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Monday’s Four Corners is “Lockdown: How Australia became trapped by COVID-19”, reported by Adam Harvey.
“It’s been disappointing. We’ve been let down. There’s no point in sugar coating it. It’s just been a massive disappointment.” Resident
For weeks, millions of Australians have been trapped by outbreaks of COVID-19 around the country with five states and the Northern Territory plunging into lockdown.
“The risk is real and we need to act quickly. We need to go hard, we need to go fast… I don’t want to see people end up in our hospitals on ventilators.” Qld Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk
At a grim press conference in Sydney, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian bluntly told the nation that with case numbers on the rise, the threat of COVID-19 had reached an unprecedented level.
“The situation that exists now…is regarded as a national emergency.” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian
Now, despite millions of people being told to stay at home, the number of infections is climbing with the virulent Delta strain.
“We should be very worried about Delta. Delta is many times more infectious than the original wild type of virus. It is really easy to transmit, and it is slightly more problematic when it comes to people who’ve only had one dose of vaccine.” Former Health Dept Secretary
This type of outbreak is exactly what the nation’s leading experts warned of when Four Corners reported on the failings in Australia’s vaccine rollout in May.
“It’s clear the virus hasn’t gone away. It will come back in this country and if we have really low levels of vaccination at that point in time, then the impact of that will be far greater than it would have been otherwise.” Dr Paul Griffin, May 2021
Their warnings have become a grim reality. On Monday Four Corners examines how Australia was left dangerously exposed.
“A leak from quarantine was probably inevitable. But the problems we’re having now all go back to the decisions that were made last year.” Former Health Dept Secretary
As the program shows, the slow and sometimes faltering vaccine rollout has made the task of beating COVID-19 that much harder.
“We’re going to have to increase our supply and increase our injecting rate by a third, every day, seven days a week, until December 31.” Epidemiologist
For those struggling to get back on their feet after a horror 2020, there is frustration that they are facing even more pain.
“There is a high level of anxiety bordering on depression for many people, but the real frustration from the business community is around the lack of vaccination rollout right now. And we know that vaccinations are our only way of getting out of these lockdowns.” Retail spokesperson
Experts warn that there will be more to come if the issues of supply and hesitancy aren’t overcome.
“The longer a variant spreads, the greater the risk of it learning mutations and changing, and becoming a super variant.” Epidemiologist
“Ode to Joy” (German: “An die Freude” [an diː ˈfʁɔʏdə]) is an ode written in the summer of 1785 by German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller and published the following year in Thalia. A slightly revised version appeared in 1808, changing two lines of the first and omitting the last stanza.
Schiller wrote the first version of the poem when he was staying in Gohlis, Leipzig. In the year 1785 from the beginning of May till mid September, he stayed with his publisher, Georg Joachim Göschen, in Leipzig and wrote “An die Freude” along with his play Don Carlos.[2]
Schiller later made some revisions to the poem, which was then republished posthumously in 1808, and it was this latter version that forms the basis for Beethoven’s setting. Despite the lasting popularity of the ode, Schiller himself regarded it as a failure later in his life, going so far as to call it “detached from reality” and “of value maybe for us two, but not for the world, nor for the art of poetry” in an 1800 letter to his longtime friend and patron Christian Gottfried Körner (whose friendship had originally inspired him to write the ode).[3]
Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder Was die Mode streng geteilt*; Alle Menschen werden Brüder* Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Wem der große Wurf gelungen Eines Freundes Freund zu sein; Wer ein holdes Weib errungen Mische seinen Jubel ein! Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund! Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!
Freude trinken alle Wesen An den Brüsten der Natur; Alle Guten, alle Bösen Folgen ihrer Rosenspur. Küsse gab sie uns und Reben, Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod; Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben und der Cherub steht vor Gott.
Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.
Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen. Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muß er wohnen.
Ode to Joy
Joy, beautiful spark of Divinity [or: of gods], Daughter of Elysium, We enter, drunk with fire, Heavenly one, thy sanctuary! Thy magic binds again What custom strictly divided;* All people become brothers,* Where thy gentle wing abides.
Whoever has succeeded in the great attempt, To be a friend’s friend, Whoever has won a lovely woman, Add his to the jubilation! Yes, and also whoever has just one soul To call his own in this world! And he who never managed it should slink Weeping from this union!
All creatures drink of joy At nature’s breasts. All the Just, all the Evil Follow her trail of roses. Kisses she gave us and grapevines, A friend, proven in death. Salaciousness was given to the worm And the cherub stands before God.
Gladly, as His suns fly through the heavens’ grand plan Go on, brothers, your way, Joyful, like a hero to victory.
Be embraced, Millions! This kiss to all the world! Brothers, above the starry canopy There must dwell a loving Father. Are you collapsing, millions? Do you sense the creator, world? Seek him above the starry canopy! Above stars must He dwell.
Academic speculation remains as to whether Schiller originally wrote an “Ode to Freedom” (Ode an die Freiheit) and changed it to an “Ode to Joy”.[5][6]Thayer wrote in his biography of Beethoven, “the thought lies near that it was the early form of the poem, when it was still an ‘Ode to Freedom’ (not ‘to Joy’), which first aroused enthusiastic admiration for it in Beethoven’s mind”.[7] The musicologist Alexander Rehding points out that even Bernstein, who used “Freiheit” in one performance in 1989, called it conjecture whether Schiller used “joy” as code for “freedom” and that scholarly consensus holds that there is no factual basis for this myth.[8]
Chinese students broadcast it at Tiananmen Square.[9] It was performed (conducted by Leonard Bernstein) on Christmas Day after the fall of the Berlin Wall replacing “Freude” (joy) with “Freiheit” (freedom), and at Daiku (Number Nine) concerts in Japan every December and after the 2011 tsunami.[10] It has recently inspired impromptu performances at public spaces by musicians in many countries worldwide, including Choir Without Borders’s 2009 performance at a railway station[11] in Leipzig, to mark the 20th and 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Hong Kong Festival Orchestra‘s 2013 performance at a Hong Kong mall, and performance in Sabadell, Spain.[12]
The BBC Proms Youth Choir performed the piece alongside Georg Solti‘s UNESCO World Orchestra for Peace at the Royal Albert Hall during the 2018 Proms at Prom 9, titled “War & Peace” as a commemoration to the centenary of the end of World War One.[16]
^ Schiller, Friedrich (October 21, 1800). “[Untitled letter]”. wissen-im-netz.info (in German). Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
^Duden – Das Herkunftswörterbuch. Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut. 1963. p. 446. ISBN3-411-00907-1. The word was derived via French from ultimately Latin modus. Duden cites as first meanings “Brauch, Sitte, Tages-, Zeitgeschmack“. The primary modern meaning has shifted more towards “fashion”.
“When the third wave began to subside in late April, only about 5% of the population were fully vaccinated. The vaccine coverage was almost zero among those aged 0 to 69 years, with only hospital workers and people from other selected professions have been immunized.”
. . . . .
“Herd immunity” is the accepted scientific consensus
Carlsson and Soderberg-Naucler say that these figures would lead most scientists to conclude that NPIs and voluntary behavioral changes made the second wave bend downwards in early November and that public weariness and/or mutant viral strains caused the third wave. They would also assume that the third wave bent downwards due to renewed public compliance with recommendations in the face of the recent surge, adds the team.
“Indeed, this is the by now accepted scientific consensus among scholars studying the pandemic, which is sometimes called ‘herd-protection,’ and builds on the simple idea that when a major deadly epidemic hits, society reacts in a way that is impossible to predict mathematically,” writes the team.
“The pandemic response in Sweden challenges this interpretation”
However, the pandemic response in Sweden challenges this interpretation with Carlsson and Soderberg-Naucler now presenting an alternative explanation for the pattern of viral spread.
The team says experts have previously proposed that “pre-immunity” or immunological “dark matter” could underlie the unexpected trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, failure to identify this dark matter together with various erroneous predictions involving pre-immunity led to the hypothesis being discarded.
“We believe that it is too early to discard the hypothesis that some sort of pre-immunity needs to be taken into account, in particular for accurate mathematical modeling,” said the researchers.
The team suggests that what looks like pre-immunity on a population level, could in fact be a consequence of large variability in individual-level susceptibility. Furthermore, this susceptibility may depend on innate immunity and cross-reactive protective immunity initiated by another virus or other factors.
Pre-immunity is a necessity for successful mathematical modeling
Carlsson and Soderberg-Naucler have now shown that mathematical models considering variable susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 are equivalent to simpler models that incorporate pre-immunity.
“Pre-immunity is a necessity for successful mathematical modeling of the pandemic,” they say.
“We argue that this is the key factor that has protected Sweden from a much higher hospitalization rate and death toll, given the Swedish mitigation strategy, and that it helps to keep cases down to a much greater extent than predicted by traditional models for disease spread,” write the researchers.
However, “since cases can still go up if NPI’s are lifted, the term herd-immunity can be misleading… we call it herd-immunity under limited restrictions,” they add.
Vaccination is a must
The team emphasizes that this study is not suggesting that it is safe to lift NPI’s, but rather it implies that around 60% of the community could have some level of protection against SARS-CoV-2 under current NPIs.
Such protection could disappear due to emerging mutations and exposure to higher viral doses following the lifting of restrictions, say the researchers.
Furthermore, it is impossible to know if pre-immunity is present or not, they write.
“Based on this, it is our firm conclusion that the vaccination roll-out must continue with high participation to avoid both personal tragedies and COVID-19 becoming endemic.”
*Important Notice
medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.Journal reference:
Shellharbour, Wollongong and the Wollondilly Shire are included the state’s extended lockdown
Mayor Marianne Saliba is slamming the decision as “utter stupidity”
A local businesswoman says extended financial support does little to soften the blow
Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba has criticised as “rubbish” Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s decision to include the Illawarra community in New South Wales’ extended lockdown.
Key points:
Shellharbour, Wollongong and the Wollondilly Shire are included the state’s extended lockdown
Mayor Marianne Saliba is slamming the decision as “utter stupidity”
A local businesswoman says extended financial support does little to soften the blow
Stay-home orders will now be in place across Shellharbour, Wollongong and the Wollondilly Shire until August 28, after the state recorded 177 new locally acquired cases of the Delta variant.
Among the new cases is a person from Wollongong, whose source of infection remains under investigation.
It takes cases numbers in Wollongong to 10, while Shellharbour has been free of the virus since early in June, when a person from Sydney infected with COVID-19 attended a baby store in the city.
“It’s absolutely rubbish, complete and absolute rubbish [that] we’re being included in this lockdown,” Cr Saliba said.
“We had zero cases 30 days ago, we’ve had zero all the way through [the lockdown] and we still have zero.
“This government has continued to stuff this process up from Day One. It’s utter stupidity,” she said.
Blow for business
Her disappointment has been echoed by local businesswoman, Melissa Gorgievski, who owns hairdressing salons in Shellharbour and Wollongong.
“I was shocked. It’s not great for small businesses to battle through another four weeks,” she said.
“We thought we would be able to open one of our salons and [we] hung on to a bit of hope for that. But that’s gone now.”
On Wednesday, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced additional financial support for businesses impacted by the lockdown.
That included an increase of the annual turnover eligibility threshold from $50 million to $250 million.
Maximum weekly payments businesses could receive would also be boosted, from $10,000 to $100,000.
Ms Gorgievski said the changes did little to soften the blow for her business because it faced another month without trading.
“It doesn’t look they’re bringing any more to the table for small businesses. So, that’s disappointing,” she said.
Melissa Gorgievski (third from right) says she is disappointed her salons at Wollongong and Shellharbour will have to remain closed for another month.(Supplied: Melissa Gorgievski)
Individuals who lose work would also be eligible for increased assistance from the federal government.
Those who lose 20 hours or more of work in one week can now receive $750 a week, while employees who lose between 8 to 20 hours will be offered $450.
Construction resumes
A two-week pause on construction will end in the Illawarra from 12:01am on Saturday, with workers allowed to return to unoccupied sites in all but listed Sydney suburbs.
Tradies, including cleaners, can also resume work under the changes, so long as they don’t have contact with residents.
“I jumped for joy,” local cleaner, Terry Darby said.
“I’ve been stressed, worried about how I’m going to pay my rent, how I’m going to pay my bills.”
“It will depend on the clients but, maybe, they can go off for a walk while I clean their house for them,” she said.
Construction work will be allowed to resume on Saturday in Wollongong, Shellharbour and Wollondilly, at sites where the are no residents. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Families with children at school will have to continue home-learning for the next four weeks, but students in year 12 will be allowed to return to the classroom on August 16.
Rapid antigen testing for those students is also being considered by the New South Wales government, to mitigate outbreaks.
Among the changes announced on Wednesday, a ‘singles bubble’ was introduced, with people living on their own now allowed to nominate a sole family member or a friend they can visit for companionship.
I ask myself, Is there any acknowledgement in Australia that this is the case?
In this Conversation article it says: “The role of airborne transmission has been denied for so long partly because expert groups that advise government have not included engineers, aerosol scientists, occupational hygienists and multidisciplinary environmental health experts.
And then they explain the difference between aerosols and droplets.
In November last year the Conversation published an article with this heading:
Many of our buildings are poorly ventilated, and that adds to COVID risks.
Why has indoor airflow not been a bigger part of the conversation?
Airflow inside buildings and other enclosed areas like public transport has received less attention than other prevention strategies, in part because of debate within medical and scientific circles about the role of aerosols in the transmission of the virus, with some experts focusing on bigger droplet particles as being more important in transmission.
Here another interesting point about the airflow in buildings:
“Airflow inside buildings and other enclosed areas like public transport has received less attention than other prevention strategies, in part because of debate within medical and scientific circles about the role of aerosols in the transmission of the virus, with some experts focusing on bigger droplet particles as being more important in transmission.
But in recent weeks, the World Health Organization, the American Centers for Disease Control, the European Commission and Canada have acknowledged airborne aerosol transmission has a significant role in the spread of coronavirus. . . .”
Here another expert opinion:
“All major buildings where people congregate should be assessed for ventilation, according to Professor Mary Louise McLaws, an expert in epidemiology, hospital infection and disease control and a member of the WHO’s expert panel on COVID-19.
She said confined spaces need ventilation rates of 3 litres of air per second per person.
“It’s [the ventilation message] not getting nearly enough traction because it costs money,” she said.
“It will cost money for every single building to go back and ensure it can do 3 litres per person per second and that is an enormous undertaking.
“They can do it in a hospital and some of the older-style hospitals are now being required to improve their airflow: they’re becoming woke to the importance of this.”
The Victorian Health Department’s Building Authority has commissioned engineering assessments of the HVAC systems within wards dedicated to suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients at 20 hospital sites over the coming weeks.
Some countries are already taking substantial action, with Germany recently investing 500 million euros to improve ventilation systems in public buildings.”
The above was already said in November last year! Now we have July, that is some eight months later. And what has Australia done in the meantime, I would like to know.
For instance, can anybody tell me, how much Australia is spending right now to improve ventilation systems in public buildings?
Does Australia even discuss this issue?
Good, improvements like this cost money. But wouldn’t this be money spent the right way?
Does anyone know, how much government spends on vaccinations? Yes, I agree, vaccinations are necessary. But it seems to me to improve ventilation systems in public buildings is absolutely essential, no matter how much it costs!
Every country town in Australia has a Chinese restaurant and comedian and food enthusiast Jennifer Wong is on a mission to meet the people behind the wok, to find out what makes their food both Australian and Chinese.
The expert advice is that super-spread events – where five people or more are infected – can be prevented, because 97 per cent of them happen indoors.
Many measures are simple and cheap: regular ‘airing out’ of rooms; resetting ventilation systems; checking wall vents are not blocked, and opening windows. Limiting activities such as shouting, singing and exercising indoors is also advised as is increasing humidity with humidifiers as the virus thrives on dry air.
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June 8, 2021
AuntyUta 
