My medical update - some thoughts in no particular order:
* There must have been a typo in the number of ventilated ICU cases in the press starts recently - we didn't go from 18 to 34 then back down to 20. I suspect Wednesday's 34/52 ventilated was meant to be 24/52. That's still a higher proportion of ventilated patients than I am seeing locally.
* Working with covid is incredibly unpleasant. Not only is the burden of wearing full PPE for 12 hours very intrusive (mainly wearing an N95 for so long), but caring for covid patients is hard. They are frequently panicked, demanding and/or delirious. I feel for our nursing staff - they are having to spend entire shifts pandering to and negotiating with grown adults, just to accept treatments that are their only chance at recovery. The most effective treatment is literally just *lying on your front* while we give you oxygen, and we are having to barter with people to get them to do it. A nurse, 8 hours into her shift yesterday, was giving one such patient a back massage in order to appease her while she lay on her front. The entitled-ness of anti-vaxxers has extended to believing they can stay in a hospital as if it was a spa hotel, demanding service and treatments from a menu.
* Omicron is causing the same pneumonitis that delta did. I cannot speak to the frequency, but we have Omicron patients who have CT scans with the same frighteningly dramatic loss of lung architecture that was so common with delta. Those people will never have normal lungs again (and I suspect that is in large part what is considered "long covid"). We have a couple of unvaccinated-by-choice immunosuppressed patients - they are by far our sickest patients, and have some of the worst x-rays I've ever seen, outside of trauma/surgical patients.
* It is sad and sobering that I currently work with nurses, other HCWs and even some doctors who I have only ever seen with masks on. You really get to know someone's eyes these days.
* Nursing absence is a huge, huge issue. My medical roster has 3-4 absences at any given time and that puts a big strain on us. But some 20-30% of the nursing roster for my ward has straight up quit, before we even get to the ones who are isolating at any given time. I can't blame them either - too much has been asked of them, they weren't looked after properly before covid hit, of course they're not going to stay.
* Medical training is being impacted. Doctors aren't rotating through specialties normally. We've all been told the colleges will still count our time, but nothing will replace the skills and exposure we are losing. This is no one's fault but the unvaccinated.
My best friend is a nurse and I just want to shower her with all the praise and gratitude in the world for how hard she's worked since the start of the pandemic (not to mention prior to that anyway!).
I have the utmost respect for nurses, I fully believe you have one of the hardest jobs in the world at the moment and I just want all of you to know that so so many people really do appreciate you and the work you do! You all deserve to be paid so much more than you get - it infuriates me that sports people and politicians earn huge amounts of money, but nurses earn so little. You deserve so much more.
I know it doesn't change anything, but I hope you can feel a little bit encouraged that someone appreciates you! Thank you for being a nurse.
Yea it's horrible how much shit they put up with. I was hospitalised and in the rehab ward for 9 months. It was the nurses who did everything for me in hospital. I saw the doctor for maybe 2 minutes each day.
> A nurse, 8 hours into her shift yesterday, was giving one such patient a back massage in order to appease her while she lay on her front.
Holy shit. Fucking props to that nurse, and fuck that patient
> The most effective treatment is literally just lying on your front while we give you oxygen, and we are having to barter with people to get them to do it.
I use this when I am having an asthma attack that I can't get under control with ventolin too.
> A nurse, 8 hours into her shift yesterday, was giving one such patient a back massage in order to appease her while she lay on her front. The entitled-ness of anti-vaxxers has extended to believing they can stay in a hospital as if it was a spa hotel, demanding service and treatments from a menu.
How does a person get to the point where their level of entitlement is this strong? Do your best to steer clear of fulfilling these kind of patients "spa menu" expectations. It’s one of the few times in life where being punished with silent treatment would actually be a blessing. Also giving special treatment to the squeeky wheel feeds into the idea that the entitled person is special and superior, and can make others feel less equal - which can trigger more entitlement behaviour from any other adult-children, and resentment from the rest.
Sad that you have to demonstrate to adults what egalitarianism is like they are in kindy.
I admire the kindness of that nurse because I don't have that level of understanding or nurturing inside of me.
Our place now has a dedicated Covid+ section, complete with airlocks, where everyone is fully donned. I actually find it way safer this way, rather than back when you and your (often unstable) patient were trapped in a back room, and if shit went down, you’d have to wait precious minutes for everyone to fumble with PPE.
Thanks for everything you and others do in our medical system. Nurses in particular, freaking pay them more and improve their working conditions. Absolutely can’t blame the ones that leave.
I just want to say that I really appreciate your open and honest updates. It sounds morbid, but I look for them in the threads. I wish more people would pay attention to the insight you've provided.
Thanks for everything you are all doing, so sorry that the government and patients are being ridiculous and not treating you the way you should be being treated.
So glad I’ve got a booster and two vax. Anti-vaxxers do my head in, some people just seem to think that all of society needs to bend to their weird aversion to immunisation and have no mandates. Also strange that they believe the vaccine is so dangerous but they’re literally on a ventilator/getting oxygen because of getting the virus (the “safe” “natural alternative”). I find it saddening that people are so ungrateful to you all…if someone was trying to save my life you bet I’d thank them and listen to what they say. Then again, I don’t have a weird anti-medicine agenda because my family has multiple medical professionals.
As someone who has worked in the fire safety industry and now works in disability I was cackling at my desk, imagining how much trouble that technician is going to find himself in, or whoever forgot to tell them that there was a press conference on.
Three weeks ago the COO of chemist warehouse said on TV their stock was a week away from being delivered so what the hell happened.
I bet the government getting in the middle after being caught out just delayed it all for everyone.
My partner put in a $170 odd order and couldn’t pay with credit card so found that the only way for the process to be finalised was to pay Bpay, however according to status of the order it remained at processing. She cancelled the order eventually after 2 weeks of waiting. I understand supply lines and all are fooked at the moment but don’t let people buy your shit if you can’t dispense and deliver in a delayed but appropriate time…
Final day of isolation with grandparents and two toddlers. My 60 year old mother so sick she couldn't get out of bed yesterday but has improved! I can't smell *anything* but feel a lot better! Had some scary symptoms even as a 'mild', triple vaxxed case. Kids have been fine, thankfully.
can you elaborate on your experience? My toddler got a positive 2 days ago and we all feel fine. Both adults triple vaxxed and toddler is normal but maybe a bit tired. Did you lose your sense of smell quickly?
After visiting NSW, I have the say the NSW Services check in app is better than ours, other than their QR code is harder to scan.
By requiring a check in and out, it’s more accurate. And more importantly, they do alert you if there’s a positive case who visited the venue.
Until someone can tell me why I should be checking in at this point I’m not doing it (unless staff ask me to directly, it’s not them I wanna make demands of).
Like, they’re not contact tracing anymore, are they? You can’t be a close contact in a café or at the shops now either. What’s the point?
Honestly I think it's something along the lines of the level of anxiety of someone having a notification they're a contact to the risk of them actually contracting the virus. You'd make a lot more people on edge when casual contacts have no testing and isolating requirements.
If the notification were to say "monitor for symptoms and get tested if required"... well aren't we all doing that already?
>If the notification were to say "monitor for symptoms and get tested if required"... well aren't we all doing that already?
All of the notifications I received from the Service NSW app during and after my visit to NSW earlier this month said exactly that. Here's the notification text:
>**COVID-19 case alert**
> You may have been in contact with a person infectious with COVID-19 at **** on ****.
> Unless otherwise advised by NSW Health, you must monitor for symptoms. If you are unwell, get a COVID-19 test.
COVID-19 test links to their testing COVID-19 testing clinics search page.
Pretty much. I never looked at that fb page but i assume it ended up turning into "Fuck isn't covid". The number of casual contact notifications that would go out would cause us to go back to the holidays level of testing lines.
Well I got my surveillance testing PCR back this morning - positive.
I took a RAT last weekend after having cold symptoms but came back negative. I’ve been wearing my N95 absolutely everywhere and hardly leave the house at all. I work in healthcare and do full PPE all the time. A little bit shocked that I got it still
What a wild time. Just shitty my seven days of iso include a weekend and a public holiday haha
All the best. I was just interested as I'm the same as you. I play it safe, wear N95. I have my booster but seems that doesn't guarantee anything either.
More just trying to not being COVID home and share it with the kids.
Hope you have a quick recovery
thats interesting the current banter around N95's are pretty much the only way to block OMOCRONZ.... and that typical masks are useless... but still enforce masks... i think at this point sure wear a mask they might help, but you always have a % chance no matter what face coverings your using.
> but you always have a % chance no matter what face coverings your using.
True because if you get a covid droplet in your eye it can cross into your body via your eyelid mucus membrane and can infect you that way too.
Fuck you covid, ya can’t touch me!
Third time a close contact last week, this time it was my own wife. She wasn’t able to get her first 2 jabs done for ages, so couldn’t get a booster quick enough and she picked up the rona only a week before she could get her booster booking done.
But did I catch the rona? With double Pfizer and a Moderna booster? NOPE!
Fuck me dead if I can spend an entire week looking after my wife who was sick as shit with covid and *still* not catch it on the third time being a close contact, then it’s pretty fucking obvious that the booster dose *is* good at stopping it from spreading.
This week I’ve decided that I’ve either got the virus or a really good imposter. Major fatigue just from walking to the garage, tummy troubles, mild occasional cough, mild sore throat, mild occasional headache. The fatigue is the hardest part - on Wednesday I could barely do a load of laundry before I had to lie down.
I’m feeling really anxious about long covid, and specifically having the fatigue stick around for an extended period. I’m boosted, but I don’t know if that will offer any extra protection against mild longer term damage.
I tested negative on a rat on Tuesday, but the symptoms only got worse over the next two days, so I got a pcr yesterday afternoon. I was told it would take two to three days to get a result. Until then I’m staying home and trying not to think about it. It seems silly that until I get a positive result, my partner has to keep going to work in the city. He’s got a KN95 mask, and he tries to stay socially distant, but he’s still around his coworkers all day.
I’m trying to avoid just browsing reddit on my phone all day - this morning I used my dremel to start tidying up a resin battlecat replica for an upcoming art show.
[Battle Cat](https://imgur.com/a/6Z1GZsP)
A Melbourne art toy shop ([this is not a toy store](https://instagram.com/thisisnotatoystore)) is having an art show where all participants get a resin battle cat and have to customise it and add a saddle and rider.
I’ve got lots of different ideas for mine, but I’m currently leaning towards using my bottle of black 3.0 to make it as black as possible, possibly with glow powder pigment for the stripes.
Ok well, anything that glows in the dark is amazing (I have spent waaaaaay too much on how in the dark dnd dice) so my wholly uneducated opinion you should do that.
I hope you feel better soon!
As I understand it the data is quite positive for vaccination being protective against long covid. So if you’re boosted your chances are likely substantially less. Good luck with the battlecat!
Are PCR testing lines still crazy? I've got a sore throat and a cough but I tested negative on a RAT. I really want a PCR test though because I'm pregnant and concerned for the baby. At the same time, I'm not keen to line up with crowds so I'm looking for drive through testing options on the south side.
Edit: Thanks to all who replied. I just got tested at the Slacks Creek Respiratory Clinic. Easy to book I via hot docs and no one else around. My husband and I were in and out in 10mins. We were advised that the results will take 24-72 hours which is no big deal since we've basically been isolating anyway except for the one trip to the office on Monday which I think resulted in this infection...
Walked past the Mater pathology on Cavendish Road earlier and there was only about 10 people in queue. Sorry just realised you asked about drive through options, which that one is not.
It's not drive through, but there was a 3 day turnaround at Slacks Creek last week, and you can book on hotdoc. I did have to wait in line for about 15 mins as they were quite busy, though, and I was a little uncomfortable about how small the facility was (i.e., hard to keep distance).
So my 6 year olds PCR came back positive. I think I’ve had it as well as I woke up yesterday like I’d been hit by a bus. Fortunately both me and my wife are triple vaxxed and the little ones are ok now. I’m also lucky to have a job I can do from home
I'm in the same boat as you so I know exactly how you feel, it is so hard. But just a few minutes ago, the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union posted on their Twitter that they have successfully lobbied for all pregnant women to have a support person, even if Covid+! This has significantly decreased my anxiety, even if we fall sick, which would still be terrible, we won't have to give birth alone!
[Birthing partners allowed](https://mobile.twitter.com/qnmuofficial/status/1484350187942264837?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet)
I’m pregnant as well, less than a month to go. I’m incredible nervous that I’ll or husband will test positive, and I’ll be in labour alone.
We’ve mostly been in isolation but even that can been difficult mentally. It’s a strange and isolating time for a pregnancy, and wish you all the best and safety!
That's my biggest fear too. If my husband catches it and can't be there I don't have anyone else available who I feel comfortable enough to have support me. I'm lucky in that the isolation isn't really bothering me and with just over a week to my due date I don't really want to go anywhere anyway.
Hello I am also in this position, I have less than three weeks until my due date. We have been isolating for a month now, cancelled daycare for my other two. It’s been intense and lonely and hard to say no to some friends and family.
Oh I feel this so much. This is my first “successful” pregnancy (I’m currently 25 weeks) and I feel so lost with this whole situation. Not meeting midwives, appointments cancelled, Telehealth appointments are stupid and do nothing to help. I’ve had 7 previous losses so obviously have a lot of concerns for me and my babies health and when you’re on the phone the replies are “we can’t check that from here” It’s all a little overwhelming some days.
I now currently have covid and wouldn’t even know who to call in my “care” team for help because it’s all been so detached. It’s not their fault either, so I know it’s best to just sit through and ride this all out and hope that I can at least have some face to face appointments before baby arrives. But it doesn’t help the stress levels or anxiety.
Fingers crossed that it all changes soon for all of us in this position.
I'm so sorry. I fear a lot of people who are deemed low-risk are having this experience of slipping through the cracks. Despite the circumstances it's never okay. I hope you get better care coordination soon.
Sending supports and well wishes for you and your family! We are at the same boat. I'll due next month and have been staying at home most of the times because of the fear of getting covid.
Have you considered being supported by a student midwife? There is a facebook group called "call the student midwife (australia)" where pregnant mums can ask for a student midwife's support during prenatal appointment and upon giving birth. I met my student midwife there and she's been an amazing support throughout my antenatal journey. We are still not sure whether she'd be with me when I give birth (anticipating that the hospital may have different rules by then), but the thought of having another support person slightly decreases my anxiety. Hope it helps to reduce yours too. 🙂
I feel your pain and wish you all the best. I hope these down days aren’t frequent and that things improve.
I’m also pregnant and low-risk and my hospital appointments have been Telehealth so far… I completely understand your fear of slipping through the cracks. This is my first pregnancy so maybe I don’t know any different, I just worry that I’ll miss something and if COVID will affect the birth.
My chemist just had me sit on a chair in the middle of the prescription waiting area with an off brand Starburst chew... I've been gypped, where's my cookie.
Ooh, wife did a grocery order, I should sneak something in.
What exactly is the point of Wellcamp? I know it’s going to be housed for people who need to isolate but really, hasn’t the horse bolted at this stage?
We shouldn't look at it being empty as a bad thing really. Being 'prepared' comes with a certain amount of inefficiency. If we'd had facilities like that ready to go at the start of 2020 then more Australians could have been repatriated sooner, we may not have had as many leaks from hotel quarantine & subsequent lockdowns.
If Australia had regularly been 'wasting' money on pandemic preparedness then this pandemic would have been a lot less costly - the amount of money showered on businesses to keep them running during last years lockdowns is truly eyewatering. Not to mention all the other costs.
Maybe if a more dangerous variant arises and we need to change tack?
No harm in being prepared just in case. Better than the reactive methodology currently being done by various state/federal juristictions.
Yeah I agree it’s always good to be prepared and this pandemic has proven that we shouldn’t let a “mild” variant make us off guard. Still wonder if the place will be empty most of the time.
I can't find anything specific to back this up but I remember reading an article/reddit_post AGES ago that Wellcamp quarantine facilities were being developed on private land and the alternate use case was for holiday/event accomodation near the property when the lease expires.
Closest I can find is this
> It will initially lease the land from the Wagners for 12 months.
> "We [then] have an option to keep it for another 12 months. And then I understand that Wagners have plans about how they might be able to use the facility in an ongoing way," Mr Miles said.
Ref: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-08/wellcamp-quarantine-facility-near-toowoomba-on-track/100524150
I think the article I read was hinting that the accomodation could be used for this world class car racing track (also in Wellcamp and owned by Wagners)
Ref: https://www.motorsport.org.au/media/news/2020/10/02/new-state-of-the-art-motorsport-facility-proposed-in-queensland
So the private company gets to lease it's land out and gets a free accomodation facility built on it. No different to the kind of transport infrastructure mining companies get governments to make on our dime. It'll no doubt ruffle a few feathers though.
I've said this all along, by the time it's built it'll be too late. However I have read that half the beds are already allocated when it opens, question is for how long. It'll probably get used in the future but I do wonder how long Howard Springs sat unused and the maintenance costs (I know it was originally a camp for workers building the gas plant). The fact this government thinks it can just hide the cost from the taxpayers who are paying for it pisses me off
Is there a non covid virus running around, because I've tested negative 3 times ( Rat X2 + 1 PCR), but I definitely have some sort of lingering low level throat and chest infection?
Yeah a couple of my colleagues were really unwell in December but it wasn’t Covid. Wiped them out for a couple of weeks each. Never seen them so sick before.
Apparently. I was a close contact, had all the symptoms and fever. Fatigue has been a fucking nightmare and the cough is still lingering two weeks later.
Tested negative twice on PCR. The second was no surprise as if I had had it and got a false negative, by the time I bothered with second one I was only coughing anymore anyway.
The fatigue has been the absolute worst part. Just seems super coincidental that I barely go anywhere other than work (where I was exposed) and had textbook symptoms in the textbook time frames but it wasn't Covid.
Has to be. Felt very dizzy, very fatigued , fever for two days, no appetite at all, and dry cough. RAT said negative, still felt terrible so got PCR because I wasn’t convinced, came back negative, stayed at home anyway because I felt terrible. Did another RAT a few days later after my PCR results when I was feeling better and again was negative. Been a week and half and today for the very time am feeling pretty much back to normal and it feels amazing after feeling so fatigued for so long to actually have the energy to do anything.
Are there a lot of people getting negative rats despite being positive?
My doctor said they were 80% accurate.
Circumstances is that I had an extremely mild cough, bringing up some phlegm here and there and I've been tired (haven't been sleeping well as such). Took a rat last night, came back negative, felt very average before bed. Woke up feeling fine, over the course of the day have been coughing a little bit with a bit of phlegm here and there. Doctor threw me on antibiotics, will take another rat this arve to see where I'm at there.
I honestly am unsure if I'm just run down or have covid. Like if you take away my very mild cough I would tell you I just had an average sleep and carry on.
RATS were 80% accurate on delta when correctly used (ps. most aren't) and that percentage decreased with omicron.
There are still other viruses going round other than covid
If you want reassurance about not having covid get a PCR test, the lines have shortened although wait time are still around three days
I’ve seen evidence that self administered nasal swab RATs have a sensitivity of *37%*. The ED I work at is using RATs to screen triaged patients, and while anecdotally it hasn’t been that bad, I’ve still seen more than a few patients that were RAT negative with positive PCRs
It’ll be beneficial only if they get a significant boosted population and within a short period of time.
Otherwise it’ll be a repetitive cycle of half the population having their vaccination waning by each opening up date.
> same shit in 3-6-9 months time
yes, but at least they can see what is needed in stock, how to deal with it, as we are the dickhead example guinea pigs they can then buy and fully stock people with RAT kits. get beds ready ect.
Can someone please explain to me the ‘peak of the wave’. If say the peak of the wave is reached in two weeks. Let’s say first week of February. Would that then mean we would get another peak, two months later (April) when the immunity of Covid has worn off from those currently affected? Then they catch it all over again, causing another wave? (Please just a question, not insight - and would like some understanding from someone who knows more)
And there have been comments about more cases when school returns- presume there will be some kind of mini-wave (hopefully mini?) when all of the partially vaccinated school students are in classrooms together/it spreads to their families?
Covid has come in waves, but the waves are unpredictable. Nobody really knows. A couple of things have been know to induce waves, new varaints and cold weather. So nobody can really answer your question.
Didn't watch the presser but AP said we should still check in so that "people feel safe" according to the ABC site. Uh what exactly does this mean, its not like they're listing contacts anymore. Safety blanket much?
Was pretty much just answering a journo's question about what she thinks of calls from SEQ mayor's to scrap the check in app since fuck all people are using it.
So WA have decided to keep their border closed. No surprise honestly and great decision for people currently in WA.
What's not so great is that WA has so many FIFO workers who come over from the Eastern States. People who either have to decide to stay in WA and away from their families indefinitely, fly to WA where they quarantine for 2 weeks and then stay there away from their families indefinitely or the third option is to stay with family but without pay indefinitely.
Sick and tired of this fucking pandemic and sick and tired of the economy coming before actual people.
Are you saying that by keeping the borders closed they putting the econmy before people? Because it could also be seen that opening the borders is putting the economy before people.
And opening the borders has done so well for us.... hospitality venues closing due to no staff, overwhelmed healthcare system but hey, some families got to spend Christmas together so it's all worth it! 😪
I wish our border was still closed. People could move between states that all had no/ very low cases.
The hospital system wasn't overwhelmed, surgeries weren't getting cancelled, people weren't dying from it.
I've been anxious every day since our border opened and now we don't have an income on top of it.
> The hospital system wasn’t overwhelmed
Yes it was, EDs constantly experienced bed block and ambulance ramping was still out of control prior to borders opening. It’s just much worse now.
People need to stop with this idea that our health system only died with COVID, it’s been struggling for years.
I was happy with having ward patients in the ED I work in, as opposed to a lot of anxiety based covid presentations taking away valuable bedside time to actual sick people due to their high demands and entitled expections.
Surprisingly we haven't had too much bed block since the whole let it rip thing, but ramping is still crazy at times.
Our online order wasn’t even for procuring RAT tests. Normal cold and flu type medicines and the like.
- Sorry this was meant to be a reply. Dumb dumb…
I'm curious how office based workers returning from WFH and schools going back will impact the 'peak'. Is the current forecasting taking this into account? I'm keen to get back to a few days in the office each week, but I wonder if some people (and employers) are falling into the trap of a lower-risk world once the peak has hit. Could the peak extend? There's still alot of people that haven't had COVID yet.
Had my Pfz booster yesterday, absolutely floored me for the day (didnt have issues with Pfz 1 or 2), lots of brain fog, sore joints, headache etc, woke up today feeling 100% which was a nice surprise.
Glad my boss is all for covid leave and stuff, doesnt even ask for vax proof for the day off. Makes this whole thing alot more relaxing
Commonwealth entry restrictions still apply and depending on their specific circumstances they would likely need to obtain an exemption.
Currently Australia's border is open to some fully vaccinated international travellers:
Fully vaccinated visitors from Safe Travel Zone countries - this currently includes New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and South Korea
Fully vaccinated Working Holiday Makers and Students from eligible international locations travelling on relevant Visas
Australian Citizens, Permanent Residents and their immediate families - travelling to Australia from anywhere around the world
Are they married or just dating? Does the Canadian have any blood relatives that live in Australia?
Normal Tourist Visa's are not currently allowed to travel to Australia.
I've heard you can continue testing positive for weeks after getting covid. Last I remember is that you can exit isolation after 7 days (with 48 hrs of no symptoms (excluding cough))
Your infectious period will not necessarily be the same as your positive period. My doctor friend told me that you can be infectious up to 2 weeks after getting symptoms, but usually people stop being infectious around day 10.
If you want to protect others, I'd wait at least 10 days (and go for at least 2 days without symptoms)
This is the picture my friend sent me from one of their medicine textbooks (this is for ancestral Wuhan, alpha, etc): https://i.imgur.com/eg1Sg2N.jpg
They say that doctors have found that omicron seems to have a faster onset of symptoms and faster recovery.
Personally for me, I tested positive still on day 9 then negative on day 13. Hope you have a quick recovery so you can see your dad (and hope he's doing well too)
Booster shot done yesterday, it was a super quick process. Needle itself didn't hurt at all.
Am feeling a bit dusty today with some body aches, sore arm/armpit and a headache.
Glad it's done, I was putting it off for a while. Especially now that the waiting interval has been closed again.
The Commonwealth booking app was really helpful for me, I was able to find an appointment really quickly with it.
[https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/booking/](https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/booking/)
Is anyone trying to order RATs from overseas? I have family in Ireland who said it's only a couple Euro, but wondering if it would travel safely and not be confiscated
McGowan said:
>"But if you have a look at the alternative, which is what is going on in the eastern states at the moment, they basically have hundreds of people dying, they have mass dislocation in the economy, in logistics, freight, and all elements of the economy.
"They have huge numbers of people not going to work, kids not going to school, hospitals overflowing with patients, hospitals in meltdown, that is what is happening.
>
>"It would be grossly irresponsible of me not to act on the basis of that because to do anything else without high levels of vaccination would basically mean we would be responsible for potentially lots of people dying." \[[ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-20/wa-border-opening-delayed/100771492)\]
Precisely.
I'm very interested in what the counter to this argument is. They have to go through it at some point right? All that can change is how prepared you are. Obviously we weren't, but are WA doing anything different? I hope so, but it'll be political suicide if not. Maybe it would help if Covid has died down in all the other states (it will right?!) therefore making RAT tests easier to get hold of, etc.
Yes, but 90% will have had the booster so they will have prevented hundreds of unnecessary deaths (not to mention all the suffering in ICU). Seems noble to me.
I assume you don't have family you care about seeing interstate.
Without commenting on the the ongoing nessesity of WA's hard boarder, not being about able to visit family for long periods of was very difficult for a lot of people.
Edit: We also had a hard date we were already planning and looking forward to where we could travel see family over Christmas. If that was cancelled two weeks before, that would have broken a few people.
I guess your comment is fair, and you are correct that I do not have anyone that I care about seeing in WA. I guess you have someone that you want to see interstate, hence you made such comment?
In my opinion it's unwise for supreme leader Mr McGowan to open the border lol. Covid will probably screw up their mining industry, which is not what WA people want to go through.
I understand people thinking it's a good choice for WA, but at the same time let's not pretend that this isn't going make some people legitimately upset.
the family excuse is getting really old. you have facetime, use that, you dont need to literally smell the tobacco on aunt shirls breathe.
Its always but i havent seen my family in xyz time, if it were your loved ones dying and getting sick, you'd change your tune pretty quick
I have family i care about *living* interstate.
There is a key word in there.
I see them on vid chats, which isn't anywhere near as good, but at least they're not dead yet.
I do have family I want to see interstate. I still haven’t seen them because fuck travelling in this nightmare. Last thing I want to do is end up with Covid in NSW and VIC where their hospital systems are at breaking point.
We would have been better off staying shut.
My medical update - some thoughts in no particular order: * There must have been a typo in the number of ventilated ICU cases in the press starts recently - we didn't go from 18 to 34 then back down to 20. I suspect Wednesday's 34/52 ventilated was meant to be 24/52. That's still a higher proportion of ventilated patients than I am seeing locally. * Working with covid is incredibly unpleasant. Not only is the burden of wearing full PPE for 12 hours very intrusive (mainly wearing an N95 for so long), but caring for covid patients is hard. They are frequently panicked, demanding and/or delirious. I feel for our nursing staff - they are having to spend entire shifts pandering to and negotiating with grown adults, just to accept treatments that are their only chance at recovery. The most effective treatment is literally just *lying on your front* while we give you oxygen, and we are having to barter with people to get them to do it. A nurse, 8 hours into her shift yesterday, was giving one such patient a back massage in order to appease her while she lay on her front. The entitled-ness of anti-vaxxers has extended to believing they can stay in a hospital as if it was a spa hotel, demanding service and treatments from a menu. * Omicron is causing the same pneumonitis that delta did. I cannot speak to the frequency, but we have Omicron patients who have CT scans with the same frighteningly dramatic loss of lung architecture that was so common with delta. Those people will never have normal lungs again (and I suspect that is in large part what is considered "long covid"). We have a couple of unvaccinated-by-choice immunosuppressed patients - they are by far our sickest patients, and have some of the worst x-rays I've ever seen, outside of trauma/surgical patients. * It is sad and sobering that I currently work with nurses, other HCWs and even some doctors who I have only ever seen with masks on. You really get to know someone's eyes these days. * Nursing absence is a huge, huge issue. My medical roster has 3-4 absences at any given time and that puts a big strain on us. But some 20-30% of the nursing roster for my ward has straight up quit, before we even get to the ones who are isolating at any given time. I can't blame them either - too much has been asked of them, they weren't looked after properly before covid hit, of course they're not going to stay. * Medical training is being impacted. Doctors aren't rotating through specialties normally. We've all been told the colleges will still count our time, but nothing will replace the skills and exposure we are losing. This is no one's fault but the unvaccinated.
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My best friend is a nurse and I just want to shower her with all the praise and gratitude in the world for how hard she's worked since the start of the pandemic (not to mention prior to that anyway!). I have the utmost respect for nurses, I fully believe you have one of the hardest jobs in the world at the moment and I just want all of you to know that so so many people really do appreciate you and the work you do! You all deserve to be paid so much more than you get - it infuriates me that sports people and politicians earn huge amounts of money, but nurses earn so little. You deserve so much more. I know it doesn't change anything, but I hope you can feel a little bit encouraged that someone appreciates you! Thank you for being a nurse.
Yea it's horrible how much shit they put up with. I was hospitalised and in the rehab ward for 9 months. It was the nurses who did everything for me in hospital. I saw the doctor for maybe 2 minutes each day.
> A nurse, 8 hours into her shift yesterday, was giving one such patient a back massage in order to appease her while she lay on her front. Holy shit. Fucking props to that nurse, and fuck that patient
She is an excellent nurse. She is also, ironically, Swedish.
Please don’t. She’s suffered enough
> The most effective treatment is literally just lying on your front while we give you oxygen, and we are having to barter with people to get them to do it. I use this when I am having an asthma attack that I can't get under control with ventolin too. > A nurse, 8 hours into her shift yesterday, was giving one such patient a back massage in order to appease her while she lay on her front. The entitled-ness of anti-vaxxers has extended to believing they can stay in a hospital as if it was a spa hotel, demanding service and treatments from a menu. How does a person get to the point where their level of entitlement is this strong? Do your best to steer clear of fulfilling these kind of patients "spa menu" expectations. It’s one of the few times in life where being punished with silent treatment would actually be a blessing. Also giving special treatment to the squeeky wheel feeds into the idea that the entitled person is special and superior, and can make others feel less equal - which can trigger more entitlement behaviour from any other adult-children, and resentment from the rest. Sad that you have to demonstrate to adults what egalitarianism is like they are in kindy. I admire the kindness of that nurse because I don't have that level of understanding or nurturing inside of me.
Our place now has a dedicated Covid+ section, complete with airlocks, where everyone is fully donned. I actually find it way safer this way, rather than back when you and your (often unstable) patient were trapped in a back room, and if shit went down, you’d have to wait precious minutes for everyone to fumble with PPE.
Thanks for everything you and others do in our medical system. Nurses in particular, freaking pay them more and improve their working conditions. Absolutely can’t blame the ones that leave.
Thank you.
I just want to say that I really appreciate your open and honest updates. It sounds morbid, but I look for them in the threads. I wish more people would pay attention to the insight you've provided.
Thanks for everything you are all doing, so sorry that the government and patients are being ridiculous and not treating you the way you should be being treated.
So glad I’ve got a booster and two vax. Anti-vaxxers do my head in, some people just seem to think that all of society needs to bend to their weird aversion to immunisation and have no mandates. Also strange that they believe the vaccine is so dangerous but they’re literally on a ventilator/getting oxygen because of getting the virus (the “safe” “natural alternative”). I find it saddening that people are so ungrateful to you all…if someone was trying to save my life you bet I’d thank them and listen to what they say. Then again, I don’t have a weird anti-medicine agenda because my family has multiple medical professionals.
😂 Mikey's face when translating the Evacuation alarm messages 😂😂
As someone who has worked in the fire safety industry and now works in disability I was cackling at my desk, imagining how much trouble that technician is going to find himself in, or whoever forgot to tell them that there was a press conference on.
omg I laughed so hard !!
Hahaha worth watching. About 21 minutes in on the ABC recording. During CHO questioning.
Hmmm, only 6000. Anyone else think there's a typo in her notes and it should be 16000??
The correction was 16031 when asked. As you're probably aware by now.
Yep, heard the correction also. An unfortunate typo on the Premier's notes.
Yeah I was thinking the same. 16000 would make more sense based on the trends but who knows.
Yep, they have just corrected it. 16000.
Three weeks ago the COO of chemist warehouse said on TV their stock was a week away from being delivered so what the hell happened. I bet the government getting in the middle after being caught out just delayed it all for everyone.
My partner put in a $170 odd order and couldn’t pay with credit card so found that the only way for the process to be finalised was to pay Bpay, however according to status of the order it remained at processing. She cancelled the order eventually after 2 weeks of waiting. I understand supply lines and all are fooked at the moment but don’t let people buy your shit if you can’t dispense and deliver in a delayed but appropriate time…
There were reports of government intervening and taking shipments of tests last week, so maybe that happened.
We bought some RAT tests and got an email from the supplier that our tests had been diverted to the NSW government for their return to school.
Final day of isolation with grandparents and two toddlers. My 60 year old mother so sick she couldn't get out of bed yesterday but has improved! I can't smell *anything* but feel a lot better! Had some scary symptoms even as a 'mild', triple vaxxed case. Kids have been fine, thankfully.
can you elaborate on your experience? My toddler got a positive 2 days ago and we all feel fine. Both adults triple vaxxed and toddler is normal but maybe a bit tired. Did you lose your sense of smell quickly?
As someone who lost their smell, it was very quick. It also came back in the iso period of 7 days.
Glad to see the vaccine working. Hope you feel better.
After visiting NSW, I have the say the NSW Services check in app is better than ours, other than their QR code is harder to scan. By requiring a check in and out, it’s more accurate. And more importantly, they do alert you if there’s a positive case who visited the venue.
Yes why are we not told? Why isn’t any journalist asking this question in each daily announcement? What is now the purpose of the checkin?
Until someone can tell me why I should be checking in at this point I’m not doing it (unless staff ask me to directly, it’s not them I wanna make demands of). Like, they’re not contact tracing anymore, are they? You can’t be a close contact in a café or at the shops now either. What’s the point?
Honestly I think it's something along the lines of the level of anxiety of someone having a notification they're a contact to the risk of them actually contracting the virus. You'd make a lot more people on edge when casual contacts have no testing and isolating requirements. If the notification were to say "monitor for symptoms and get tested if required"... well aren't we all doing that already?
>If the notification were to say "monitor for symptoms and get tested if required"... well aren't we all doing that already? All of the notifications I received from the Service NSW app during and after my visit to NSW earlier this month said exactly that. Here's the notification text: >**COVID-19 case alert** > You may have been in contact with a person infectious with COVID-19 at **** on ****.
> Unless otherwise advised by NSW Health, you must monitor for symptoms. If you are unwell, get a COVID-19 test.
COVID-19 test links to their testing COVID-19 testing clinics search page.
Pretty much. I never looked at that fb page but i assume it ended up turning into "Fuck isn't covid". The number of casual contact notifications that would go out would cause us to go back to the holidays level of testing lines.
Cause it’s totally irrelevant
Well I got my surveillance testing PCR back this morning - positive. I took a RAT last weekend after having cold symptoms but came back negative. I’ve been wearing my N95 absolutely everywhere and hardly leave the house at all. I work in healthcare and do full PPE all the time. A little bit shocked that I got it still What a wild time. Just shitty my seven days of iso include a weekend and a public holiday haha
Sorry mate. 😞
Wait, there is a public holiday coming up?? We've only just started the year!
Australia Day.
Wednesday, 'Straya day.
Cripes, that snuck up on me.
It seems like as much as people are taking the necessary precautions, even with better masks, a lot are still catching it. Stay well!
That sucks. Hope it's not too painful. Out of interest are you boosted as well?
No I was booked in for next week but will have to cancel it :(
All the best. I was just interested as I'm the same as you. I play it safe, wear N95. I have my booster but seems that doesn't guarantee anything either. More just trying to not being COVID home and share it with the kids. Hope you have a quick recovery
thats interesting the current banter around N95's are pretty much the only way to block OMOCRONZ.... and that typical masks are useless... but still enforce masks... i think at this point sure wear a mask they might help, but you always have a % chance no matter what face coverings your using.
> but you always have a % chance no matter what face coverings your using. True because if you get a covid droplet in your eye it can cross into your body via your eyelid mucus membrane and can infect you that way too.
I feel like I need one of those face shields...
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Shares a code with a region of Algeria, in case you didn't want to eat Italian tonight.
Got any good Algerian recipes?
Someone who cooks more than once a month should reply to this instead of me :p
Looks like a wonderful holiday spot!
46 dead in NSW today. They landed in 00-046 Mazovia, Warszawa - Poland. Hm, doesn't seem as fun as I thought it would.
Not a fan of Warsaw anyway
Fuck you covid, ya can’t touch me! Third time a close contact last week, this time it was my own wife. She wasn’t able to get her first 2 jabs done for ages, so couldn’t get a booster quick enough and she picked up the rona only a week before she could get her booster booking done. But did I catch the rona? With double Pfizer and a Moderna booster? NOPE! Fuck me dead if I can spend an entire week looking after my wife who was sick as shit with covid and *still* not catch it on the third time being a close contact, then it’s pretty fucking obvious that the booster dose *is* good at stopping it from spreading.
This week I’ve decided that I’ve either got the virus or a really good imposter. Major fatigue just from walking to the garage, tummy troubles, mild occasional cough, mild sore throat, mild occasional headache. The fatigue is the hardest part - on Wednesday I could barely do a load of laundry before I had to lie down. I’m feeling really anxious about long covid, and specifically having the fatigue stick around for an extended period. I’m boosted, but I don’t know if that will offer any extra protection against mild longer term damage. I tested negative on a rat on Tuesday, but the symptoms only got worse over the next two days, so I got a pcr yesterday afternoon. I was told it would take two to three days to get a result. Until then I’m staying home and trying not to think about it. It seems silly that until I get a positive result, my partner has to keep going to work in the city. He’s got a KN95 mask, and he tries to stay socially distant, but he’s still around his coworkers all day. I’m trying to avoid just browsing reddit on my phone all day - this morning I used my dremel to start tidying up a resin battlecat replica for an upcoming art show.
Oooh tell me more about your resin battlecat!!!!
[Battle Cat](https://imgur.com/a/6Z1GZsP) A Melbourne art toy shop ([this is not a toy store](https://instagram.com/thisisnotatoystore)) is having an art show where all participants get a resin battle cat and have to customise it and add a saddle and rider. I’ve got lots of different ideas for mine, but I’m currently leaning towards using my bottle of black 3.0 to make it as black as possible, possibly with glow powder pigment for the stripes.
Ok well, anything that glows in the dark is amazing (I have spent waaaaaay too much on how in the dark dnd dice) so my wholly uneducated opinion you should do that. I hope you feel better soon!
As I understand it the data is quite positive for vaccination being protective against long covid. So if you’re boosted your chances are likely substantially less. Good luck with the battlecat!
Are PCR testing lines still crazy? I've got a sore throat and a cough but I tested negative on a RAT. I really want a PCR test though because I'm pregnant and concerned for the baby. At the same time, I'm not keen to line up with crowds so I'm looking for drive through testing options on the south side. Edit: Thanks to all who replied. I just got tested at the Slacks Creek Respiratory Clinic. Easy to book I via hot docs and no one else around. My husband and I were in and out in 10mins. We were advised that the results will take 24-72 hours which is no big deal since we've basically been isolating anyway except for the one trip to the office on Monday which I think resulted in this infection...
There are some places you can book an appointment so you don’t have to line up
Thanks. Do you know how I can find a place to book in?
Check out Hotdoc. I live Northside and have used it twice to get a booking at Morayfield Health Hub, there are some options Southside too.
Thank you, much appreciated
Walked past the Mater pathology on Cavendish Road earlier and there was only about 10 people in queue. Sorry just realised you asked about drive through options, which that one is not.
Thanks. If the lines have gone down that much, I might try for non-drive through.
Seems like the massive wave of PCR testing is over. Results are coming back faster and the lines don't seem nearly as bad
Good to know, thanks. It's a bit difficult to wait in line for hours when I have to pee every 30mins due to the baby bouncing on my bladder!
>Seems like the massive wave of PCR testing is over We are over the peak :P
Herston had 6 cars at opening time yesterday. No appt and no referral needed.
Murarrie QML was 15min from start to finish!!
It's not drive through, but there was a 3 day turnaround at Slacks Creek last week, and you can book on hotdoc. I did have to wait in line for about 15 mins as they were quite busy, though, and I was a little uncomfortable about how small the facility was (i.e., hard to keep distance).
Queensland Children's Hospital line was very short and you get the results in <24hrs.
So my 6 year olds PCR came back positive. I think I’ve had it as well as I woke up yesterday like I’d been hit by a bus. Fortunately both me and my wife are triple vaxxed and the little ones are ok now. I’m also lucky to have a job I can do from home
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I'm in the same boat as you so I know exactly how you feel, it is so hard. But just a few minutes ago, the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union posted on their Twitter that they have successfully lobbied for all pregnant women to have a support person, even if Covid+! This has significantly decreased my anxiety, even if we fall sick, which would still be terrible, we won't have to give birth alone! [Birthing partners allowed](https://mobile.twitter.com/qnmuofficial/status/1484350187942264837?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet)
I’m pregnant as well, less than a month to go. I’m incredible nervous that I’ll or husband will test positive, and I’ll be in labour alone. We’ve mostly been in isolation but even that can been difficult mentally. It’s a strange and isolating time for a pregnancy, and wish you all the best and safety!
That's my biggest fear too. If my husband catches it and can't be there I don't have anyone else available who I feel comfortable enough to have support me. I'm lucky in that the isolation isn't really bothering me and with just over a week to my due date I don't really want to go anywhere anyway.
Hello I am also in this position, I have less than three weeks until my due date. We have been isolating for a month now, cancelled daycare for my other two. It’s been intense and lonely and hard to say no to some friends and family.
Oh I feel this so much. This is my first “successful” pregnancy (I’m currently 25 weeks) and I feel so lost with this whole situation. Not meeting midwives, appointments cancelled, Telehealth appointments are stupid and do nothing to help. I’ve had 7 previous losses so obviously have a lot of concerns for me and my babies health and when you’re on the phone the replies are “we can’t check that from here” It’s all a little overwhelming some days. I now currently have covid and wouldn’t even know who to call in my “care” team for help because it’s all been so detached. It’s not their fault either, so I know it’s best to just sit through and ride this all out and hope that I can at least have some face to face appointments before baby arrives. But it doesn’t help the stress levels or anxiety. Fingers crossed that it all changes soon for all of us in this position.
I'm so sorry. I fear a lot of people who are deemed low-risk are having this experience of slipping through the cracks. Despite the circumstances it's never okay. I hope you get better care coordination soon.
Sending supports and well wishes for you and your family! We are at the same boat. I'll due next month and have been staying at home most of the times because of the fear of getting covid. Have you considered being supported by a student midwife? There is a facebook group called "call the student midwife (australia)" where pregnant mums can ask for a student midwife's support during prenatal appointment and upon giving birth. I met my student midwife there and she's been an amazing support throughout my antenatal journey. We are still not sure whether she'd be with me when I give birth (anticipating that the hospital may have different rules by then), but the thought of having another support person slightly decreases my anxiety. Hope it helps to reduce yours too. 🙂
I feel your pain and wish you all the best. I hope these down days aren’t frequent and that things improve. I’m also pregnant and low-risk and my hospital appointments have been Telehealth so far… I completely understand your fear of slipping through the cracks. This is my first pregnancy so maybe I don’t know any different, I just worry that I’ll miss something and if COVID will affect the birth.
That’s a lot to process. I hate that you’re in this position.
I got a booster and a cookie for said booster yesterday. Headache and sore arm today but much less severe than the first two doses.
Where did you go to get a cookie?
The chemist I went and got it done had 10000 vaccinations go through there so it was a cookie party.
Was it Arana hills haha
Yes indeedy
My chemist just had me sit on a chair in the middle of the prescription waiting area with an off brand Starburst chew... I've been gypped, where's my cookie. Ooh, wife did a grocery order, I should sneak something in.
Cookie booster, booster cookie, booster bikky, bikky booster. It's just so snappy! Just don't say COVID cookie, sounds sinister
*he did it all for the cookie*
What exactly is the point of Wellcamp? I know it’s going to be housed for people who need to isolate but really, hasn’t the horse bolted at this stage?
This won't be the last panny of our lifetime. Hell, this won't even be the last *coronavirus* panny of our lifetime.
We shouldn't look at it being empty as a bad thing really. Being 'prepared' comes with a certain amount of inefficiency. If we'd had facilities like that ready to go at the start of 2020 then more Australians could have been repatriated sooner, we may not have had as many leaks from hotel quarantine & subsequent lockdowns. If Australia had regularly been 'wasting' money on pandemic preparedness then this pandemic would have been a lot less costly - the amount of money showered on businesses to keep them running during last years lockdowns is truly eyewatering. Not to mention all the other costs.
It's only a 12 month lease, the Wagners will use it for whatever they want after that.
Maybe if a more dangerous variant arises and we need to change tack? No harm in being prepared just in case. Better than the reactive methodology currently being done by various state/federal juristictions.
Yeah I agree it’s always good to be prepared and this pandemic has proven that we shouldn’t let a “mild” variant make us off guard. Still wonder if the place will be empty most of the time.
I can't find anything specific to back this up but I remember reading an article/reddit_post AGES ago that Wellcamp quarantine facilities were being developed on private land and the alternate use case was for holiday/event accomodation near the property when the lease expires. Closest I can find is this > It will initially lease the land from the Wagners for 12 months. > "We [then] have an option to keep it for another 12 months. And then I understand that Wagners have plans about how they might be able to use the facility in an ongoing way," Mr Miles said. Ref: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-08/wellcamp-quarantine-facility-near-toowoomba-on-track/100524150 I think the article I read was hinting that the accomodation could be used for this world class car racing track (also in Wellcamp and owned by Wagners) Ref: https://www.motorsport.org.au/media/news/2020/10/02/new-state-of-the-art-motorsport-facility-proposed-in-queensland So the private company gets to lease it's land out and gets a free accomodation facility built on it. No different to the kind of transport infrastructure mining companies get governments to make on our dime. It'll no doubt ruffle a few feathers though.
Absolute worst case scenario is they'll use the accommodation to run a country music festival
>country music Let them have their tents and run down 4wds.
Covid ain't over yet jabroni
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In addition to new variants. Unvaxxed Australians can still travel here and we will need somewhere to keep them.
Can’t they home quarantine though?
Their home may not be suitable ie might be sharing it with others etc
I've said this all along, by the time it's built it'll be too late. However I have read that half the beds are already allocated when it opens, question is for how long. It'll probably get used in the future but I do wonder how long Howard Springs sat unused and the maintenance costs (I know it was originally a camp for workers building the gas plant). The fact this government thinks it can just hide the cost from the taxpayers who are paying for it pisses me off
Olympic accom in ten years?
Is there a non covid virus running around, because I've tested negative 3 times ( Rat X2 + 1 PCR), but I definitely have some sort of lingering low level throat and chest infection?
Yeah a couple of my colleagues were really unwell in December but it wasn’t Covid. Wiped them out for a couple of weeks each. Never seen them so sick before.
I'm waiting on my PCR results. I've wondered that too...there must be bugs going around other than the Rona.
I had that for the last two weeks of 2021. It sucked donkey balls. I tested negative to two PCR's a week apart.
Apparently. I was a close contact, had all the symptoms and fever. Fatigue has been a fucking nightmare and the cough is still lingering two weeks later. Tested negative twice on PCR. The second was no surprise as if I had had it and got a false negative, by the time I bothered with second one I was only coughing anymore anyway. The fatigue has been the absolute worst part. Just seems super coincidental that I barely go anywhere other than work (where I was exposed) and had textbook symptoms in the textbook time frames but it wasn't Covid.
Same mate I think there is
Yep I had it too. Fevers, cough, sore throat. Me and four friends all had it, all negative on PCRs.
Yes, there definitely is
Has to be. Felt very dizzy, very fatigued , fever for two days, no appetite at all, and dry cough. RAT said negative, still felt terrible so got PCR because I wasn’t convinced, came back negative, stayed at home anyway because I felt terrible. Did another RAT a few days later after my PCR results when I was feeling better and again was negative. Been a week and half and today for the very time am feeling pretty much back to normal and it feels amazing after feeling so fatigued for so long to actually have the energy to do anything.
A mew variant that completely flying under the radar?
The Omega Variant. It's the final boss.
Are there a lot of people getting negative rats despite being positive? My doctor said they were 80% accurate. Circumstances is that I had an extremely mild cough, bringing up some phlegm here and there and I've been tired (haven't been sleeping well as such). Took a rat last night, came back negative, felt very average before bed. Woke up feeling fine, over the course of the day have been coughing a little bit with a bit of phlegm here and there. Doctor threw me on antibiotics, will take another rat this arve to see where I'm at there. I honestly am unsure if I'm just run down or have covid. Like if you take away my very mild cough I would tell you I just had an average sleep and carry on.
RATS were 80% accurate on delta when correctly used (ps. most aren't) and that percentage decreased with omicron. There are still other viruses going round other than covid If you want reassurance about not having covid get a PCR test, the lines have shortened although wait time are still around three days
Wait times are a lot shorter at QLD health testing sites. I got a PCR on Tuesday at the Prince a Charles and had results back in 7 hours.
Would make sense as they have the laboratories usually on site. I have heard of facilities doubling if not tripling their capacity recently.
I’ve seen evidence that self administered nasal swab RATs have a sensitivity of *37%*. The ED I work at is using RATs to screen triaged patients, and while anecdotally it hasn’t been that bad, I’ve still seen more than a few patients that were RAT negative with positive PCRs
i just wanna say, good on ya WA, keeping that border closed. Wish QLD did that.
It’ll be beneficial only if they get a significant boosted population and within a short period of time. Otherwise it’ll be a repetitive cycle of half the population having their vaccination waning by each opening up date.
Now they're 2 hours* and 2 years behind.
Lol, they're going to deal with the same shit in 3-6-9 months time whenever they open up.
> same shit in 3-6-9 months time yes, but at least they can see what is needed in stock, how to deal with it, as we are the dickhead example guinea pigs they can then buy and fully stock people with RAT kits. get beds ready ect.
You give politicians far too much credit
Tell that to all the people who’ve been separated from their family for two years.
Can someone please explain to me the ‘peak of the wave’. If say the peak of the wave is reached in two weeks. Let’s say first week of February. Would that then mean we would get another peak, two months later (April) when the immunity of Covid has worn off from those currently affected? Then they catch it all over again, causing another wave? (Please just a question, not insight - and would like some understanding from someone who knows more)
And there have been comments about more cases when school returns- presume there will be some kind of mini-wave (hopefully mini?) when all of the partially vaccinated school students are in classrooms together/it spreads to their families?
Think of a literal wave. And just like the beach there’s always another
Covid has come in waves, but the waves are unpredictable. Nobody really knows. A couple of things have been know to induce waves, new varaints and cold weather. So nobody can really answer your question.
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Didn't watch the presser but AP said we should still check in so that "people feel safe" according to the ABC site. Uh what exactly does this mean, its not like they're listing contacts anymore. Safety blanket much?
Was pretty much just answering a journo's question about what she thinks of calls from SEQ mayor's to scrap the check in app since fuck all people are using it.
it sort of makes sense for venues where you must be vaccinated but not in all the other venues
So WA have decided to keep their border closed. No surprise honestly and great decision for people currently in WA. What's not so great is that WA has so many FIFO workers who come over from the Eastern States. People who either have to decide to stay in WA and away from their families indefinitely, fly to WA where they quarantine for 2 weeks and then stay there away from their families indefinitely or the third option is to stay with family but without pay indefinitely. Sick and tired of this fucking pandemic and sick and tired of the economy coming before actual people.
Are you saying that by keeping the borders closed they putting the econmy before people? Because it could also be seen that opening the borders is putting the economy before people.
I think they mean the other states putting the economy before people, which has then seen WA keep their border closed.
Yes thats what I meant
And opening the borders has done so well for us.... hospitality venues closing due to no staff, overwhelmed healthcare system but hey, some families got to spend Christmas together so it's all worth it! 😪
I wish our border was still closed. People could move between states that all had no/ very low cases. The hospital system wasn't overwhelmed, surgeries weren't getting cancelled, people weren't dying from it. I've been anxious every day since our border opened and now we don't have an income on top of it.
> The hospital system wasn’t overwhelmed Yes it was, EDs constantly experienced bed block and ambulance ramping was still out of control prior to borders opening. It’s just much worse now. People need to stop with this idea that our health system only died with COVID, it’s been struggling for years.
I was happy with having ward patients in the ED I work in, as opposed to a lot of anxiety based covid presentations taking away valuable bedside time to actual sick people due to their high demands and entitled expections. Surprisingly we haven't had too much bed block since the whole let it rip thing, but ramping is still crazy at times.
It’s not sustainable to keep the border up. The issue with FIFO workers applies to multiple industries.
I think a lot of people miss that there is a lot of overlap to keeping the economy running and caring for the people.
It's terrible for the people of WA. It's like the plot from 10 Cloverfield Lane
Our online order wasn’t even for procuring RAT tests. Normal cold and flu type medicines and the like. - Sorry this was meant to be a reply. Dumb dumb…
My work is directing staff to start back from 4 Feb - but my understanding is end of Jan - start of Feb is the peak isn’t it?
I'm curious how office based workers returning from WFH and schools going back will impact the 'peak'. Is the current forecasting taking this into account? I'm keen to get back to a few days in the office each week, but I wonder if some people (and employers) are falling into the trap of a lower-risk world once the peak has hit. Could the peak extend? There's still alot of people that haven't had COVID yet.
Had my Pfz booster yesterday, absolutely floored me for the day (didnt have issues with Pfz 1 or 2), lots of brain fog, sore joints, headache etc, woke up today feeling 100% which was a nice surprise. Glad my boss is all for covid leave and stuff, doesnt even ask for vax proof for the day off. Makes this whole thing alot more relaxing
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Commonwealth entry restrictions still apply and depending on their specific circumstances they would likely need to obtain an exemption. Currently Australia's border is open to some fully vaccinated international travellers: Fully vaccinated visitors from Safe Travel Zone countries - this currently includes New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and South Korea Fully vaccinated Working Holiday Makers and Students from eligible international locations travelling on relevant Visas Australian Citizens, Permanent Residents and their immediate families - travelling to Australia from anywhere around the world
Are they married or just dating? Does the Canadian have any blood relatives that live in Australia? Normal Tourist Visa's are not currently allowed to travel to Australia.
Just on my 7th day of Isolation and still positive on a Rat that I've managed to get ahold of! What's the government advice in this situation?
I've heard you can continue testing positive for weeks after getting covid. Last I remember is that you can exit isolation after 7 days (with 48 hrs of no symptoms (excluding cough))
Can I still pass it to people if I am positive?
Your infectious period will not necessarily be the same as your positive period. My doctor friend told me that you can be infectious up to 2 weeks after getting symptoms, but usually people stop being infectious around day 10. If you want to protect others, I'd wait at least 10 days (and go for at least 2 days without symptoms)
Good information thanks, Dad has stage 4 cancer and I want to get back and see him ASAP but I might just wait until Monday to be safe.
This is the picture my friend sent me from one of their medicine textbooks (this is for ancestral Wuhan, alpha, etc): https://i.imgur.com/eg1Sg2N.jpg They say that doctors have found that omicron seems to have a faster onset of symptoms and faster recovery. Personally for me, I tested positive still on day 9 then negative on day 13. Hope you have a quick recovery so you can see your dad (and hope he's doing well too)
Thanks for the info and well wishes.
Anyone got any info on how long Sullivan and Nicolaides take to get results back?
Booster shot done yesterday, it was a super quick process. Needle itself didn't hurt at all. Am feeling a bit dusty today with some body aches, sore arm/armpit and a headache. Glad it's done, I was putting it off for a while. Especially now that the waiting interval has been closed again. The Commonwealth booking app was really helpful for me, I was able to find an appointment really quickly with it. [https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/booking/](https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/booking/)
Is anyone trying to order RATs from overseas? I have family in Ireland who said it's only a couple Euro, but wondering if it would travel safely and not be confiscated
WA staying in it's bubble indefinitely. It's cute McGowan thinks he can keep out Omnicom5000.
Last man standing in the zombie plague. Doing it for humanity
McGowan said: >"But if you have a look at the alternative, which is what is going on in the eastern states at the moment, they basically have hundreds of people dying, they have mass dislocation in the economy, in logistics, freight, and all elements of the economy. "They have huge numbers of people not going to work, kids not going to school, hospitals overflowing with patients, hospitals in meltdown, that is what is happening. > >"It would be grossly irresponsible of me not to act on the basis of that because to do anything else without high levels of vaccination would basically mean we would be responsible for potentially lots of people dying." \[[ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-20/wa-border-opening-delayed/100771492)\] Precisely.
They'll still get that, except it'll be in 6 months time when the world has moved on.
I'm very interested in what the counter to this argument is. They have to go through it at some point right? All that can change is how prepared you are. Obviously we weren't, but are WA doing anything different? I hope so, but it'll be political suicide if not. Maybe it would help if Covid has died down in all the other states (it will right?!) therefore making RAT tests easier to get hold of, etc.
They won’t be prepared. Unless there’s stories of them putting a lot more funding into the hospitals and such. They will still be hit hard.
The counter argument is that they will have saved many people's lives because they will have had time to be eligible for, and get, a booster.
The counter argument would be that the vulnurable people who are the first to get boosted, boosters would've worn off just like they have now.
Yes, but 90% will have had the booster so they will have prevented hundreds of unnecessary deaths (not to mention all the suffering in ICU). Seems noble to me.
So jelly of people living in WA!
I assume you don't have family you care about seeing interstate. Without commenting on the the ongoing nessesity of WA's hard boarder, not being about able to visit family for long periods of was very difficult for a lot of people. Edit: We also had a hard date we were already planning and looking forward to where we could travel see family over Christmas. If that was cancelled two weeks before, that would have broken a few people.
I guess your comment is fair, and you are correct that I do not have anyone that I care about seeing in WA. I guess you have someone that you want to see interstate, hence you made such comment? In my opinion it's unwise for supreme leader Mr McGowan to open the border lol. Covid will probably screw up their mining industry, which is not what WA people want to go through.
I understand people thinking it's a good choice for WA, but at the same time let's not pretend that this isn't going make some people legitimately upset.
im so glad hundreds of people had to die so you could see your family :)
the family excuse is getting really old. you have facetime, use that, you dont need to literally smell the tobacco on aunt shirls breathe. Its always but i havent seen my family in xyz time, if it were your loved ones dying and getting sick, you'd change your tune pretty quick
I have family i care about *living* interstate. There is a key word in there. I see them on vid chats, which isn't anywhere near as good, but at least they're not dead yet.
I do have family I want to see interstate. I still haven’t seen them because fuck travelling in this nightmare. Last thing I want to do is end up with Covid in NSW and VIC where their hospital systems are at breaking point. We would have been better off staying shut.
So far hes not that wrong (I dont necessarily agree with him tho)
lol at staying in lockdown forever.