The Corona Virus (COVID 19) Thread

[wide eyed and legless]

My wife is on face book, this morning she happened to show me a post someone had put up, 'Isn't this lovely' The biggest load of garbage I have read, 'Every one should self isolate read and be at peace for a month, after the month is over we emerge like butterfly's mending relationships with peace and love for all mankind'. Despite my argument that in real life, folk have been fighting over toilet rolls, supermarket staff spat at and punched, a staff member stabbed, hoarders are no better than looters, arguments and fights among the pensioner hour outside supermarkets. She refuses to see my point of view until karma struck. Today she lost her (not inexpensive watch) inside Coles and it wasn't handed in. Though I was somewhat pleased, I now know what she will be wanting for her birthday in a weeks time.

 

[Half-baked]

On Facebook I’ve started to be bombarded by craft breweries offering free shipping.

Hopefully just going for people avoiding shops, but makes you realise that a lot of businesses will be doing it tough over the next few months.

Make sure you buy a few cases from your favourite breweries

 

[scomet]

 

[Vini2ton]

I'm hearing on the radio that here in Melbourne, people are getting booked by the police for non-essential travel. Do you reckon the average copper on the beat would consider driving to your homebrew shop to pick up a pre-arranged order of grain, hops, etc non-essential travel. If you can go to the supermarket and bunnings, what are the odds? Knowing my luck lately, the demons would chuck me in the lock-up for sedition and inciting. Welcome to the future. Ah-choo!

 

[Grmblz]

It's grain, you're going to mill it to make bread, an essential food source, and the other stuff is flavouring for it.

 

[LorriSanga]

Aren't they an essential service to be open?

 

[Grmblz]

Aren't they an essential service to be open?

Only if they sell food is my understanding (NSW) but all the states are different, who knows? it's a different message every day and in NSW it's the cop that decides whether to fine you or not, talk about a goat fk.

 

[thehomebrewchef]

If the bottle shops are still open, there should be no reason you can get booked by heading to the home brew shop. No difference between either driving to the LHBS or the local bottle shop.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

If the bottle shops are still open, there should be no reason you can get booked by heading to the home brew shop. No difference between either driving to the LHBS or the local bottle shop.

That's sound home brewers logic, just have to hope that the policeman who pulls you over is a home brewer.

 

[Rusted]

If your LHBS was open to customers surely that would indicated that one could venture out to that particular shop? Or put another way, your LHBS would not be open if 100% of their customers were risking fines or imprisonment just for entering their premises.

 

[onemorecell]

In Vic you can go to any shop that isn't prohibited from being open

https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/sites/d...04/Direction - Stay at Home No.3 (signed).pdf

 

[CyriusBrew]

In NZ, all of the LHBS were shut down as soon as we went to the Level 4 lockdown. One could not even order a packet of yeast or grain and get it delivered, much less go to the shop.
Since then, some of the shops have been opened up as they serve essential companies. (breweries, not home brewers). They could only take online orders. Finally there are some that are now open, and they only take online orders. However, every homebrewer is inundating them with orders, so they are understandably slow to communicate or get the orders out. (Driving is not an option, and you will get done for driving any distance from your home.)
You are probably still in a slightly better position from the homebrewer's perspective in Aus.

 

[Vini2ton]

You fellas, our ANZAC brothers, are probably in a better perspective as far as the covid-19 goes. Mind you, my arm feels much better since I realized I had to stay home and self-isolate. First off I thought they said I had to self-violate.

 

[CyriusBrew]

You fellas, our ANZAC brothers, are probably in a better perspective as far as the covid-19 goes. Mind you, my arm feels much better since I realized I had to stay home and self-isolate. First off I thought they said I had to self-violate.

In all fairness, if things keep going this way, self violation will be the only sport available.

 

[Vini2ton]

At least you know there will never be a draw. Hang on, both hands. Gigeddy.

 

[Grmblz]

Cops here make the call about when to fine or not and just pulled over 2 guys in a ute (tradies on the way to a job) "you two related?" "nope" "well here's $1000 fine each, and $5000 to the company, you should be in separate vehicles" We're still hurting financially here from the fires, we're a tourist town so no Xmas income and now no Easter, jobs at a premium shops closed, I understand the need for social distancing but am I the only one that senses a bit of revenue raising going on here, these guys can work on site together but apparently not travel together. Bit like radar cops always sit at the bottom of a hill never at the top, at the top they'll only get speeders but at the bottom they also get the unwary, and claim it's about safety I call BS. Feel free to disagree, maybe I'm being a bit paranoid but I can't help the feeling that the government needs to get back as much money as it can to pay for the handouts, and fining these two guys for being in a work vehicle together, when if they were sitting on a park bench they'd be ok is a bit much.

 

[Truman42]

I can't believe all the conspiracy theory wack jobs that have come out with their crazy theories. Covid19 is a man made biological weapon made by the Chinese to take over the world.
Covid19 is caused by 5G and has the same symptoms. 5G is a way to break down our brains defence mechanism so when they implant the vaccine chip in us we will become AI and can be controlled. Theres an FB group called David Icke super group. This ******** (Who was told by spirits he is a Godhead..lol) has all these followers who say all the people in hospitals on TV in the UK are just dummies, no one is dying from Covid19. Yeah right and millions of doctors nurses and ES people are in on it too???

What a bunch of absolute ******* morons...

 

[Blackman]

Cops here make the call about when to fine or not and just pulled over 2 guys in a ute (tradies on the way to a job) "you two related?" "nope" "well here's $1000 fine each, and $5000 to the company, you should be in separate vehicles" We're still hurting financially here from the fires, we're a tourist town so no Xmas income and now no Easter, jobs at a premium shops closed, I understand the need for social distancing but am I the only one that senses a bit of revenue raising going on here, these guys can work on site together but apparently not travel together. Bit like radar cops always sit at the bottom of a hill never at the top, at the top they'll only get speeders but at the bottom they also get the unwary, and claim it's about safety I call BS. Feel free to disagree, maybe I'm being a bit paranoid but I can't help the feeling that the government needs to get back as much money as it can to pay for the handouts, and fining these two guys for being in a work vehicle together, when if they were sitting on a park bench they'd be ok is a bit much.

I sympathize with communities that rely on tourism, they are taking a double hit. After the bushfires people were told to stay away. Now they have to stay away due to COVID19.
But Grmblz, sitting on a park bench in open air and sitting in a car (confined space) with .5 of a meter between you is completely different!!

 

[Grmblz]

I sympathize with communities that rely on tourism, they are taking a double hit. After the bushfires people were told to stay away. Now they have to stay away due to COVID19.
But Grmblz, sitting on a park bench in open air and sitting in a car (confined space) with .5 of a meter between you is completely different!!

Yeah I get it, and it's a fair call, but wouldn't a warning have been in order, I mean the messages/rules have been changing every day, I still don't know if I can drive to Sydney to collect building gear, I asked the local cops and got a "I wouldn't have a problem with it but someone else might) wtf? even the cops don't know!

 

[petesbrew]

My wife is on face book, this morning she happened to show me a post someone had put up, 'Isn't this lovely' The biggest load of garbage I have read, 'Every one should self isolate read and be at peace for a month, after the month is over we emerge like butterfly's mending relationships with peace and love for all mankind'. Despite my argument that in real life, folk have been fighting over toilet rolls, supermarket staff spat at and punched, a staff member stabbed, hoarders are no better than looters, arguments and fights among the pensioner hour outside supermarkets. She refuses to see my point of view until karma struck. Today she lost her (not inexpensive watch) inside Coles and it wasn't handed in. Though I was somewhat pleased, I now know what she will be wanting for her birthday in a weeks time.

Lol, yeah seen a few posts similar. Rainbows, and cute puppydog gifs will save us all, right?

Definitely some massive ******** behaviour that comes out in humanity, as shown on the news. Try your best to not join in with them. As Buddha said, "Don't be a malaka".

 

[Danscraftbeer]

I guess some people should feel blessed, or cursed
to see the stupidity rather than be one of the stupid?
Ignorance has bliss etc with much confusion in a massive subdued population.
It kills me to see the local boat ramps (cams) showing the empty car park and I cant even go fishing.
There is nothing more isolated than going fishing out there in a boat away from everything etc. That's a $1600 fine to start with. Then maybe terrorist line of judgment too?
Next thought when they release these lock downs? I hope its not crazy. So many people wanting to do things held back like an excited dog times millions.

Crossed fingers for all.

 

[CyriusBrew]

Lol, yeah seen a few posts similar. Rainbows, and cute puppydog gifs will save us all, right?
....

Well...I know our death count in NZ is quite low and it is due to social distancing and locking us down to where we have to stay in our houses..
BUT,
There have been studies on prisons in the USA on inmates that were put into solitary confinement that have shown severe mental health impacts. We are basically doing the same thing to innocent people. The depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues combined with job losses and the usual life distractions will cost lives. I am not fully convinced all of this is worth the social and economic costs we are all paying.
Heck, closing down every business that is not a grocery store or pharmacy is just mad. Even when it comes to online purchases, the companies can not be open unless they get a dispensasion from MBIE as they may be in the supply cycle of an 'essential business'.
/rant

 

[Grmblz]

I'm in the "dead if I get it" category, but I wonder if the cure is worse than the disease, and there's the possibility that the toll on society will be greater with what we are doing as opposed to doing nothing, the effects of this are going to echo for years, yet when someone commits suicide or worse kills someone in 2 yrs time no one will attribute the act to the effects of corona virus. It remains to be seen but Sweden's herd immunity strategy may just be what we all should have done, either way it looks like we're headed for a global recession and if that's the case there'll be a metric ****-ton of bodies to deal with. Sorry folks, next post will be bright and sunny.

 

[Tomo]

Do you have elderly family.

 

[Grmblz]

Do you have elderly family.

I'm elderly, and have underlying conditions which is why I'm dead if I get it. and I'm not advocating doing nothing, just pointing out that we have a rather short sited simplistic view of what is going to become a very complicated problem, and there is more than one way of tackling it.

 

[YAPN]

It remains to be seen but Sweden's herd immunity strategy may just be what we all should have done

We could not go down the path of Sweden. Their health service has not been reduced by austerity economics, like Italy. They have plenty of ICU beds and ventilators and plans to close down businesses if it comes to that.

We're not doing too badly, though.

 

[Rusted]

Not sure I would want to be in Sweden. They have one of the highest rates of infection globally, currently sitting at 0.15% of the population and a mortality rate currently sitting at 11.5%, which I believe is currently about the third or fourth highest globally.

Put another way, in Sweden you (currently) have a 1 in 659 chance of catching Covid-19 and if you do catch it you have a 1 in 8.7 chance of dying from it.

If that stat doesn't scare the **** out you, then try this one - 1 in 5,714 Swedes have already died from Covid-19 in the 41 days since they record their first death.

Rather be here in Oz...

 

[shacked]

Not sure I would want to be in Sweden. They have one of the highest rates of infection globally, currently sitting at 0.15% of the population and a mortality rate currently sitting at 11.5%, which I believe is currently about the third or fourth highest globally.

Put another way, in Sweden you (currently) have a 1 in 659 chance of catching Covid-19 and if you do catch it you have a 1 in 8.7 chance of dying from it.

If that stat doesn't scare the **** out you, then try this one - 1 in 5,714 Swedes have already died from Covid-19 in the 41 days since they record their first death.

Rather be here in Oz...

I think these stats, like most others, are skewed by a lack of testing. Asymptomatic carriers aren't getting tested which makes all of the extrapolated population stats a little unreliable. Time will tell and I guess there isn't any correct way to respond to something unprecendented.

 

[Rusted]

I think these stats, like most others, are skewed by a lack of testing. Asymptomatic carriers aren't getting tested which makes all of the extrapolated population stats a little unreliable. Time will tell and I guess there isn't any correct way to respond to something unprecendented.

Yes, you are correct. With the benefit of a rear vision mirror history will be the judge.

Thing with stats is that they are notoriously difficult to interpret with 100% reliability. They simply give you orders of magnitude and directional guidance. We currently don't know how many asymptomatic carriers are in the community, wont know until anti-body testing catches up. But lack of asymptomatic testing doesn't skew the "deaths per million population" statistic, which for Sweden is frightening.

Anyway, I can only hope other Australians (and our Kiwi cousins) stay can stay safe, sane and solvent for a little while longer.

 

[pharmaboy]

Not sure I would want to be in Sweden. They have one of the highest rates of infection globally, currently sitting at 0.15% of the population and a mortality rate currently sitting at 11.5%, which I believe is currently about the third or fourth highest globally.

Put another way, in Sweden you (currently) have a 1 in 659 chance of catching Covid-19 and if you do catch it you have a 1 in 8.7 chance of dying from it.

If that stat doesn't scare the **** out you, then try this one - 1 in 5,714 Swedes have already died from Covid-19 in the 41 days since they record their first death.

Rather be here in Oz...

Sweden have done around half the rate of testing than Australia with 5 times the number of confirmed cases (by rate).

You are comparing a cider to a stout. They are only testing ill people, and have elected to let the community decide how it runs. The only way we will substantially beat them, is if we get a vaccine in a timely fashion.

ATM, they do not have an overwhelmed ICU, so people are getting treated - its not like Lombardy, where beds were in the aisles.

In 5 months time, sitting in australia in the midst of the worst depression on record, with still no vaccine in sight, and looking across to much of europe who have gone back to normal with recovering economies, things might look very different, and Sweden could easily be the country that played the very best hand.

We sure as hell dont know yet though