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Post by Gort on Aug 12, 2020 10:25:14 GMT 10
Blimey, this virus is tenacious. Auckland back in alert level 3. Rotorua affected. Coronavirus: Symptomatic Auckland Covid-19 case travelled to RotoruaPhillipa Yalden 11:41, Aug 12 2020 A member from a South Auckland family who tested positive for Covid-19 visited Rotorua at the weekend. Speaking in Wellington on Wednesday morning, Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said one of the family members from the household had visited Rotorua at the weekend and testing efforts were being ramped up in the city. The woman in her 20s and a child travelled to Rotorua while she was symptomatic. They've since tested positive for Covid-19. Once they found out about the first positive test, both the case and family members were isolated and tested. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that in Rotorua it is primarily casual contacts that are being looked for, whereas in Auckland they are looking for the source of the infection. www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122420857/coronavirus-symptomatic-auckland-covid19-case-travelled-to-rotorua
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Post by caskur on Aug 12, 2020 18:24:11 GMT 10
When they find the source, will they tell us?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2020 20:23:25 GMT 10
Insipid, insidious and nasty bug....
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Post by caskur on Aug 12, 2020 20:39:29 GMT 10
It might be comlng ln on prossessed meat.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2020 8:48:56 GMT 10
Abattoirs are like nursing homes, both are contagion villes...could be processed meat...its in the community, people not suffering adverse effects from the virus are spreading it.
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Post by pim on Aug 13, 2020 10:59:10 GMT 10
No time right now but this needs fleshing out.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2020 17:27:48 GMT 10
Problem is like a cold no one is totally immune to covid 19...everyone is susceptible, just symptoms vary.
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Post by KTJ on Aug 19, 2020 20:28:20 GMT 10
I luuuuurve Dave Armstrong's brand of satire. Righties in NZ absolutely loathe him though. from Te Upoko-O-Te-Ika (The Dominion Post)…Let the market decide who gets coronavirusPrivate companies running managed isolation — what could possibly go wrong?By DAVE ARMSTRONG | 5:00AM — Tuesday, 11 August 2020Sir John Key has suggested allowing international students and wealthy foreign buyers through our borders, and running quarantine on a much bigger scale. — Photograph: Bryan Lowe.FOLLOWING CALLS by former prime minister Sir John Key to open our borders to wealthy foreigners, and for universities to bring in more international students, the recently elected National/ACT government's policy has been declared a success — financially.
The same can be said for ACT's recent call for private companies to “safely take over managed isolation and quarantine”, with massive profits made by private quarantine operators such as Serco winging their way overseas.
The policy was recently rammed through Parliament, even though a survey showed that two-thirds of New Zealanders supported the strict, state-run, quarantine conditions of the previous Labour government.
However, there have been a few embarrassing slip-ups along the way. Although universities are making millions from fee-paying students again, the current record number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Wellington has been traced back to a cluster of international students who left quarantine early during O-week to frequent a local bar.
“We didn't know they were international Victoria University students under quarantine,” said the bar owner, “as they were all wearing hoodies that said Wellington University.”Do we want privatisation of the managed isolation process? Dave Armstrong suggests not. — Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty Images.The head of quarantine security at Katharine Jermyn Hall, a 22-year-old hall warden who goes by the name of Scroaty, apologised for the breach. “There was a Canes game on and some of other wardens were playing beer pong, so we sort of missed the group of 20 overseas students walking out the front door.”
Even worse for Wellington University of Wellington is that overseas students in isolation at Te Puni, who contracted Covid-19 from security guards and have been moved to the intensive care ward at Wellington Hospital, are still being charged $150 a week for their rooms.
Thanks to lax policing, Aro Valley has become a Covid-19 hotspot, known among students as Community Transmission Gully. Similar problems occurred at Massey University when the security detail guarding overseas students in isolation was quickly moved to the Palmerston North campus to stop Don Brash speaking, allowing the students to easily escape.
Other Covid-19 deaths in Wellington have been linked to lax quarantine procedures from the private companies operating them. The two major private quarantine providers — Tranztine and NZQuar — apologised for the lack of staff supervision but said they were having real problems hiring security guards.
“It's well-known that there is a national security guard shortage, and it doesn't help when you suddenly lose half your contracts though the tendering process,” said NZQuar CEO Thane Halfjack.
“Why would we work for minimum wage guarding people in quarantine, with all the health risks, when we can get far better-paid jobs like bus driving,” said Hugo There, a representative of the OIMATE union, which represents security guards and nightclub bouncers.Wellington's Aro Valley — or Community Transmission Gully, as Dave Armstrong imagines it could be called under a more lax quarantining regime. — Photograph: Monique Ford.As happened recently in Melbourne, there have been cases of security guards from private companies falling asleep on the job, leaving people unsupervised, or even having sex with those in isolation. “Our message to the security guards is simple — Don't Screw the Crew,” said Iain Lees-Galloway and Andrew Falloon, co-owners of New Zealand's leading workplace relations consultancy.
Health Minister Chris Bishop and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour were unrepentant about the alleged failure of the private system. “Our PQOM (Public Quarantine Operating Model) is a brilliant model in theory, that is working perfectly in Western Fiordland and on Antipodes Island,” said Seymour. “It's just that the companies in Wellington are doing a terrible job,” added Bishop.
As well as staff shortages suffered by TranzTine and NZQuar, ONZOVID-19 has abandoned its isolation facility, allowing 20 overseas millionaires to escape quarantine. ONZOVID-19 did not return calls and its owner is believed to have returned to China. The IsoJUMP quarantine facility has also recently closed.
“Even though hundreds of Covid-19 infected people were released into the community, it's only a slight blip from our point of view,” said IsoJUMP CEO Xero Takspaid.Dave Armstrong: “The business sector gets the profits from opening the borders, but the taxpayer pays the cost. For a businessperson, it's a no-brainer.” — Photograph: Robert Kitchin.But things are looking up as hundreds of overseas millionaires have applied to come and live in New Zealand. Head auctioneer Sir John Key was most impressed. “Think how that will help our economy,” he said. “They'll buy local properties, employ local people, infect them, and when everyone gets sick they'll attend local intensive care wards staffed by highly paid local doctors, which will keep local economies booming. We've even got interest from a US billionaire ex-politician who wants to build a massive complex on the western shores of Lake Taupō — Moana-a-Lago.”
Economists have calculated that fees paid by international students and overseas millionaires to live or study here are in the hundreds of millions. However, they have also estimated that the cost of dealing with the increased numbers of Covid-19 hospitalisations and death due to the new imports run into the billions. So why do it?
“It's a very simple equation,” said local business advocate Hone Takapuna. “The business sector gets the profits from opening the borders, but the taxpayer pays the cost. For a businessperson, it's a no-brainer.”__________________________________________________________________________ • Dave Armstrong writes a weekly opinion column for The Dominion Post. He also writes plays, books, award-winning comedy shows ( Spin Doctors) and dramas (quake tale Hope and Wire). He also plays the trumpet. Armstrong has been creating comedy alongside director Danny Mulheron since childhood, including Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby — the tale of an un-PC teacher — and Samoan family comedy The Semisis. Armstrong also co-wrote award-winning play Niu Sila with bro'Town's Oscar Kightley, which chronicles the friendship between a polynesian and a palagi. “ Just about everything I have learnt about literary and dramatic structure has a parallel in classical music composition. Good dialogue has a rhythm, so if you have a musical ear you can hear it when it works.” — Dave Armstrong. www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/122398429/let-the-market-decide-who-gets-coronavirus
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Post by KTJ on Aug 21, 2020 8:26:14 GMT 10
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Post by KTJ on Aug 24, 2020 13:59:14 GMT 10
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