the State Govt will be to run to the safety of “what worked before” – i.e. close borders and lockdown? With tourism one of Qld’s largest income producers, such a knee-jerk move would likely be the death knell of many small businesses who have been hanging on by their fingernails.
Sharp lockdowns following on from “opening up” are the worst decision. Think about it – businesses hear of the “opening up”, they rush around spending time and money to prepare for their business to re-open, get staff back on deck, stock up, open up for business, then have everything fall in a heap as they are locked down again two days later. What a massive effect this has had on accommodations, restaurants, flights, the wedding industry, small shops, you-name-it.
Ever-changing rules drive the hoi polloi nuts !! I only hope that, come Dec 17th, that the Qld Govt has taken a teaspoon of cement and hardened up so that their decisions don’t blow around in the Covid wind.
How is YOUR State Govt travelling? And your constituents?
Good luck to us all,
Benny
Our state, WA, has been lucky to dodge this bullet.
However, the dictatorship may well come to an end after his latest knee jerk reaction.
Get the Jab or get a $10,000 fine, and another $100,000 for your boss.
Oh, and if you’re not vaccinated come 15 November you are not allowed to enter our state.
I feel & hear civil unrest building which could explode at any time.
I feel & hear civil unrest building which could explode at any time.
Hmm, even our Parliaments have more than their share of “civil unrest” right now. The division we are facing seems to be across the board. Is this how the West finally crumbles? They say “Divide and conquer”, and I haven’t seen such division within our country in decades. Many of those who have been vaccinated are siding with those who choose not to vaccinate, as Govts impose restrictions on the “unvaxxed”.
There seems to be a huge gulf between the parties (the “vax or be damned” vs the “I have the choice to not vax”), each with strongly held views – and I’m not sure just how this will all end. There even seems to be a “State Govts vs Fed Govt” war at the moment – like, we need this? Leadership is what is needed. Where is a modern-day King Solomon when we need him?
Benny
At last – it seems some common sense might have forced its way to the front. Following days (weeks?) of stupidly long lines of cars as people flock to get PCR tests, yesterday’s National Cabinet meeting seems to have found some common ground. Hallelujah !! Seems most States are now in line, or soon will be, with the new definitions that Omicron has brought about. i.e. Though a far more contagious disease, Omicron is also far less deadly as recent numbers seem to bear out.
Yesterday on radio I was hearing that Omicron variant is akin to a severe “common cold” – i.e. a nuisance, but hardly life-threatening for those who are vaxxed. Based on Qld’s recent numbers (something like 8000 new cases over the last two weeks, but just two people in intensive care) it may be that even the unvaxxed will be far less troubled by this variant.
But the BIG news to me was the re-definition of a close contact, along with the exhortations to NOT get a PCR test unless:-
a. you are a close contact of someone who has Covid (and the new “close contact” means you either live with them, or spend more than four hours daily with them – as a care-giver, or perhaps a workmate?). Or
b. you have definite symptoms of Covid.
So, no more lining up for a PCR test just to get into another State, or because your own State Govt has asked you to “get tested”. It seems the latter has gone away with this recent Cabinet meeting. Maybe now we can stop quarantining so many folk unnecessarily, which has led to shutting down so many small businesses.
I live in hope, but this new Covid approach DOES sound more hopeful than what has been up to now. Perhaps 2022 will be a good year after all !!! :)
Happy New Year to all,
Benny
Thanks to Steve – in another post he found a link that puts a statistical value on a human life in Aust. I link his post here, as it adds some value to an earlier post in this topic. Here’s Steve’s post:-
https://www.propertyinvesting.com/topic/5082736-65-roses-gamechanger-for-many/#post-5082778
The first link goes to a Wikipedia entry titled Value of Life.
And it helps me with the earlier post in this very topic I made on Aug 10th, 2021 (scroll upward to find it, or go to the link below):- – https://www.propertyinvesting.com/topic/5070205-are-govts-making-covid-tougher-on-us-than-they-should/#post-5076539
Wow – that’s one helluva discount. With a statistical value of $5m per human life, paying $330m to save one life sounds quite extreme (just as I had thought at the time). Interesting !!
Benny
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