Sunday, August 02, 2020

The Case of Australia

So remember back in May when Australia was considered the safest place [ever] in terms of Wuhan? No? Let me remind you:

"I think many people are surprised in Australia at how well we have done. Really, when you look across all the states and territories, this is the safest place to be in the world, perhaps other than New Zealand," she said...

"Safety has been our fundamental focus and the success of our suppression strategy has meant Australia is in a very similar (place) to New Zealand, which has stated its strategy is aimed at elimination."...

In the remote Northern Territory, where no new cases have been reported for three weeks, residents will be able to use public swimming pools, waterparks, go fishing with friends and play golf starting from Friday. The state has also laid out plans to restart its economy, allowing restaurants, pubs and gyms to reopen on May 15 and lifting the remaining restrictions on June 5.

And now:
Melbourne has entered Stage 4 coronavirus restrictions as of 6pm on Sunday night, the strictest level of lockdown yet in Australia.

Further restrictions will also be enforced on regional Victoria, including the Mitchell Shire, which will move to Stage 3 restrictions from Wednesday.

The restrictions will be in force for at least six weeks until 13 September.

Premier Daniel Andrews has also declared a State of Disaster across the state from 6pm tonight.

During these hours, the only reasons to be outside of your home are to give or receive care, or go to and from work.

Outside the curfew, people will only be allowed to leave the house for four reasons: purchase food and and necessary supplies, exercise, give or receive care, or work.

“Going to a mate's place, visiting friends, being out and about for no good reason, all that will do is spread this virus,” Mr Andrews said.

Additionally, residents will no longer be able to travel further than five kilometres from their home, unless the reason is to give or receive care.

Sweden said that the path it took, no hard lockdowns, was because they saw that those places that locked down were merely kicking the can down the road and would get hit again once they opened back up. Thus far their prediction is panning out.