Children in solitary
A potential COVID-19 outbreak in the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre has forced 127 young offenders into solitary confinement.
The children, some as young as 13, have been isolated in their cells since Wednesday after a prison worker in her 70s tested positive to COVID-19.
Plans are also being made to send the kids to a facility in Townsville.
It’s likely the 110 boys and 17 girls will be in confinement for 14 days. The 525 staff at the centre are undergoing COVID-19 testing, with contract tracing underway for those who visited the prison.
Hotel quarantine inquiry
Two NSW hotel quarantine security companies are being investigated for illegally subcontracting security guards for the program. One company has been fined $2200, and the guards have been fired.
Authorities found the the breach during an audit, and police are investigating.
This morning NSW recorded one new COVID-19 case in the past 24 hours.
The inquiry into Victoria’s hotel quarantine program continues, with nurses saying they had limited personal protective equipment. Guests were also allowed to leave quarantine just days after testing positive for COVID-19 (provided they didn’t have symptoms).
This morning Victoria recorded 179 new COVID-19 cases and nine deaths. It’s the first time the state has recorded less than 200 new daily cases in more than a month, since July 13.
University staff asked to dig their own graves
University of Sydney staff have been asked to think of ways full-time staff can be cut by 30% following a $470 million shortfall from COVID-19. Academics from the school of education and social work were emailed by the head of the school requesting staff consider taking a day’s leave without pay every week.
The university denied it was planning job cuts to The Sydney Morning Herald, saying it was modelling worst-case scenarios.
It comes as international students, struggling with online classes and high living costs, cut their losses and return home. Graduation ceremonies at the University of Melbourne, RMIT and Australian Catholic University have also been cancelled due to the pandemic.
Consultancy firm KPMG forecasted Australia would lose $117 billion annually due to the population decline. There’s expected to be a million fewer people than previously predicted in Australia by the end of the decade. The firm said international students may be a solution to rebuilding migration and growth.
Preemptive immunity
New evidence is emerging around the globe that a huge chunk of the population has cells which can recognise and react to COVID-19, despite never having been exposed to the virus previously.
Between 30 and 50% of the global population who haven’t been exposed to the virus may have cross-reactive T cells which might help fight off the virus. The cells could also, however, hinder the body’s immune reaction, making the disease worse.
The science could explain why some people get much sicker than others when infected.
Listening to the PM’s press conference this afternoon. A reporter quoted from President Macron to the effect that there is no such thing as being risk-free in the case of this pandemic. The reporter went on to ask if Australia, too, should open up further and accept “some degree of risk”.
Of course, the other side of this is that in announcing the daily tally of deaths, is the reporter asking to PM to explain that he thought those lives were worth losing to make the remaining lives easier for the rest of us?
Perhaps they are, but the standard of questioning to the PM is pretty low at the moment. Far too much attempted wedging and setting up a “gotcha!” and far too little questioning for answers and considerations that will actually help us as citizens.
It is hardly surprising that a not insignificant proportion of humanity is naturally resistant to the <I>plague du jour</I> – ’twas ever thus, else the species would not be here.
No disease is both 100% infectious & lethal – evolution does not work like that.
The wonderful thing about our ancestors is that they all survived long enough to procreate.
The Panic button has been pressed by the Queensland Health officer.
Her name was not on the ballot paper.
She is great in closing the borders putting people in isolation.
The economy is going downhill very fast.
The premier is in not running the place anymore, just watching the Health official. She always can blame the them…
If they would run any European country, it would end up in a total disaster.
There slogan, we have to win the election, keep the borders closed.
Australia is not Australia anymore.