16 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Some possible reasons:

• Melbourne is the city with the largest population in Australia. (Don't believe the story that Sydney is the biggest. Sydney's number is inflated by inclusion of population centres further from Sydney than Geelong is from Melbourne...yet Geelong's population is not inlcuded in Melbourne's total)
• Apparently Melburnians travel more across the metropolis than Sydney people do across theirs thereby increasing the scope for transmission of the virus (this was discussed on 774 last week)
• At this time of year, Melbourne is the coldest mainland city which it would appear allows the virus to survive longer on surfaces
• the QR codes system in Victoria was a mess with multiple instead of a single system plus a slack appoach to its use by the community
• Victoria's Health Department has been shown to be a shambles with the head of the Department being forced out resigning last year. Changes to large organisations inevitably take time, so it's no surprise if it still hasn't got its act together

 

We also have a very large population of immigrants, which at the beginning of the pandemic was not taken into account. There was a big failure in proper language appropriate communication, engagement of community leaders and so forth. You just need to look at the outbreak at the Islamic college and the towers.

Additionally, a lot of immigrant families live in large households, so we saw one family member catching the virus and it spreading to 5+ household members.

Melbourne also has only 3 major trauma centres in the state, compared to 10 in NSW for example. That means the foot traffic to Melbourne EDs is much greater, and we saw the spread of Covid that we battled during the second wave amongst health care workers particularly in hospital setting.

Edited May 31, 20213 yr by Jaded

18 minutes ago, Macca said:

Having people who haven't got the disease live in an adjacent room to people that do have the disease (for 2 weeks) sums it all up

Spot on, Macca. I had to come home the circuitous way, many different airports, long layovers etc. but the only time I truly worried about contracting covid was when in hotel quarantine. This should’ve been the time I felt most unlikely to catch it. 

Edited May 31, 20213 yr by Guest

 

14 minutes ago, mauriesy said:

The last two outbreaks in Victoria came from SA quarantine and Sydney's northern beaches. I'm not sure what the Victorian government can do when a contact of Wollert man (who came from SA) travels to numerous places around  Melbourne for a week with symptoms and doesn't get tested.

Get vaccinated. It's the only way of dramatically reducing the risk of severe disease or dying, and it does help lower transmission, if not completely.

 

What we needed to do is go into a 3 day lockdown as soon as we had the 1st 'unlinked' case, or the case that came days after the SA traveller came back and tested positive. We keep being told that mystery cases are the biggest concern. Why then did we not lock down for 2-3 days when the first one appeared?

Hotel quarantine is a flawed system. It failed in every single state except in NT, where quarantine does not take place inside large poorly ventilated buildings, but in small individual units with natural airflow.

The federal government has refused to stop return travellers, but at the same time, has not done anything to fix the quarantine issues. They are as much to blame for this current mess as any state. And don't get me started on the pathetic vaccine rollout. Our capacity should be far greater. We have GPs willing and able to give the jabs, we have millions of Aussies under 50 who are keen to get vaccinated, and yet here we are slapping ourselves on the bum because we vaccinated 16k in a day. 

Average Sydney person: 

Get up. Got to work. Go home. There might be a cheeky supermarket trip or meal at a restaurant in there, too.

Average Melbourne person:

Get up. Got to 5 different Bunnings on the way to work. Have 19 coffee breaks at different cafes throughout the day. Cross the Yarra to go to Woolies. Visit every ancestry-listed relative before heading to a mate's house party for a few knock off beers. Go home.

 

8 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Average Sydney person: 

Get up. Got to work. Go home. There might be a cheeky supermarket trip or meal at a restaurant in there, too.

Average Melbourne person:

Get up. Got to 5 different Bunnings on the way to work. Have 19 coffee breaks at different cafes throughout the day. Cross the Yarra to go to Woolies. Visit every ancestry-listed relative before heading to a mate's house party for a few knock off beers. Go home.

 

You forgot “go to Chadstone and then to Barkley Square with a quick stop at Maccas and Dan Murphy’s”

16 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Average Melbourne person:

Get up. Got to 5 different Bunnings on the way to work. Have 19 coffee breaks at different cafes throughout the day. Cross the Yarra to go to Woolies. Visit every ancestry-listed relative before heading to a mate's house party for a few knock off beers. Go home.

 

Average Sydney person:

Get up. Go to 5 different BBQ stores. Only 1 coffee break, BUT make is a 'super spreader' event. Over coffee, decide on which one of the BBQ stores you want to buy. Go home.

Q) How do you know someone is from Queensland?

A) Because they weirdly need to tell everyone.

 

A very odd thing that I have noticed about Queenslanders. 

Dees need to get to SCG v Lions this week. 
 

Postpone NT game and organise Dees v Giants in round 16 at Alice springs.  

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Some possible reasons:

• Melbourne is the city with the largest population in Australia. (Don't believe the story that Sydney is the biggest. Sydney's number is inflated by inclusion of population centres further from Sydney than Geelong is from Melbourne...yet Geelong's population is not included in Melbourne's total)
• Apparently Melburnians travel more across the metropolis than Sydney people do across theirs thereby increasing the scope for transmission of the virus (this was discussed on 774 last week)
• At this time of year, Melbourne is the coldest mainland city which it would appear allows the virus to survive longer on surfaces
• the QR codes system in Victoria was a mess with multiple instead of a single system plus a slack appoach to its use by the community
• Victoria's Health Department has been shown to be a shambles with the head of the Department being forced out resigning last year. Changes to large organisations inevitably take time, so it's no surprise if it still hasn't got its act together

 

Two other factors I'd add:

1. Bad luck. Many don't like it or want to admit it, but the outbreak started with a breach of hotel quarantine in SA. That person could have gone anywhere in the country, but happened to be going to Melbourne.
2. Complacency. It's odd that of all the places in Australia to be complacent, it's the city that spent the longest time in 2020 in lockdown or under restrictions. But I actually wonder whether our comparative struggles last year have made us more complacent during 2021. Maybe subconsciously people took the lack of restrictions in 2021 too far. Certainly it is clear that people were not checking in when they should have been, were not enforcing check ins when they should have been (how many times were you required to show proof of a check in when you went out, or did they tell you a check in from one person in a group was sufficient), were not wearing masks when they should have been, and were not getting tested when they should have been  (case in point, one of the positives last week was someone who was symptomatic for a week before their test - my gut tells me that person would have had a test sooner had we been in lockdown, but complacency had set in on account of our comparative freedom).

Do you even have Covid in Victoria if you haven’t been to 6 Indian grocers, 5 Thai restaurants, 2 AFL games, 3 pub crawls and travel exclusively on public transport to your high risk job? ?

 

8 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Spot on, Macca. I had to come home the circuitous way, many different airports, long layovers etc. but the only time I truly worried about contracting covid was when in hotel quarantine. This should’ve been the time I felt most unlikely to catch it. 

Amazing it leaves me in amazement.

 

Reports last night were that quite a lot of players have pushed back on i/state hubs again.  Last year players were told 3-4 weeks and it turned into months.  Very wary of the "3-4 weeks" line again. 

AFL is aware of it and unlikely to go into hubs.  This is probably why there is talk of the season being delayed.

If it is delayed it could also be shortened as clubs are concerned about this years the injury toll after a short preseason and would push if it was extended deep into October again. 

 

If shortened we are exceptionally well placed being 2 games clear of 3rd on the ladder.

Assuming it becomes a 17 games again we would not have repeat games vs:  GWS, Hawks, Bulldogs, Adel, Cats.  The teams we are yet to play are Lions, Coll, Ess, Port, GCS, WCE.

Very good chance that we would end up top 2, especially if we beat Lions this week giving us a 3 game break on them.

Either way, Friday night is looming as a huge 8-point game.

Edited May 31, 20213 yr by Lucifer's Hero

46 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

I'd be surprised if NSW Health recommend a border closure (unless things spiral out of control in Vic). As Gladys said, we don't need a border lockdown when Vic is locked down.

2 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Reports last night were that quite a lot of players have pushed back on i/state hubs again.  Last year players were told 3-4 weeks and it turned into months.  Very wary of the "3-4 weeks" line again. 

AFL is aware of it and unlikely to go into hubs.  This is probably why there is talk of the season being delayed.

If it is delayed it could also be shortened as clubs are concerned the injury toll from a short preseason and would push if it was extended deep into October again. 

 

If shortened we are exceptionally well placed being 2 games clear of 3rd on the ladder.

Assuming it becomes a 17 games again we would not have repeat games vs:  GWS, Hawks, Bulldogs, Adel, Cats.  The teams we are yet to play are Lions, Coll, Ess, Port, GCS, WCE.

Very good chance that we would end up top 2, especially if we beat Lions this week giving us a 3 game break on them.

Either way, Friday night is looming as a huge 8-point game.

This is a good point, the AFL would need to drop our play twice clubs - and I'd tell them we want to switch Port, Collingwood, Ess or Eagles to Alice.

Given we don't have vaccine supply issues now (RACF appears to be an issue of incompetence) and given Vic has thrown open mass open vax to under 50s for Pfizer, every AFL player and support staff etc should now be getting Pfizer. Derisks things quite a bit.

Starting to worry about the Queens Birthday Match.

Would have been a good $ for the club and for the Fight MND cause.

 

1 hour ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Reports last night were that quite a lot of players have pushed back on i/state hubs again.  Last year players were told 3-4 weeks and it turned into months.  Very wary of the "3-4 weeks" line again. 

AFL is aware of it and unlikely to go into hubs.  This is probably why there is talk of the season being delayed.

If it is delayed it could also be shortened as clubs are concerned about this years the injury toll after a short preseason and would push if it was extended deep into October again. 

 

If shortened we are exceptionally well placed being 2 games clear of 3rd on the ladder.

Assuming it becomes a 17 games again we would not have repeat games vs:  GWS, Hawks, Bulldogs, Adel, Cats.  The teams we are yet to play are Lions, Coll, Ess, Port, GCS, WCE.

Very good chance that we would end up top 2, especially if we beat Lions this week giving us a 3 game break on them.

Either way, Friday night is looming as a huge 8-point game.

I think I heard Max say on 3aw sportsday last night that Lever is expecting a 1 week and Tmac in 2. Which Id say if I heard correctly would affect the team if we go to syd for the Bris game and stay.

10 minutes ago, Grimes Times said:

I think I heard Max say on 3aw sportsday last night that Lever is expecting a 1 week and Tmac in 2. Which Id say if I heard correctly would affect the team if we go to syd for the Bris game and stay.

We all lose sight at times that the players are just like everyone else human! can you imagine your employer saying to you a week or two before the birth of your child you are going to another state and you cannot come home  for a month? 

11 minutes ago, Grimes Times said:

I think I heard Max say on 3aw sportsday last night that Lever is expecting a 1 week and Tmac in 2. Which Id say if I heard correctly would affect the team if we go to syd for the Bris game and stay.

We should return on Saturday as we play Collingwood and no reason that game can't be in Melb then both teams have a bye.

So if baby Lever and baby McDonald wait until the weekend to arrive both dads should be in town and available for upcoming games. ?? .  I doubt either will want to go into a hub as their babes from last year are barely toddlers so it would quite a challenge for them and other players with personal committments.

22 minutes ago, roy11 said:

Starting to worry about the Queens Birthday Match.

Would have been a good $ for the club and for the Fight MND cause.

 

Even if it is played at the G it is very difficult to see there being any crowd Roy. Yes a big hit. I think the only thing  left is how to cover the lost dollars. 

Edited June 1, 20213 yr by old dee

 

Just now, Demonland said:

 

My God what a hell of a situation facing the AFL. I often criticise them but I don’t envy them through this crap. Whatever you do will be wrong to someone.  

Playing Collingwood at the SCG might get us a few dollars.

I'd assume we're doing the sums