There have been a number of significant developments since my last post.

Tightening Border Controls

In Australia, as of the 25^th of March, all Australian citizens and permanent residents of other nationalities were restricted from travelling into the country from overseas. It was also announced that from 23.59 pm on the 28^th of March anyone entering Australia will be required quarantine themselves for 14 days.

Within Australia, restrictions on cross border movements between States are place with the exception of movements between NSW and Victoria.

High Profile Victims

On the 25^th  of March, it was announced that Prince Charles had tested positive for the virus. On the 27^th of March it was announced that the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson had also tested positive to the virus.  It was also announced that Johnson would continue in this role of Prime Minister.

Poor Behaviour and Management in Australia

There have been some examples of some very poor behaviour and management in Australia in the face of the crisis.

There have been reports of Backpackers continuing to ignore the ‘social distancing’ guidelines.  This has particularly been the case in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, particularly in Bondi. 

I have experience an example of this type of behaviour  here in my hostel in Brisbane.  A group of German backpackers ignored those guidelines and held a party in their 6 bed room.  The rule is that there is a maximum of 2 people in any one room.  I understand there were over 10 people at this ‘party’.  Fortunately, management have taken the necessary action.

An example of very poor management was the control passengers arriving at the Sydney International Airport.  The people in the lines waiting to go through immigration and customs were crowded together.  They were obviously not observing the ‘physical separation’ rules.  This is of course is a worry.

What was also a worry was the reaction of the Australian Border Force (ABF) officials.  A spokesman said that the control of the lines was not the responsibility of the ABF. The Minister in charge of the ABF is Peter Dutton.  Anyone who has had any experience with the officers of the ABF will  likely haved noticed that it has a certain ‘culture’.  I suspect that having Dutton as its Minister does not help.

‘Stimulus’ Packages

As the crisis progresses, the governments around that world are trying to address the economic impact it is causing.  Obviously, the economic impacts are huge and unprecedented in living memory.  Already it is looking like the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

The governments are announcing ‘stimulus packages’.  These are taking various forms, but all involve the government’s throwing money at the economy. Examples include; cash payments to individuals, salary and wage support to businesses  for people who would otherwise have lost their job, access to unemployment benefits for those people that have lost their jobs, deferral of businesses taxes for those companies who are unable to operate in the current climate.

The costs of these packages are running in to billions of dollars, pounds and euros etc.  In the case of the USA the cost is already running into the Trillions of dollars.

I think the use of the word ‘Stimulus’ is misleading.  Where these packages have been used before, for example in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the circumstances were different.

In the GFC, consumers lost confidence and stopped consuming.  Goods and services were still available to be consumed and the challenge was to get consumers spending again.  The Labor Government in Australia implemented a significant ‘stimulus‘package.  The government was criticised for spending too much.  However, no one knows if it was too much.

One thing this is certain, Australia did not fall into a recession and the government avoided to the costs of significant a rise in unemployment with the attendant welfare expenditure and a drop in income tax and other tax revenue.

This situation is significantly different to the GFC.

The obvious big difference is that the ‘supply’ side of the economy was still in place in the GFC.  In this case that ‘supply’ side has been severely impacted.  Clearly, the production of some physical goods have been impacted.  For example, cars made in Italy.

However, the big impact is this crisis,  is on services.  For most rich economies, the ‘services’ sector is the largest part of the economy.  Industries like tourism and hospitality, entertainment and education are huge.   These industries have largely been ‘shutdown’.  It doesn’t matter how much money the government pumps into the economy, people are not going to buy services that are simply not on offer.

No one is going to restaurants.  No one is taking flights to holiday destinations. No one is going to the cinemas or theatres. No one id going to sporting events.  No one will be going to the 2020 Olympics. 

It doesn’t matter how much the governments pump into their economies, these industries are not going to recover until the virus is brought under control.

Politicians Found Wanting

Of no one will ever take the ‘dickhead’ crown off Donald J Trump.

However, in the lower league of Australian politics, Senator Mathias Corman aka the ‘Belgium Waffle’ is climbing up the ladder.

Just believe me.  Don’t even both to watch his performance on the ABC’s Insiders program this morning.

I am continuing my blog on the coronavirus.

First few Days in Brisbane

My first day in Brisbane was Thursday the 18^th of March.  I was staying at the Brisbane YHA.  I realised that this was probably not best place to be.  One obvious problem was that I could not get a private room and I was sharing a 3-person room with another bloke. 

The hostel was fairly full.  Many were oversea backpackers.  A lot of these were hitting the phones and clearly trying to organise travel home.

As I moved through the main shopping centre in the city, the place appeared to be normal. 

I did have an urgent task to perform.  I needed to top up my supply of Glaucoma eye drops.  When I was in Grafton, I had bought a bottle at a Ramsay Pharmacy.  I was shocked to find that they had expired.  When I returned the drops, the Pharmacist was clearly embarrassed.  She took back the drops and returned the original repeat script. I informed Pharmacist that I would making a complaint about what had happened.  I registered my complaint on the Ramsay Heath Services website.

When I arrived in Brisbane, I told one of my ‘Doctor cousins’ what had happen.  This cousin has an extremely low opinion of the ‘Chemist Industry’.  “They are being paid ridiculous amounts of money for simply sticking labels on bottles”.  You should really get stuck into that person”.  He gave me the details of the government and professional bodies to whom I report the incident.   

Shortly after that conversation, I received a call from a woman in the Ramsay Head Office. She thanked me for the reporting what had happened to me and said the “it was totally unacceptable, and that appropriate action has been taken”.   I won’t bore you with the rest of the conversation.   The upshot was that I decided the spare the Ramsay and the pharmacist the pain of dealing with a formal complaint the lodged with the authorities.  I was also mindful that the authorities were already having to deal with more significant issues related to the coronavirus.  

Things Start to Tighten Up

Over the weekend, further reports were coming out of Italy and Spain about the spread of the virus of the rising death toll.

Not much changed in Brisbane at all.  The shops, restaurants and pubs were essentially operating as normal.

The National Cabinet, which comprises the Prime Minister the leaders of the States and Territories met on Sunday afternoon.

After the meeting, the Prime Minister announced the implementation of ‘social distancing’ rules and the numbers of people that could be in indoor areas such as restaurants, pubs etc at any one time would be reduced.   There was a confused message regarding the operation schools.  There was obviously a disagreement  between the Federal Government and the States of NSW and Victoria on several issues including the operation of schools.

Watching the USA

 As the new week started, my and a lot of other peoples’ attention also turned to what was happening in the USA.  In particular, people were looking to what Donald Trump was saying a doing.

By this stage there were already a significant number of cases in the USA.   This was despite the fact that the USA has stopped travel from China at the end of January and in the previous week, they had stopped travel from Europe.

The White House was now holding daily briefings on the crisis.  These were being broadcasted live on TV and internet streaming.  I started watching them on the New York Times website.

Everyone knows how Trump has reacted to the crisis.  He downplayed it, he claimed that it would be all over when the weather warmed up…etc..etc.

The people ‘on the stage’ at the briefings were Trump, Vice President Pence who is the leader of the Coronavirus Taskforce and couple or more relevant ‘experts’ e.g  health experts, representative of the Armed Forces, logistics advisors etc.

It was interesting watching his performance in the briefings.  Naturally he took centre stage.  He was in control of the podium and decided who could speak.  This included answering questions that were explicitly directed at other people.

The media often show short clips of the briefings.   These did not convey what actually happens and how appalling  Trump is.

I give one example:

A reported asked the logistics advisor what the Federal government could do to assist those States that were experiencing shortages of essential medical supplies.

Trump stepped in and spoke for about 5 minutes.  During this rambling rant, he mentioned “the wall between the USA and Mexico”.  He said it was “a great wall and he knew about construction because he ran a great construction business”.  

Another issue that emerged in these days was the possible use of a drug that used for the treatment of malaria and other illnesses.  It was being touted a  as possible cure for the virus.  This would to be highly unlikely, however Trump promoted the idea.

Click on the link below to the Fox News take of the media coverage of this issue.

Stage Two Implemented

On Tuesday the 24^th of March, the National Cabinet met again and decided that Australis would move to ‘stage two’ of restrictions. These were to apply from midnight on Wednesday.

These restrictions meant that all restaurants, clubs and pubs must close except for the sale of take away foods and drinks.  Cinemas and other places where people gather were  to close completely.

The Queensland government also announced that its border with NSW was also to close with the limited exemptions.  This had an impact on me personally as I was due to travelled to Sydney for an appointment with my eye doctor.  In communications with the doctor I was advised that the appointment was not ‘essential’ in the context of what was going on and that other arrangements could put in place.

Holed up in a Hostel    

By this time, I had changed rooms in the hostel.  My ‘Doctor cousins’ had all kindly offered me accommodation in their houses.  They are ‘empty nesters’.   However, I decided not to impose on them at this time.  The hostel isn’t a bad option by any means I have a room with nice view, an en suite bathroom and I can get in and out of the place without travelling in lift or stairway.  There is a supermarket nearby and there a plenty of restaurants  and cafes offering take away food in the vicinity.  

Looks like Stage 3 is On the Way

As I write this post its looks as though Australia will be moving to Stage 3 restrictions.

This has already happened in the UK.

It is also being reported the USA has the highest number of cases, more than China and Italy.

Life goes On

As the crisis rolls on, so does ‘life’.

Unfortunately a mate has lost his father a couple of days ago.  Another’s mother has suffered a stroke and a bad fall and required an emergency operation.

Another friend became a grandmother for the first time.  She is understandably “beside herself with joy”.

An Interesting Take on Trump’s Thought Processes

https://gen.medium.com/we-wish-to-inform-you-that-your-death-is-highly-profitable-22c73744055c

White House Briefings

Another Example of Fox News’s Take on Things

The ‘malaria drug’ issue.