2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

Forums › Health and fitness › 2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

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472 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#2526929 22-Jul-2020 10:49

BarTender: But another example is a friend of my wife’s who works in a hospital has a sniffle and couldn’t get tested, so the criteria must have changed and swung too far to minimum requirements which I don’t think is right. .

This isn't true. (In Auckland at least)
- ANYONE who WANTS to get tested can (if they have a sniffle),
You don't need a DR referral.
There is 'Walk-in (drive in actually) locations - where you can get tested.

I've personally done this in the last 3 weeks & had no problem getting COVID tested.

(I've actually had 2 x tests in last 3 weeks - 2nd one at Dr's - as I've spent 4 weeks down with 'man flu' )
Dr advised test was necessary(even know I had prior test) - as symptoms were in line with testing guidance.

I would suggest the 'failure' is her hospital to follow rules/guidance. (& even in that case - she is free/welcome to go and get a free test off-her-own-bat)

frankv

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#2526978 22-Jul-2020 11:08

BarTender:

If we compare NZ to UAE, where the population is approximately double, it has massive wealth due to oil means that tourism / travel was the only real industry impacted of there.

UAE has also passed 50k infections and 340 deaths in comparison to NZs 1555 / 22:

https://www.thenational.ae/uae/health/coronavirus-uae-records-271-new-cases-as-352-patients-recover-1.1051904

Granted UAE have been performing around 30k tests per day with positive rate of 1% which is very good news however it only takes a few super spreaders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_Arab_Emirates

The conventional wisdom that Arab states are wealthy isn't necessarily true. Remember that oil prices have plummeted, so their income has halved. They're more dependent on oil than NZ is on tourism, so they're in a bigger economic mess than the rest of us. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/07/18/the-end-of-the-arab-worlds-oil-age-is-nigh?

No Arab oil producer, save tiny Qatar, can balance its books at the current price, around $40

Also, like Singapore, they depend on cheap migrant labour (Migrants, particularly migrant workers, make up approximately 80% of the resident population of the UAE) who are very much second-class citizens. So you would expect that they would be very high risk for infection and fatality.

So your comparison to NZ isn't particularly appropriate.

frankv

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#2526991 22-Jul-2020 11:19

mattwnz:

I understand if someone refuses testing while in isolation, they have to spend longer in quarantine. So if someone in the community refuses being tested for this virus, couldn't they be put in quarantine until their symptoms have ended?

My understanding is that the government can also rewrite laws if needed for the public good. If someone does have Covid for example, they are not allowed to then go to where other people are, eg the supermarket, they must remain isolated. So isn't that forcing someone to do something, or not to do something.

There is no covid-19 wild in the community. The purpose of community testing is just to confirm that. So the public good here is quite limited; no confirmation of something that right now is not disputed. I don't see the need for draconian "lock them up" laws. It would be very different if someone was *probably* to or even *possibly* infected, but that just isn't the case.

nztim

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TEAMnetwork

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#2527073 22-Jul-2020 13:05

First day of no new cases in a while

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Oblivian

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#2527077 22-Jul-2020 13:12

nztim:

First day of no new cases in a while

Ding ding ding...

In the blue corner "Our testing numbers are low, we should be doing/wan't more!"

In the red corner..

If they wan't media pushing the right info. It needs to be made clearer to them how they should report stuff.

And no sooner to I capture that half-attempt at making the first to the news, it changes

"Live updates: Still 27 active Covid cases; tests performed in last day jump to over 2000"

Sounds familiar outlined..

Bloomfield said yesterday there were three reasons why testing rates had dropped: the rates of flu were 20 per cent lower than normal because of the lockdown, and fewer people were presenting with symptoms; school holidays and weekends tended to see lower test numbers; people were declining tests.

He said people were declining tests because they were confident there was no community transmission.

"They then think 'I don't necessarily need a swab'."

Batman

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#2527090 22-Jul-2020 13:36

nztim:

First day of no new cases in a while

well how's our testing (% all people coming in, and % people in community who have symptoms)?

Batman

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#2527140 22-Jul-2020 13:50

jarledb:

There has been a lot of talk about the economic problems with closing down for Covid-19.

Turns out that keeping everything open did not help the economy, at least not for Sweden.

I'm not wanting to talk about politics - but I am told by someone from the UK -

That in the UK things are business as usual. Flights are coming in, people are going about their daily business.

I haven't heard that they are doing badly (or doing well either for that matter!)

How's it going in the UK - economy and virus balance wise?

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Zepanda66

533 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2527157 22-Jul-2020 14:09

I'm guessing its been posted already but here's the data from the Phase 1/2 trials for the oxford vaccine. if you got some spare time grab a coffee and biscuit. Well worth a read.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2820%2931604-4/fulltext

http://www.speedtest.net/result/7315955530.png

mattwnz

20141 posts

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#2527208 22-Jul-2020 15:26

Batman:

jarledb:

There has been a lot of talk about the economic problems with closing down for Covid-19.

Turns out that keeping everything open did not help the economy, at least not for Sweden.

I'm not wanting to talk about politics - but I am told by someone from the UK -

That in the UK things are business as usual. Flights are coming in, people are going about their daily business.

I haven't heard that they are doing badly (or doing well either for that matter!)

How's it going in the UK - economy and virus balance wise?

I have family over there and things sound very sad. Older and at risk people are essentially house bound ifg they don't want to risk getting it. People are living with physical and social distancing, having to wear masks etc as part of normal life. People who go out have to expect that they may get the virus. I am guessing if numbers increase significantly, they will have to go back into forms of lockdown to suppress it again. Economically it won't be good, and I understand a lot of people are still working from home. They had bars, etc shut down for months, much longer than NZ had them shut down for, and now they have to work with physical distancing.

wellygary

8312 posts

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#2527265 22-Jul-2020 16:07

Batman:

I'm not wanting to talk about politics - but I am told by someone from the UK -

That in the UK things are business as usual. Flights are coming in, people are going about their daily business.

I haven't heard that they are doing badly (or doing well either for that matter!)

How's it going in the UK - economy and virus balance wise?

Its not business as normal......

Remember how things here were in Level 2 .... queuing to go into stores, limited numbers of customers, social distancing when lining up .....

It basically kills retail and hospitality because to maximise your time you minimise your purchases to basically essential or required items, there is no walking along a street window shopping and popping in an out of stores as you please..

Its still in the UK

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/store-design/tesco-ditches-one-way-aisles-but-mults-keep-two-metre-distancing-for-now/646244.article

mattwnz

20141 posts

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#2527280 22-Jul-2020 16:28

wellygary:

Its still in the UK

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/store-design/tesco-ditches-one-way-aisles-but-mults-keep-two-metre-distancing-for-now/646244.article

I was watching some videos of how a few of the Disney resorts are operating in the US, and it doesn't look fun. Very few people (which maybe a good thing), but you have to wear masks, and queue at markers. If you want to eat or drink you have to stop in certain areas to remove your mask. You can't eat and drink while you walk, as you must retain your mask on your face. Lots of policing of the rules. Temperature scanning when you go in. There are so many rules and restrictions if you live in a country with Community Covid. Disneyland itself is still closed, and has been closed for months. I don't know how these places will cope long term, especially as tourism isn't really occurring either, so many visitors at the Florida one are local. Trump has also said it will get worse before it gets better, and is one of the first things that he has said recently that I agree with.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#2527302 22-Jul-2020 17:03

frankv:

mattwnz:

I understand if someone refuses testing while in isolation, they have to spend longer in quarantine. So if someone in the community refuses being tested for this virus, couldn't they be put in quarantine until their symptoms have ended?

My understanding is that the government can also rewrite laws if needed for the public good. If someone does have Covid for example, they are not allowed to then go to where other people are, eg the supermarket, they must remain isolated. So isn't that forcing someone to do something, or not to do something.

There is no covid-19 wild in the community. The purpose of community testing is just to confirm that. So the public good here is quite limited; no confirmation of something that right now is not disputed. I don't see the need for draconian "lock them up" laws. It would be very different if someone was *probably* to or even *possibly* infected, but that just isn't the case.

You mean there is no 'detected' covid19 in the community yet. But the fact is that sooner or later, there is very likely to be a new case detected in the community, via a hole in our isolation facilities at the border, as happened in Victoria. The thing is we need to detect those cases as soon as they occur. If we aren't doing much community testing (only 8 community tests in one day points to hardly any community testing being done), then we leave ourselves open to becoming another Victoria if we give it time to spread. Concentrating testing around workers in hotels and airports etc, and families of those, are one area that testing could be done. As well as getting people who have symptoms.

ezbee

2405 posts

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#2527303 22-Jul-2020 17:14

Melbourne is a big lesson on what can happen when you forget to protect the workers around isolation centers.

Is not getting better yet, and looks to be a nail in coffin of Trust driven systems, outside of places like Japan.
Maybe not even then as Japan now seems to be on a slow but steady rise..

Key events

2hhours agoNearly 9 in 10 cases in Victoria failed to isolate when they felt sick
2hhours agoVictoria records 484 new coronavirus cases, two people have died
2hhours agoDeputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd will provide an update at 3:30pm (AEST)
3hhours agoOne new active case recorded in Queensland
3hhours agoVictoria's case numbers will be in the high 400s, the ABC understands
4hhours agoNSW records 16 new cases overnight

wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#2527346 22-Jul-2020 17:19

mattwnz:

You mean there is no 'detected' covid19 in the community yet. But the fact is that sooner or later, there is very likely to be a new case detected in the community, via a hole in our isolation facilities at the border, as happened in Victoria. The thing is we need to detect those cases as soon as they occur. If we aren't doing much community testing (only 8 community tests in one day points to hardly any community testing being done), then we leave ourselves open to becoming another Victoria if we give it time to spread. Concentrating testing around workers in hotels and airports etc, and families of those, are one area that testing could be done. As well as getting people who have symptoms.

The easiest way to get testing rates up is to have a few more compassionate leave road trips, or escapees doing a runner to the supermarket...

But in reality the biggest problem is that there is a very low prevalence of flu this year (due to the lockdown,closed borders and high immunisation)

Victoria's outbreak was basically because the hotels sounded like episodes of "big brother"... the MIQ in other states has worked well..

Fred99

13684 posts

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#2527347 22-Jul-2020 17:20

mattwnz:

You mean there is no 'detected' covid19 in the community yet. But the fact is that sooner or later, there is very likely to be a new case detected in the community, via a hole in our isolation facilities at the border, as happened in Victoria. The thing is we need to detect those cases as soon as they occur. If we aren't doing much community testing (only 8 community tests in one day points to hardly any community testing being done), then we leave ourselves open to becoming another Victoria if we give it time to spread. Concentrating testing around workers in hotels and airports etc, and families of those, are one area that testing could be done. As well as getting people who have symptoms.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/421744/isolation-facilities-we-are-now-close-to-exhausting-our-nationwide-capacity-megan-woods

Yep - they do need to ramp up community testing.

Aus/Victoria has a hell of a problem on their hands. I'd hoped they'd have started to see a decline in new CT cases by now - but looks like it's getting worse.

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