It is approaching the end of July and the coronavirus crisis appears to the taking a turn for the worse not only in Australia, but across the globe including the USA, South America, India and Africa. Problems also appear to be returning in parts of Europe.

Victoria Back in Lockdown

Following the escape of the virus from a quarantine hotel in Melbourne the virus has now been found in other hotspots across the city.

On 8^th of July the lockdown restrictions were re-imposed in Melbourne. Active cases almost tripled in the first nine days of the month, to more than 930. Contact-tracers were almost overwhelmed. Restaurants and bars were closed for another six weeks.

The new wave threatened to undo Australia’s good work containing the virus. Locally acquired cases had been virtually stamped out at the beginning of June, largely because of stay-at-home rules and the quarantining hotels of the few people still allowed into the country.

In the weeks since the lockdown restrictions were re-imposed the number of new cases has varied on a daily basis, however it has always been in triple figures. Today’s number is yet another record, 723.

Real Problems in Care Homes

A major area of concern in Melbourne is the number of cases that are occurring in aged care homes.  The virus has been found in many care homes across the city.  The tragic consequence of this development is a high mortality among those who become sick.  Aged people are very vulnerable to the virus and the unfortunate reality is the many die when they contract covid-19.

The care home issue also has a political dimension.  Aged care homes are a Federal Government responsibility.  This sector also has a large number of private operators. The sector has a history of poor management and variable standards.  It is currently the subject of Royal Commission. 

Cases emerging in Sydney and Elsewhere in NSW

As things have been going ‘pear shaped’ in Victoria, cases also started to emerge in NSW, albeit and a much lower rate.

There have been numbers cases found related to specific restaurants and hotels in south western Sydney and in inner city Potts Point.  Cases have also been found in Batemans Bay on the south coast.

There is a real concern that the numbers cases in NSW will rise dramatically as they have in Victoria.

 Queensland Opens  and Closes its Borders

Earlier in the month the borders to Queensland were opened to travellers from all other states except people who have recently been in Victoria.   This resulted in a flood of people crossing the border with NSW.  Many of these people are ‘grey nomads’ who like to ‘winter’ in the ‘Sunshine State’.

Unfortunately, as a result of the increasing number of cases in NSW, the Queensland government has decided to close the border with NSW again.  This will apply from the coming Saturday.

As I write this post, reports are coming in about cases that have been detected in Brisbane.  The people concerned are three young women.

The related press report tells us that:

“The Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll has condemned the actions of two teens who returned to the state after a trip to Melbourne and Sydney and contracted COVID-19 as “deceitful, deceptive and criminal”.

 Police are considering laying further charges against one of the teenagers, who has refused to detail her movements since coming back to Brisbane. They have been fined and issued a notice to appear in court”.

It is understood that the women moved widely in Southern Brisbane while infected with the virus. People who have been to places a times where the women visited are being encouraged to be tested for coronavirus.

Cases Exploding parts of the USA

While Australia is experiencing its problems, these pale into insignificance compared to what is happening the USA.

Cases continue to surge in the southern and western states that largely missed the initial phase of the pandemic, but decided to ease restrictions before they had properly got the spread of the virus under control.  The worse hit states are Texas, Florida, Arizona and Alabama.

 Of course, these states all have Republican governors who have been listening to Trump’s calls to open up their economies.  Refer to the paragraph below regarding the ‘mathematics of the spread of the virus’.

Trump is Wearing a Mask

On the issue of masks, the most famous or infamous, ‘non’ mask wearer Donald Trump is now wearing one.

A couple of weeks ago,  Trump who has avoided wearing a mask in public even as the coronavirus pandemic spread, donned one at a military medical facility outside Washington where he was to meet with wounded soldiers and front-line health-care workers.

This is somewhat significant in the that it is seemingly a recognition on behalf of Trump that he should listen to advice from the experts.  It will also doubtless trouble his supporters, many of whom see the wearing of masks as an infringement of their ‘civil liberties’.

The Mathematics of the Spread

There was a good piece in The Economist last week on the mathematics of the spread of the virus. 

There have been investigations into why the spread of the virus the USA has occurred at the same time that it appears to have been brought under control in parts of Europe.  A key issue appears to be the fact that the virus spreads following the laws of mathematics.

“The explanation for the pattern of American infections lies in something of central importance to the spread of a virus: geometric progression, such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. If one person infects two, two infect four and so on. Unless the rate of infection is driven down by reducing contacts, any geometric increase quickly balloons: 256, 512, 1,024.

This is the lesson of the inventor of chess, who in legend asked, as a reward, for one grain of rice on the first square and twice as many on each successive square. There was not enough rice in India to pay his reward. That is one explanation for America’s explosively rising caseload. With almost 4m infections, the country is on square 23.

Another explanation is that the starting point matters. If you begin a geometric progression at one, the tenth in the sequence is 512. If you begin at three, the tenth iteration is 1,536. American states began easing lockdowns, as it were, at three: their caseloads were three or more times higher than in Europe, in part, argues Jarbas Barbosa of the Pan-American Health Organisation, because most states never had full lockdowns.

Texas had 1,270 new cases on the day its governor said restaurants could re-open: 44 per million. In Georgia, the rate was 95 per million. Disney World reopened the day before Florida announced a record 15,000 new cases in a day. Just as incredibly, in two-thirds of states, infections were rising when governors started to ease lockdowns. By contrast, France, Spain and Italy had 13-17 new cases per million when they began to re-open their economies and numbers were falling fast”.

The above highlights the major problems with this virus.  This is its capacity to spread so easily. It is highly infectious and is it very easy to transmit  the virus from ‘person to person’.  This problem is compounded by the fact that it can be transmitted while people are asymptomatic.

Given this, it would appear that the only effective way to control the virus is to minimise the number of ‘person to person’ contacts.  Where contacts do occur, social distancing must be observed where possible.  If social distancing is not possible, other risk mitigation measures such as wearing a mask is critical.

The Suppression v Elimination Debate

Following on from the above, it is probably a good time to revisit the ‘The Suppression v Elimination Debate’

In previous posts, I talked about the approach New Zealand is taking with respect to the coronavirus.   They are going for total ‘eradication’ or ‘elimination’ of the virus.

This can be contrasted will Australia’s less rigorous approach.  Scott Morrison and other members of his government have consistently said that that the best way to combat the coronavirus is to supress it.  This will ensure that the health system is no overwhelmed and people can be cared for if they fall sick.  He and others claim that it not possible to ‘eliminate’ or ‘eradicate’ the virus.  They also claim that ‘lockdowns’ are too costly from an economic perspective.

Supporters of Morrison’s view also claim the a ‘elimination’ strategy would require Australia to completely cut itself off from the rest of the world.  They claim that this would entail, banning all international travel, including freight.

Let’s look at other countries.  New Zealand is not in lockdown. Nor is Taiwan or Vietnam.  These countries have largely returned to ‘normal’.  New Zealanders have returned to their workplaces.  They are attending Rugby games in their thousands.

The notion that the achievement of ‘elimination’ of the virus requires the complete ‘sealing off’ of borders is simple not correct.  Look at Queensland (before the recent developments), South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, the Northern Territory in Australia.  The virus has been effectively ‘eliminated’ in these states and territories.

The borders to these jurisdictions are not completely closed. Freight is moving across borders and are people with legitimate reasons to travel are able to move interstate.

The same has occurred in countries like Taiwan and New Zealand.  Their borders are not completely sealed. All that is required is proper quarantine processes and related measures like effective testing and case tracing.

My Opinion

The objective of the government policy should be the minimisation, and hopefully the elimination, of the instances of covid-19 infections. The acceptance of any level of virus in the community appears to be a flawed strategy.

As the experience in the USA has shown, the spread of the virus is so rapid it simply gets out of control and the only way to combat it is to reimpose ‘lockdown’ restrictions. The notion that there is a binary choice between a ‘health’ objective and an ‘economic’ objective is simply wrong.

Unless the virus is successfully managed from a health perspective, it is not possible to deal with its economic impacts.  The health and economic implications of the virus are intertwined.

It is now July and the coronavirus has been around for over six months.

I am still ‘stranded’ Brisbane.  This is proving to be quiet a good place to be.  There have been no ‘community’ infections in Queensland for over a month.

Developments in Victoria

The big story in Australia regarding the virus has been the outbreak that has occurred in Victoria.

On Monday the 22nd of June, the Victoria government announced that there had been a spike cases of the coronavirus in Melbourne.  

The initial advice from the medical experts was that the evidence showed that the outbreak was related to large gatherings of family members in their own houses. As the days progressed, the number of cases slowly increased. These cases were occurring in specific hotspots in the north of the city.  Two days ago, it was announced that lockdowns would be applied to certain suburbs.

It is now emerging that it appears that the cases relate to security staff that were working in the ‘quarantine’ hotels in the Melbourne CBD.  These hotels are where travellers from overseas are housed for the 14 days as they are quarantined after arriving in Australia.  The Victorian government engaged private security firms to control the movement people in and out the hotels.

 It would appear that one or more of the staff employed by these firms has become infected with the virus. They in turn have infected members of their family.  It would also appear that these transmissions took place at large family gatherings.  It is also thought that these gathering include celebrations related to Eid which is a Muslim religious event.

Media Reaction

Of course, the developments in Victoria have resulted in a lots of criticism of the government and its Premier, especially from the right wing media.  There have been a lot of comments along the lines that the ‘black lives matter’ (BLM) demonstrations were the cause of the outbreak.  There is no evidence that this is the case.

There were BLM demonstrations in every capital city in every state and territory. Melbourne is the only city to suffer a spike in coronavirus cases. There is no evidence to suggest that the behaviour of the security staff and was influenced by the demonstrations.

As I publish this post, restrictions are being place on movement in ten Melbourne postcodes which are coronavirus hotspots.  The premier has also flagged the possibility of imposing a lockdown for whole state.

The NSW government is telling residents of those ‘hotspots’ that they should not travel to NSW.  I am not sure how that can be properly enforced.  This call is also somewhat ironic given that the NSW Premier has been among the most vociferous when it comes to demanding that state borders should be opened.

Things getting out of control in the USA

On the international scene, the countries with right wing populist leaders continue to have the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths.  These are of course the USA, Brazil, Russia, the UK and India.

More than 48,000 coronavirus cases were announced across the United States last Tuesday, the most of any day of the pandemic. Officials in eight states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas — also announced single-day highs.

Case counts have climbed sharply in many of the states that were the first to reopen, including Florida and Texas, which recently forced bars to close again.

Reports coming out of Texas are instructive.  They are highlighting the fact that most of the cases  are occurring in younger people between the ages of 18 and 40.  These people consider themselves to be at limited, or no risk, of becoming seriously ill if they catch the virus.  

In Texas, the bar closures spurred protests at the State Capitol and the governor’s mansion.

Trumps Tulsa Rally

In hindsight it is interesting to look back a couple of weeks:

Trump’s ‘comeback’ rally went ahead in Tulsa on the 21^st of June

“Tulsa police said the protests outside the arena were largely peaceful.

Mr. Trump talked about slowing down testing for the coronavirus, echoing previous remarks that higher case numbers look bad.

He also continued to focus on testing and how case numbers have grown. “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people,” Mr. Trump said. “You’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’ ” A White House aide said that comment was meant as a joke.

Just under 6,200 people attended the rally, according to Andrew Little, a spokesman for the Tulsa Fire Department, who said he received the crowd estimate from the city’s fire marshal. He said that figure doesn’t include staff or people in private suites”.

In short, the rally was a failure.

Trump suffering in Polls

In the next week the New York Times reported on a ‘qualitative poll’ on the temperature of the electorate heading to the  upcoming November  election.

It seems that former Trump supporters have lost confidence in him on the two big issues of the day – the coronavirus and race relations and policing.

This view is being expressed both nationally and in the ‘swing’ states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina – which propelled Trump to power in 2016 despite that fact that he lost the popular vote.

It appears that on the ‘coronavirus’ issue, the voters see the need to address the ‘health’ issue over the need to address ‘impact of the coronavirus on the economy’.

On the ‘race and policing’ issue, the voters see the need to address the underlying cause of the problem over the need to ‘get tough on protestors’.

It is still 5 months to the election, but is certainly not looking good for Trump at the moment.

The UK

The UK’s handling of the virus has not been good, particularly in England.  Like Trump, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hell bent on getting the economy going again.  The infection rates in the UK are still high.  Notwithstanding that, the decision has been made to relax restrictions.  This will take place on the 4^th of July.

The social distancing rule has been relaxed from two metres to one metre and pubs and bars will be allowed to open.

Learning about the Virus

As the crisis progresses it seems that more is being learned about the virus and its impacts.  It seems that in some cases the virus can have long term health impacts.

It would appear that the risk of catching the virus outdoors is low.  This is because it is killed by ultraviolet light and the concentrations of the virus are lessened by wind. This appears to a reason for the absence of any evidence of the transmissions resulting from the BLM demonstrations.

However, being part of the large gathering outside does has it risks.  I was listening to a health expert being interviewed about the large gatherings on the beaches near Bournemouth on the south coast of England.  They pointed out it wasn’t being on beach that was the biggest concern.  The biggest concern was related activities. These include the use of public transport to get to and from the beach, where people bought food and drinks and toilet arrangements.  

Pubs and Bars are  Dangerous Places to Be

A piece in the New York Times has noted the following:

“Everything you love about your neighbourhood bar — the ambience, the crowds, the music, the free-flowing alcohol — makes it the ideal place to catch the coronavirus.

“Except for maybe a hospital with sick patients, I couldn’t imagine too many more risky places than a super cramped indoor bar with poor ventilation and hundreds of people,” said Dr. Asaf Bitton, executive director of Ariadne Labs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “That to me is a concern from a public health perspective.”

The piece also notes that

Studies also show that the particles we emit during talking and loud speech are potentially more infectious than the larger droplets we expel during a cough or a sneeze. Smaller particles persist in the air for longer time periods before settling, increasing the risk that someone nearby could inhale them. Smaller particles also can travel further into the respiratory tract.

It is past the middle of June and the coronavirus crisis rolls on.  The good news is that Australia continues to be handling the crisis reasonably well from health perspective. Unfortunately, the economic impact the crisis is significant, and it doesn’t look as though this is going to resolved anytime soon.

The Figures

As I post, Australia has had 7,407 with 21 cases reported in the last 24 hours.  The majority of those cases have occurred in Victoria.  Some of those were people who had travelled from overseas.  However, there still instances of community transmission.   This seems to confirm that advice from the experts who are telling that it is very difficult to eradicate the disease completely.

A short time after I published this post the Victorian government announced that it was reimposing restrictions related to the coronavirus.

Having said that, New Zealand lifted all of its internal restrictions on the basis that it appeared to have no new cases of the virus for two ‘incubation periods’.  Somewhat ironically, a couple of days later, it did experience two new cases albeit they were people who travelled from the UK.

On a global basis there have been 8.6 million cases.  Over 2 million of those cases have been in the USA.  Brazil has moved up the league table with over one million reported cases, followed by Russia, India and the UK. Those countries with right-wing populists leaders are certainly leading the way.  

Black Lives Matter Demonstrations

In my last post I mentioned that “riots were taking place in over 25 cities across the USA.  The riots are in response to the killing of a black man by police in the city of Minneapolis”.

In the subsequent days and weeks the demonstrations spread across all the states in the USA and around the world, including Australia.  These demonstrations were clearly problematic given the risks of transmitting the virus where there are large gatherings people.

With the exception of the Northern Territory, all the state and territory leaders in Australia requested that people not attend the demonstrations.   The New South Wales government tried to ‘outlaw’ the demonstrations.  This was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court and the demonstrations went ahead in Sydney, as did demonstrations in the other capitals.

There was a lot debate on the media and among politicians regarding the demonstrations.  Clearly, the demonstrators and their supporters believed that the issue was so important, they were going to demonstrate irrespective of the risk.  It should also be noted that the demonstrations in Australia were peaceful with some minor exceptions.  Also, where possible the participants observed ‘social distancing’  and took precautions such as wearing masks and using hand sanitisers.

Of course, the right wingers were completely opposed to the demonstrations.  These people had been noticeably quiet were the people who were opposed to the ‘lockdowns’ just a week or so earlier had demonstrated in large groups.  Most of the Federal politicians were quiet on this the issues. The exceptions were the ‘Belgium Waffle’  Mathius  Corman and the  ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja. These blokes are just so predictable. 

Trump goes to Church

Some of the largest Black Lives Matter demonstrations took place in Washington DC outside the White House.  In an extraordinary, but also predictable, reaction to these demonstrations Trump thrust himself into the spotlight.

He decided that it would be a good idea if me was photographed holding a bible outside the ‘President’s Church’ which is near to the White House. This required the clearing of demonstrators who were lawfully gathered in the streets and in a park between the White House and the church.  They were cleared out of the way by heavily armed police using tear gas and pepper spray.

The whole stunt backfired on Trump.  The Minister of the church pointed out that he was “standing outside a church which had never visited before, holding a book he had never read”.  Trump was universally criticised and ridiculed for his actions.  These included adverse comments from the former Defence Secretary, General Mattis. Also, the Army General who accompanied Trump on the ‘walk’ later said he should not have been there and apologized for seeming supporting Trump.

Statues under Threat in the UK

The Black Lives Matter demonstrations have also occurred in the UK, which definitely has serious ‘race’ issues.

These demonstrations have focused on the UK’s colonial history and its involvement in slavery.  One of these demonstrations was in Bristol were a statue of a slave trader, Edward Colston   was toppled and thrown into the river.  This sent the extreme right wingers into a frenzy.  They are claiming that this is an attempt to ‘deny history’. 

The simple fact is that there has been an ongoing debate in Bristol over how this man is remembered.  A piece in the Independent back in 2014 noted that:

“Edward Colston is fondly remembered in Bristol. A grand bronze statue on a pedestal of Portland stone was unveiled almost 120 years ago in the city centre, dedicated to the 17th-century merchant and MP. Depicting a middle-aged Colston leaning pensively on a stick, its inscription reads: “Erected by citizens of Bristol as a memorial of one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city.”

Not mentioned are the thousands of slave victims that Colston and his family trampled over to obtain much of their wealth. He served as deputy governor of the Royal African Company – which held a monopoly on the trade – while his brother Thomas supplied the glass beads that were used to buy slaves.

The debate over how Bristol should commemorate Colston, if at all, has reared its head again in recent days after the Bristol Post asked whether the statue should be pulled down. Just over half (56 per cent) of the 1,100 respondents said it should stay – 44 per cent wanted it to go”.

Since then, the local council has decided that the concert hall that bears Colston’s name should be renamed.  It has also been decided that the statue that was thrown of the river will now be housed in a museum where the whole story of his life, including his involvement in the slave trade will be told.

The notion that removing a statue of the slave trader is a denial of history is patently absurd. Liverpool which was also made rich through the trading and transport of slaves has a museum which tells the story of this period of British history in graphic detail. Refer to the link below.

Restrictions Eased in Australia

More coronavirus related restrictions have been eased in Australia.  These include the opening of pubs and restaurants to larger numbers and allowing larger gatherings of family members and other groups in homes.

However, the internal borders, with the exception of NSW and Victoria, are still closed.

The Federal government has also announced that restrictions on overseas travel restrictions are likely to remain in place until next year. However, there is a possibility of travel between Australia and New Zealand being allowed earlier.

USA Opening Up???

Australia is not the only country to open up.  It is also happening the USA, particularly in states governed by Republicans.  This is a bit of a worry to say the least as many of these states are experiencing increases in infections rates.

One of these states is Oklahoma.  This weekend Donald Trump will be holding a rally in the city of Tulsa in that state.  As the New York Times reports:

“Two days before President Trump was scheduled to speak at a rally downtown, some of his biggest fans braved a sweltering Thursday afternoon to make sure they made it into the event.

The crowd of a few hundred included locals and visitors, most everyone pitching a tent to shield themselves from the 90-degree heat. Vendors and performers hawked memorabilia with Mr. Trump’s likeness, including a silver bust of the president and T-shirts with some of his best-known commentary.

Mike Grimes, of Minnesota, drove 750 miles to line up at the event.

“I wanted to be at the first one back, because it feels like a symbol of America opening back up,” he said. Mr. Grimes, a 41-year-old postal carrier, said well wishers had dropped off Gatorade and water.

One Trump supporter, who said Saturday will be the 64th rally he has attended, is part of a group of Mr. Trump’s superfans who call themselves “Front Row Joes.” Other members had arrived in Tulsa as early as Monday, he said. He made it to town on Thursday.

The man, who is 60, said he was not worried about the spread of coronavirus in the arena here. (Previous reports show he was arrested for disorderly conduct after disrupting a 2019 event in Iowa for Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts.)

“Sure, the virus is out there. But when you look at the survivability rate — I’ll take those odds,” he said, laughing.

He said this rally feels different.

“We’re going to show the country and were going to show the world that we need to open up,” he said. “We’re Americans. We have freedom and choice. And we have the choice to be at risk.”

Oklahoma reported a record number of cases on Thursday: 450, up from 259 on Wednesday. It was the fifth consecutive day that levels reached new highs”.

Clearly, it not possible to talk sense with these hardened Trump supports. It is an indictment on the state of the nation. Unfortunately, what happens in the USA has global implications including for Australia.

Trump’s photo opportunity 2^nd June

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-05/donald-trumps-photo-op-during-george-floyd-protests-backfires/12320944?fbclid=IwAR0TljfNTnjhl6j2rG4qs9663ICUI6iKwEtITcdX0o2dboumSJC42wXGr08

Liverpool Slavery Museum

https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/transatlantic-slave-trade

New York Times on Trump Rally

It is the end of May and the world is still in the grip of the coronavirus crisis. In a strange way the ‘crisis’ has become a type of ‘normal.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that things are getting better across the board.  There are places, including Australia and other countries, where the health problems have stabilised. In other countries, including the US and the UK the health problems are still significant.  There are countries like Brazil and Russia, where the health problems are getting worse.

Another issue that is emerging is the ‘knock on’ effects of the health crisis.  The most obvious of these is the impact that measures such as ‘lockdowns’, ‘social distancing rules’, border closures and travel restrictions are having on economies.  These are significant in every country, including Australia.

What is probably more of a worry is the next phase of these ‘knock on’ effects.  These include social and political unrest and tensions, both within countries and between countries. These are not necessarily ‘directly’ related to the virus. However, the virus has certainly exacerbated problems and tensions that already existed and will certainly do so into the future.

But first:

The Numbers

 Australia continues to see very few new cases.  Typically, there are less than 20 new cases a day per day on a notional basis.  The majority of cases and new infections are NSW and Victoria.  The overwhelming majority of infections are related to people who have travelled from overseas.

Globally, the USA continues to be firmly at the top of leader board both in terms of the number of cases and deaths.  Brazil has moved into second place, followed by Russia and the UK.  The countries with populist ‘dickheads’ for leaders are certainly suffering.  

Easing of Restrictions but Borders Still Closed

All of the Australian jurisdictions are in the process of easing restrictions.  Children are returning to school, cafés and restaurants are opening, albeit with restricted numbers of patrons and people are returning to their workplaces.

There has also been further easing of restrictions on travel with the States.  For example, people in ‘outback’ Queensland can now travel 500 kilometres.

However, one thing that hasn’t changed is that Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have kept their borders closed.  As I noted in my last post this has upset the NSW Premier more than most people. She likes Port Douglas.

It has also upset the ‘potato head’, Peter Dutton and Pauline Hanson. The Federal Tourism Minister, Simon Birmingham also weighed into the argument.  He is normally sensible. He was particularly critical of the Queensland Premier.  Her response was simple: she pointed out that Birmingham is from South Australia and that he should talk to the Liberal Party Premier of that state before lecturing her.

I suspect that this issue will go the same way as the ‘arguments’ over the opening of the schools in each state.  The opening of the borders will happen when it is sensible to do so.

Embarrassment over Job Keeper

The Friday before last it was announced that the number of people on the ‘Job Keeper’ program was about half than was previously reported.  It also turned out that this number was also half of what Treasury had estimated the number would be when the program was announced.

This of course sent that media and commentators into a frenzy.

It turned out to be a bit of the ‘storm in a teacup’.

Taking the estimate first,  it is not surprising that the estimate was wrong. As everyone has been saying this health crisis is ‘unprecedent’.  It would be extremely difficult to estimate how many people would be forced not work because of the lockdowns. Clearly, Treasury erred on side of the worst-case scenario.

As the scheme progressed, it was up to employers to complete forms to claim the job seeker payments that they would then pass on to the employees that had ceased working because of the lockdowns.  These forms were sent to the Australian Taxation Office  (ATO) for processing.

As the forms were processed, the numbers of claims for assistance appeared to closely track the estimates. It needs to be noted that the claims were processed by computer.  The system was obviously developed in haste as it had never been required before.

When the ATO finally had time to look at the claims, in readiness to start the payments, it was noticed  that many of the forms had been incorrect completed by the employers.  In the box where they had to enter the number of employees for which they were making a claim, say 1 or 2, they had entered the number say 1,500 or 3,000, which was the dollars they were claiming. This resulted on the substantial overstatement of the claims.

While this was embarrassing for the government it was understandable.

As noted above the estimate by Treasury was made in very uncertain times. The initial claims to the ATO appeared to match the estimate, which would have seemed to conform it was about right. The claims were processed by the computer system that was, by necessity, developed in haste. Reliance was placed on employers to complete a simple form.  Clearly some employers are not very smart.

It should also be noted that the LNP government has been slashing staff numbers at both the ATO and Treasury for years.  Both institutions have been forced to rely on outside contractors, who are often far less skilled than permanent public servants who otherwise would have been working in those roles.

It is interesting to note that the criticism of the government over this matter has been somewhat muted, particularly in the Murdoch media.  It can be imagined what they would have said if a Labor government was in power.

 The LNP Government Learning Economics 101

On the broader issue of economic management, the LNP government continues to embrace government spending to address the economic impact of the coronavirus.  This is somewhat remarkable given their past rhetoric on the evils of ‘debt and deficit’.

One of the Australia’s best economics commentators, Ross Gittins  wrote an excellent piece in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) earlier this week on the role of government expenditure in addressing economic crises.  Refer to the link below.

He noted that “the only way out of a recession is to spend your way out. It sounds wrong-headed, but it’s not. It’s just, as economists say, counter-intuitive”.

He goes on to explain why governments are different to households when it comes to ‘debt and deficit. This is something that, Australia’s leading dickhead, Tony Abbott didn’t understand. He trotted out the nonsense that ‘debt and deficit’ is always bad.  

Fortunately, the current government is listening to the experts in Treasury and the Reserve Bank – at least for the moment.  

 The ‘waffling twit defends ‘fuckweasel’

For the past week, a great deal of focus has been given to the behaviour of the UK’s Prime Minister’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings.

Cummings was the architect of the Brexit campaign and is generally thought to be the ‘brains’ behind the ‘waffling twit, Boris Johnson.

Cummings played a leading role in the development of the UK’s ‘stay at home’ policy designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.  

Bizarrely, Cummings didn’t follow the policy and guidelines he helped to write.

 When he and his wife started to show signs of having the virus, he drove from London to Durham county where his parents have an estate.  The pretext for doing this was that he was looking for “childcare for his four-year-old son”.

When he was in Durham, he and his family were spotted in the market town of Barnard Castle which is 45 kilometres from his parent’s estate.

When this was revealed, he claimed that he took the drive to “test his eyesight” prior to attempting the drive back to London.

  I could spend time explaining why Cummings’s claims are arrant nonsense, but wont bother.  The upshot is that most of the UK citizens are pissed off with him and the fact that the ‘waffling twit’ has supported him.  These included a significant number of Conservative members of parliament and Cabinet members.

The whole episode is probably best summed up by the author J K Rowling in her tweet on the subject. The tweet can be found here.

A Quick note About Sweden

In previous posts I have talked about Sweden’s approach to the coronavirus crisis. They have not gone for a serious lockdowns and appear to be wanting to achieve ‘herd immunity’ by letting  the virus spread.

It is still too early to say whether this will be a successful strategy.  What can be said is that the case rates and deaths in Sweden are far higher than those in its Scandinavian neighbours.  The country is also going to be excluded from a proposed ‘bubble’ which will allow movement between Denmark, Norway and Finland.  

Brazil and other South American Countries

I have also mentioned Brazil in past posts.

Unfortunately, it now appears that the case and death rates in Brazil and out of control.  The blame for this can largely be levelled at its moronic president who is in complete denial as far as the severity of the virus.

It would also appear that the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Peru and other South American countries.

China v the USA (and others)

As I noted above, what is probably more of a worry regarding the impact of the virus is the next phase, is the ‘knock on’ effects.  These include social and political unrest and tensions, both within countries and between countries.

One of the these ‘knock on’ effects is the growing tension between China and the USA and other countries including Australia.  This issue is not going to go away anytime soon and is certain to escalate.

The ‘failed state that is the USA?

As I finish this post there are riots taking place in over 25 cities across the USA.  The riots are in responsible to the killing of black man by police in the city of Minneapolis. 

These are reminiscent of riots that took place in Los Angels in 1992 following the acquittal of police that had been charged following the killing of a black man in their custody some months earlier.  I remember that well as I was flying from Sydney to Dalla via Los Angeles on the day that the riots started.  

The current riots are far worse and of much greater significance.

Obviously, the death of the black man was not caused by the coronavirus. He was killed by white policeman. However, many of the people involved in the unrest have lost their jobs as a result of the lockdowns related to the coronavirus. Sadly, many of their family members have died of convid-19.

And there is Trump:

He has proven to be totally incapable of providing positive input to management of the crisis, apart from the belated  ban of movements from China at the end of January. Trump is now blaming everyone other than himself for the ‘crisis’.

Many people involved in the riots and unrest are at ‘rock bottom’. They literally have nothing to lose.

They know that Trump and his administration don’t care about them. They know that very few Republican mayors or governors care about them.

For these people, total anarchy is no worse than partial anarchy.

This state of affairs is what you see in a ‘failed state’.

It is difficult to predict how far and wide these riots will spread in the USA.

One thing is certain.

Trump is not the man to solve the crisis

Links

Ross Gittins Piece 26^th of May

https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/a-frightening-insight-there-s-only-one-way-out-of-this-recession-20200526-p54wf1.html

The Swedish Experiment

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/is-herd-immunity-working-in-sweden-the-reality-of-no-lockdown-md5cz3tjl

Riots in the USA

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52857334?fbclid=IwAR1dei3hTikB0C2jR7aD-qICUFEQ6qIHuVxpuVn-49RYssdFBAjFz07tFtA

It is now well past the middle of May and the coronavirus crisis rolls on.

Today there are over 5 million confirmed cases globally with over 300k deaths.

In Australia, the ‘curve’ has seemingly been flattened with only 7,044 confirmed cases and only 11 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Easing of the Restrictions

This week marked the easing of restrictions in all the jurisdictions in Australia.  The extent of the easing varied between the different states and territories.  At one extreme, the Northern Territory moved to ‘stage 2’ of its easing of restrictions.  This meant that many pubs, bars and restaurants will be back in business as normal.

In other states and the ACT, bars and restaurants were allowed to have ‘in house’ customers under certain conditions.  These included restricted numbers, typically 10 at anyone time and the requirement that customers had to order a meal if they were drinking.  

Reports in the media suggested that many businesses were taking a ‘suck it and see’ approach to opening up their businesses.  For many it is simply not economic to operate with a limited number of customers.

In my wanderings in the local area around New Market here in Brisbane, I noted that many of the restaurants remained completely shut.  Some of the cafes have opened their seating, particularly outdoors.

There has also been an easing of restrictions regarding gatherings both in homes and outdoors.  I certainly noticed an increase in the size and number of groups in the local parks.  There were many large family groups having picnics.

All of the states and territories have plans in place for schools to open. In some states including Queensland some of the children have already returned to school.

Borders still Closed

While things are easing up within states and territories, there are still controls on movements between the different jurisdictions.  With the exception of Victoria and NSW, the borders between the states are still closed.

The Queensland premier has said they that its border may be closed until at least September.  This has not gone down well with the NSW premier who apparently likes to holiday in Port Douglas in July.

Economic Impact

A whole slew of economic data has been released in the past week or so. It all points to one thing – a serious and ‘unprecedented’ economic downturn.  This has led to an unprecedented use of the word ‘unprecedented’.

As would be expected, certain industries and businesses have simply stopped operating or have dramatically reduced activity.  These include travel, entertainment, professional sport and well as restaurants and pubs etc.

The number people unemployed or under employed has increased.  However, this increase has been suppressed by the ‘Job Keeper’ program under which the government pays employers $750 for each of their employees who cannot work because of the lockdown due to the virus. The employers passed the money on to the employees.  These employees are not classified as being ‘unemployed’ by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

As a result of this program and the issue of people simply no bothering to look for work, the true level of unemployment is difficult to determine.  However, it is big. Dare I say it, it is ‘unprecedented’, certainly in my lifetime.  

The official unemployment rate at the end of April was 6.2 percent.  There are lots of the estimates of what the real number is.  It is certainly over 10 percent and is certain to rise, at least in the near term.

Another looming issue is that the Job Keeper program is due to expire at the end of September.

In a later post I will talk about what is being said by people who seem to know what they are talking about regarding the economic prospects going forward.  It would appear that it is very unlikely that a quick ‘V’ shaped recovery will happen.

The Logistical Problems of the Return to ‘Normal’

As part of the easing of restrictions, people are being encouraged to return to work. This is a noble objective; however, it is easier said than done.

The obvious problem is that the ongoing need maintain ‘social distancing’.  This is a particular issue on public transport including buses and trains.

I will talk about this in a separate post focusing on Australia and the UK.

Vaccine on the Way?

The general consensus of opinion among the medical experts and politicians is the crisis will not be resolved until there is a vaccine to protect people against being infected by the virus.

There is no doubt the extraordinary efforts are being put into the development of a vaccine.  However, there is still a great deal conjecture about when a vaccine will be available.  Further, some experts are questioning whether a vaccine will be developed all at.

Problems with China

In my previous post I noted that the Morrison government was calling for an independent investigation into the cause of the outbreak of the virus.  An investigation is necessary and doubtless one will be undertaken at some time”.  The call for an investigation upset China.

Unfortunately, the problems with China have escalated.  The World Health Assembly (WHA), comprising all members of the United Nations has also called for an independent inquiry into the outbreak of the virus. This is a positive.

However, China has said that this call for an inquiry by the WHA is not a vindication for Australia’s call for an inquiry.  More worrying is that China has slapped a large tariff on Australia exports of barley and has placed bans on certain meat exports.  It looks as though these trade issues are likely to escalate.

The Chinese actions have excited the right-wing loonies in the Australian commentariat and the wider Australian community.  They are calling for retaliatory action against China.  Fortunately, the Australian Foreign and Trade Ministers are competent and appear to be handing the matter well.  It is also good to see that Morrison is keeping his mouth shut.

Looking Overseas

The USA continues to lead the league table both in terms of the number of cases and the number of deaths.  They are followed by the UK, Russia, and Brazil

In a previous post I talked about the different approaches being taken by Sweden and New Zealand and that it would be interesting to see how they fared.  New Zealand has gone for complete eradication of virus and Sweden seemed to be going for ‘herd immunity’ by deliberately allowing a substantial proportion of its citizens to get the virus. 

New Zealand seem to have been successful in their goal.  Albeit there are no mandatory lockdown rules in Sweden the population has been following social distancing and the spread of the virus has slowed.  They are no where near achieving heard immunity.

What about the top Four?

It interesting to look at the top four noted above.

They all have something in common – populist leaders.

Trump has consistently underplayed the seriousness of the virus and sort to “get America open again as soon as possible”. 

He has actively encouraged governors to ease lockdown restrictions in their states even before the conditions, detailed in the guidelines his own ‘administration’ have issued,  have been met. He has supported demonstrations against governors who have complied with those guidelines,

Similarly, Boris Johnson underplayed the threat of the virus and infamously visited a hospital with virus sufferers and boasted about “shaking everyone’s hands”.

The journalist Alan Kohler summed up the performance of both men as follows:

“The US and UK are the nation states that have performed worst in the world in coping with the coronavirus pandemic. Americans and Britons make up more than a third of the 300,000 people worldwide who have died from Covid-19. They have paid the ultimate price for their governments’ slow and incompetent response to the spread of the disease.

Both countries have obvious points in common that explain their excess fatalities: Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are nativist demagogues skilled in winning elections, but not in coping with real crises as opposed to the ones they invent or exaggerate. Their critics had long predicted disaster if either man became national leader and this has finally happened”.

I think he is spot on.

As far as Russia is concerned, it should be taken as given that Putin and his administration would stuff up its response to the coronavirus.

Brazil in an interesting country one to watch. Its far-right President Jair Bolsonaro remains bitterly opposed to lockdowns, having described them as unnecessary over a “little flu”.

It is not a surprise that Brazil now features at the top of the  league table. Yesterday its as daily COVID-19 deaths crossed 1,000 for the first time.

It would appear that Brazil is going to be a case study on what happens when a country ‘lets the virus rip’. Unfortunately, I suspect that its experience is likely to prove that the notion that there is a ‘trade off’ between a ‘health’ outcome and an ‘economic’ outcome is simple unrealistic.

If there is a serious ‘health’ meltdown in a country, it is inevitable that an ‘economic’ meltdown will follow.

Trump

I noted above that Trump has continued to peddle the line that all of the problems that the USA is experiencing in this crisis is the fault of the Chinese.

Another of his pet subjects I have mention before has been his promotion of the drug hydroxychloroquine as both and treatment and preventive measure for the virus.  This week he announced that he is taking the drug.  

Whether this is true or not is anyone’s guess.In the meantime, there are a number of clinical trials are being conducted into the use of the drug around the world, including in Australia.  

It is now May.  Of course, the coronavirus has not gone away.

Some Good News

There continues to be evidence that Australia has managed to control the spread of the virus. A few days ago the ACT announced that it had no active cases. A similar situation applied in the Northern Territory.

There has also been progress in the states where the rates of infection have been falling.  Unfortunately, there has been some hotspots of infection.  These have included hospitals in the northwest of Tasmania, an aged care facility in Sydney and a meat works in Melbourne.

Last weekend marked the lifting of some restrictions in some states and territories.  In Queensland, people are now permitted to undertake ‘non-essential’ travel within 50 kilometres

Ongoing Issues with Schools

The ‘confusion’ on the operation of schools has continued.  It has now become political.  The prime minister is very keen for  students to go back to school.

The issue is that the operation of the schools is a state and territory responsibility. The policy has been that the decisions on when and how the schools can resume operation rests with the premiers and chief ministers. The smaller states with low infection rates, in particular WA and SA, have announced plans to open their schools.  NSW has announced a plan to stagger the opening of their schools. 

The Victoria government has yet to detail it plans for the opening its schools.  The Victoria medical advisors have maintained their view that there are risks for teachers and other adults in schools.

Last weekend, clearly with the support of Morrison and probably under his instruction, the Federal Education ‘minister’  attacked the Victoria Premier for “failing to show leadership”.  The minister, Dan Tehan, is a very much a lightweight and is clearly out of his depth in the role.

I was interested to find that Tehan is the member for the Victorian seat of the Wannon which was once held by Malcom Fraser.

As it turned out Tehan’s performance on the Insiders program was so inept that he was told to withdraw his comments.  This instruction likely came from Morrison himself.

Trump

 Trump is still the  ‘president’ of the USA.  The 25^th amendment has not been invoked. 

The daily farce which was the White House ‘briefing’ has been curtailed.  Clearly someone was finally able to convince the orange moron that he wasn’t doing himself any good by handling them the way he was.

 It is all China’s Fault

Trump is always on the lookout for way to deflect attention from is own shortcomings.  His performance during this crisis has been nothing short of appalling.

It the past week or so Trump, and others in his administration have been running the line that the coronavirus is all the fault of the Chinese.  There seems to be little doubt that the virus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Of course, it then spread to other parts of the world.

However, the Chinese were not responsible for the USA’s inadequate response to the crisis.  They were certainly not responsible for the nonsense that Trump has spouted about the virus.  This is included statements like: “it is no worse than the flu…it will go away in April when it is hot…etc..etc”.

We now have the Morrison government calling for an independent investigation into the cause of the outbreak of the virus.  An investigation is necessary and doubtless one will be undertaken at some time.  Unfortunately, the call for the investigation at this time does seem to be a case of the playing along with Trump’s ‘diversionary’ tactics.

The USA Generally

It seems that Trump has given up on trying the ‘manage’ the crisis.  He has handed over the responsibility to the states and local governments.  We are now seeing different approaches emerge.

The major ‘hotspots’ were initially in the coastal states on both the west and east coasts.  These included the very hard-hit cities of the New York and Seattle.  These areas responded with extremely strict ‘lockdowns’ as did California. These states also happen to have Democratic Governors.

Other states like Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Ohio have had fewer cases.  These states also happen to have Republican Governors.

Trump has been promoting the idea of easing the ‘lockdown’ restrictions and getting ‘America open again’.   The main driver of  this call is of course the impact the restrictions are having on the economy.

The differing responses to the crisis between the states is now largely along political lines.  The Democrats are typically cautious about easing restrictions and the Republicans are typically ‘gung-ho’ about returning to ‘normal’.

The problems of course that the virus is not political.  It would appear inevitable that the virus will spread through the Republican governed states.  Given that they are more sparely populated than places like New York, this spread is likely to the less rapid.  However, it will happen.

The UK

The crisis in the UK is appalling.  The UK has overtaken Spain and Italy as far as the death toll is concerned.  In fact, the UK’s death toll is more than half of that in the USA notwithstanding the USA’s population is five times that of the UK.

This has provoked criticism of the government’s performance. However, this criticism has not been as strident as you would expect. 

A possible reason for that is the fact that Boris Johnson contracted the virus and recovered.

What about the Vaccine

A huge effort is going into the development of a vaccine. Institutions and companies around the world, including Australia are trying to develop a vaccine.  A laboratory in Oxford in the UK has already commenced human trials.

The general consensus is that it will take at least 12 to 18 months before a vaccine will be available.

Trump claims a vaccine will be available by the end of the year. 

 Travel is Not Happening Soon

The travel industry has been one of the hardest hit sectors of the economy.  There is a lot of commentary on this issue in the media.

 Some of the speculation has been optimistic and some less so.  No one really knows what is going to happen in the end.

Certainly, somethings with respect travel are becoming clear.  These include the following:

Travel will not return to anything like ‘normal’ until the virus is well under control.  This will require vaccine.

International travel will be the last sector of the industry to return to operations.

Older people will be the last group to be allowed to travel internationally. 

Non-essential travel i.e. tourism will also be given low priority when operations commence.

All of the above will bugger my plans.  

Sad News

The daily reports of cases and the death toll resulting from this crisis are tragic.  However, it is possible for people to become desensitised to these reports. I am one of  those people.

A few days ago I received an email from a very good friend in Seattle.

It simply said, “Dad has passed away with covid-19”.

Links

About Tehan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Tehan

Inept performance on Insiders

https://www.abc.net.au/insiders/dan-tehan-joins-insiders/12209900

The Vaccine

Trump’s Prediction

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-virtual-town-hall-america-together-returning-to-work-coronavirus-lincoln-memorial?fbclid=IwAR1Mm_fGY_Y2eDiH39l018pC4Y-wKjkKeBTuLYxnciEcILTBRyHaI0Ccfr0

What Happens without a Vaccine

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/03/health/coronavirus-vaccine-never-developed-intl/index.html

ACT has no Active Cases

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6741124/no-active-cases-of-coronavirus-in-canberra/?fbclid=IwAR0bArHy7nMe3nP5hCSNzjQY7qEnbit8_ULnUMdd2avwDbmDJ2rvaVPqWdE

Travel

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52450038?fbclid=IwAR1cymRZRydisD2-hG0e8te1piXjoBdSfGp5cW517JHg_ADOetIGcYD4bGk

Immigration

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/reimagining-a-new-australia-experts-back-calls-for-a-debate-about-australia-s-migrant-numbers-post-coronavirus

Yet another week ends with the world dealing with the Coronavirus.

Move into a ‘Permanent’ Abode

From a personal perspective, this has been a big week.  For the first time since May 2012, I am now living a ‘fixed place of abode’.  I have taken a 3 month lease a unit on the Brisbane River in the suburb of New Farm.

The unit is very small, but it is ideal for me.  It is fully furnished, including a TV and vacuum cleaner.  It doesn’t have a balcony, but it does have a great view of the Storey Bridge and the CBD.  It is close to cycle paths and the New Farm Park.  There is a shopping centre about one kilometre away and the there are lots of cafes and restaurants in the area.   

I am pleased to be in Brisbane at this time.

Things are Getting Better in Australia

As far of the virus is concerned, it appears that Australia is starting to get it under control.  The number of new cases has been steadily declining across the country.  This is particularly pleasing to see in NSW which has been the hardest hit State.

Given the reduced number of cases, all of States and territories are starting to relax some of the restrictions on movements and the operations of businesses.

Confusion over Schools

One area that appears to very confused is schools.  The Federal Government, Morrison in particular, appears to be very keen for the schools to start operating as ‘normal’.

He is basing his comments on ‘expert’ advice which apparently says that there is no evidence of children becoming ill with coronavirus and there is limited risk of teachers becoming infected.

It seems that the States and Territories don’t necessarily agree.  There has been a study in NSW that does indicate something along those lines.  The NSW government in planning a phased re-opening of schools with revised arrangements, for example staggered school hours. It seems that schools will essentially remain closed in Victoria for the next term.  South Australia and Western Australia seem to be keener on schools opening.

It is all very confusing and must be a problem for both parents and students.

Trump

One of the features of Trump’s ‘presidency’ has been his ability to constantly surprise everyone with his level of stupidity and ignorance.  I won’t even bother giving past examples before this crisis.

In previous posts on the coronavirus, I have mentioned Trump and his incompetence and ill-informed comments including his advocacy of the use of a malaria drug as a treatment for the virus.

On the 23^rd of April Trump gave his most bizarre White House Briefing yet.

An official from the Homeland Security Department was ask to speak about some research  the Department had undertaken.  The official is not a scientist.

The official talked about research that showed the impact of heat and light, and disinfectants on the coronavirus.  It showed that both heat and light killed that virus when it was in the air.  It also showed that disinfectants, such as bleach killed the virus when is on surfaces.

Once he heard this, Trump started ‘spit balling’ about the possibility of using light and disinfectants “inside the body” against the virus.

Of course, this provoked almost universal uproar and condemnation.

To make matters worse, Trump tried to counter the criticism by claiming that he was simply being sarcastic.  This was obviously a lie.  

It was interesting to note that Trump cut his next briefing short and refused to take any questions.

This episode may be a pivotal point in Trump’s political career.  I know that has been said before, however this is really a ‘Biggy’.

Impacts on Business

The coronavirus crisis is having a huge impact on the economy.  There are forecasts going around that the economy will be suffer bigger declines than were experienced in the Great Depression in the 1930’s.  

One thing can already said;  that is that the increase in unemployment, certainly in the advanced countries like the USA, UK and Australia has been far more rapid than was the case in the 1930’s. In the Great Depression,  the peak in unemployment was in 1935, fully 6 years after the initial stock market crash.

In this economic down turn, the impact of the loss of jobs has largely been mitigated by government intervention with wage subsidies and increases in unemployment benefits.  It is still yet to be seen how long this government largess will last and whether it will be enough.  

Virgin Airlines

There has however, been a high-profile business casualty in Australia.  That casualty  is Virgin Airlines.  The company is almost completely owned by overseas shareholders including Singapore Airlines, and Chinese and Middle Eastern interests. The founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson only owns 10 percent of the airline.

The board of Virgin Airline Australia decided to put the company into voluntary administration.

There is no doubt that other businesses in the transport and tourism industries are going to struggle to survive this crisis.

Tracing App

Last night, Sunday the 26^th of April, the Australian government released an ‘app’ to assist with the tracing of people that may have become in contact with people with the virus.

This is somewhat controversial.  There are overtones of ‘Big Brother’ in the use of such technology. 

I have decided to download that the app, notwithstanding the fact that the government has been less than completely transparent about how it works and the privacy safeguards.  I would have preferred that it was that subject and specific piece of legislation and independent oversight.

Australia v NZ

In a previous post, I talked about the approach New Zealand is taking with respect to the coronavirus.   They are going for total eradication.

This can be contrasted will Australia’s less rigorous approach.  There is a program on ABC TV tonight about how that two countries are going.  It will make interesting viewing.

Links

Photos and Videos of My Unit

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmML1nAx

Trump’s ‘Disinfectant’ White House Briefing

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-suggests-injection-disinfectant-beat-coronavirus-clean-lungs-n1191216?fbclid=IwAR05B8OCaLc3lQnNsFniyzX31yv_KUtrTTHxgDSewsusG0psYS78HCL3iGs

The GOP getting Nervous

Trump trying to Deny what he Said

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/26/politics/trump-briefings-media-blame-disinfectant-comments/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1iEfZyx5yLfxuFOPocDz5F2XJy9SbSlJK159c7l7Yc-ERUHZngAInLuJk

The Approaches taken in Australia and NZ Compared

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-27/has-new-zealand-done-better-than-australia-on-coronavirus/12182254?fbclid=IwAR169HnUilV4JM3RPGshBNxtKmQOJcVxcyUD-cMLwlFo9x7zbRhBpojcibk

The Australian Government’s Tracing App

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-26/coronavirus-tracing-app-covidsafe-australia-government-covid-19/12186130?fbclid=IwAR2url31di3O5WCired2uxTV-sP48FMvlajOCurLRfchq5ShQLB1h2GW7W4