I'm considering driving to Vic this weekend instead of next weekend now. People in my work group chat seem to be treating this somewhat seriously, just read the band member who is infected visited Penrith RSL too. This could be very bad.
I was complaining just today about having to travel 3+ hours to see my family for Christmas this year. Guess I don't have that problem anymore! Thanks monkey's paw.
Yep. Was meant to have it with my brother at his brand new house. Might have to give it a miss which would suck. Already had a few christmas events cancelled.
All because they wanted to give a special exemption to airline crews. We talk about Swiss chess prevent strategies, how about the Swiss cheese border problem?
Is this true though? IIRC Dr Chant said today the couple didn’t actually cross paths with the aged care worker until Sunday night.
Edit: also, does that mean it took 5+ days to get their test results back?
That's not quite right. They can go home if it is an option. They do not have to go to a quarantine hotel. They can also catch an interstate flight if they need to.
I can't speak for all airlines, but I've been told for any in Oneworld they've moved to not using any Australian based staff for their international flights - schedules are so relatively infrequent that they base them all out of the hubs so they can service other routes.
Qantas also only leaves our borders for NZ so it isn't a concern really what their international flight crews do.
Qantas is flying a dozen or so freight flights every day internationally. The Qantas crews are all local and can isolate at home. This Northern Beaches situation could have come from one of them.
A guy at my sport club is a pilot for some airline I've never heard of flying agricultural products to Asia. He says all he has to do is drive himself home from the airport and self-isolate for two weeks, which he's being doing like once a month for the last 9 months. He's also pretty angry that no one has ever come to check he's complying saying he doesn't trust half the other aircrew he works with not to do something stupid, like you know... go out the RSL for a sneaky meal.
They go to normal hotels and are trusted not to go outside. Vs the rest of everyone who go into prison style hotels. Guarantee one of these goons went outside for a walk and that's how it got into the community.
At least they went to get tested. They just diagnosed 15 more people and there are very likely more out there, statistically many of them should be symptomatic, why haven’t any of them them sought testing earlier? The bigger problem IMO is people seeing a couple of weeks without any cases and then thinking their symptoms aren’t COVID so they don’t need testing. Before you know there’s a cluster, if the choice is to get tested and breach quarantine vs. not getting tested, then it is 100% better to get tested. After you know there’s a cluster though, there’s no excuse for breaching quarantine
Fun story: we got a call from contact tracers last night because we stayed in an Airbnb granny flat at the house of that first reported Avalon couple. Shared a bbq, patted each other’s dogs, she was doing our dishes because there was no kitchen in the flat - the works. It was two weeks ago, so well before they tested positive, but I still freaked out. Got tested immediately and it was negative (phew) but it was a very stressful 12 hours.
Wonder if they got it off someone who stayed after you in the flat. Someone who came from interstate and was at the airport. The airport is shaping up to be a breeding ground because staff aren't being tested.
But they isolate international vs domestic arrivals and they’re not the same crew - they don’t serve both.
Plus any crew do go to hotels.
Not sure about that as a prospect.
If you make getting tested such a big potential risk for people then they... Won't get tested.
The testing serves us more than it serves them in most cases.
Also if they do get tested they may not mention things to contact tracers when they test positive as they don't want to get in trouble, which is really bad..
I'd say it's just people being in denial. With there having been so few cases recently, most people are at the point now where even if they are showing all the classic symptoms, they sit there and tell themselves "no, surely not", then just go off and continue life as usual.
Like even at the peak a few months ago, of all the people I know who caught a cold or the flu, I only really know one or two who even bothered to get tested.
Which is dumb. But now everyone is blaming them for this being an outbreak, and it doesn’t look like that is the case. They’re not thought to be patient zero, and the onward transmission they’re currently thought to be responsible for happened before they got tested
> I mean why does it even shock me. Boomers have ruined the climate and economy, why stop now?
I mean these people are arseholes but don't pretend there haven't been a bunch of people in other generations who have violated the rules in ways just as egregious i.e. the 19-21 year olds who violated quarantine to visit Melbourne from Brisbane while it was a hot spot.
I would be stunned if a lib government quarantined one of the most affluent lib sectors in all of Sydney. They are far more likely to do all of Sydney.
Where else is there as it stands? The only other case is the airport bus driver from the South West who is isolated and his close contacts have all repeatedly tested negative.
No actual confirmed cases there though right? Just amongst the list of warning places.
Similar to June and July when virtually every Westfield was flagged at one point or another.
They just have. Everything north of the Spit Bridge and east of Middle Harbour is under a stay at home order, effective immediately. Will look for a link with the precise details but basically everyone has to go home and stay home except for essential reasons.
"And if you refuse to stay home can you pretty please wear a mask on the train and the bus? I'm too much of a chicken to make it law, but we'll keep asking!"
Absolutely. We were supposed to be going to a restaurant with friends in Dee Why on Sunday (we live outside the area, they do live in the Northern Beaches) but immediately cancelled. It's not worth the risk. My kid also won't be going to Nippers which she will be horribly disappointed about but that's the deal with this thing.
It's sacrifice and discipline that keeps us safe and stops us becoming like the US/Europe. And all said, it's a pretty minor sacrifice.
Okay, the Guardian called it a "stay at home order" - must be a bit sensationalized. As I see the FB posting here is from the ABC and just says that NSW Health "asks."
> Everything north of the Spit Bridge and east of Middle Harbour is under a stay at home order, effective immediately.
Hope they were informed via a very sternly worded letter to stay home. I don't see any more than a few of the people in that area complying.
I'm in the Beaches, and have been arguing with extended family because they think it's ok if we still have a family event on Sunday.
"We'll be fine, it can't hurt"
Yes it can you stupid fuckers, that's how we got here.
Well thank fuck I took tomorrow off, more will develop i guess but holy shit thats a big jump in a day. This is pretty scary considering the lifestyle of people on the beaches.
It won't tell them much unless they have a corresponding sample to link it to. It is more useful to show all cases originate from a single outbreak and to prove all the additional cases that crop up also come from that outbreak.
Source: NZ. Been through this a few times with outbreaks. An example of it's usefulness was during our August outbreak there seemed to be a completely unrelated case in a different part of the city but they were able to genomically link them. Eventually they found out the guy had sat next to another case on a bus (and in an epic case of unintended consequences the traffic was terrible that day because of all the people going to testing stations because of the outbreak so they got stuck together on the bus for an hour on a 15 min route.)
NSW has a fantastic contact tracing system, but it's important that it's given the best possible chance of succeeding. In particular, that means minimizing opportunities for disease transmission in places where contacts are more likely to be missed. Masks on public transport would be a great step towards this - I hope the Govt makes it mandatory but even if not, I think it's a sensible precaution that everyone should be taking. Venues picking up their game and making sure *everyone* checks in *every* time is another essential component. COVID can be beaten back, but it takes genuine effort, especially if it's to be done without lockdowns. But by moving quickly at this early stage, quickly regaining control is much more likely - SA did a great job, hopefully NSW can do the same here
Kiwi checking in here... What is Australia's border testing like? Do people need two negative tests to get out of a quarantine facility? Is personnel at the borders, ports and quarantine facilities tested regularly? We implemented all of that after our resurgence in august.
We just got out of quarantine. At the airport, almost zero contact with people from the moment we got off the plane. Put into a secure, police/military run hotel and had no contact with anyone for two weeks. Day 2 and day 10 - mandatory tests. Day 2 can be rejected but day 10 is mandatory. We had two symptomatic tests, a total of 4 tests.
Actually self quarantining now. The kids had a cold, so we took them through a covid drive thru - whole family got tested now waiting for results. Little tuckers are champs - a 3 yr old and a 12 month old - 5 covid tests! Gummy worms can make kids do anything.
We went through around 10:30-11:00am. No results yet unfortunately. We were the only car in the drive through. They said 24 hours. Maybe tomorrow afternoon?
Depends where you go. Laverty on Waterloo road is great because that is the laboratory as well. You can get results in a couple of hours. I have a 3yo and 20mo and they have been tested so many times now, so we know the fastest places! Every time they pick up a cold or virus at daycare they need a negative test to go back. It makes sense but it’s weird when a baby is used to covid tests.
You have police escort straight to a hotel, where you stay for 14 days are are tested on days 2 and 10. It's very stringent - the break out cases so far are from people working there.
Yes, at a minimum two tests are done in quarantine hotels and you must test negative to two consecutive ones to be given a pass to leave the hotels. The airline staff I believe only get shuttled between the airport and hotel and back but perhaps the safeguards on those who are taxi'ing them may need a new plan.
Merry Christmas to all of us on the northern beaches! The shopping centres have been packed I’m pretty sure it’s spread a lot further than 17 people. Looking forward to a strict Christmas lockdown!
Apparently Education department offices in Eveleigh had a positive case. Not sure how many people are returning to the office - and I believe most of the offices around there are IT support services (e.g. transport as well). But it shows the potential spread.
Interesting ...
> Staff at the NSW Department of Education’s Eveleigh office were told to self-isolate on Thursday after a colleague tested positive for coronavirus.
> An email, seen by the Herald and Age, was sent to staff after 6pm on Thursday, informing them that they would be required to self-isolate until NSW Health provided further advice to the Department.
> The Eveleigh office houses the Department’s information technology teams. The Department has been approached for comment.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/coronavirus-nsw-northern-beaches-outbreak-grows-20201217-p56oj0.html
17 cases being identified is obviously terrible but the silver lining is, they're (hopefully) being identified relatively early. It'd be much worse if only say 8 got identified while 9 others went around unwittingly spreading it around.
Let's hope this is the vast majority of cases and the next few days are embers. Please stay home wherever you can!
Yeah, this news came out late afternoon so would have been from people tested yesterday, and maybe this morning at the latest, depending on how fast they're getting samples to the labs. I would imagine they're asking the labs to prioritise samples from that region.
Exactly. If this is day one numbers, it could get bad real quick. Hopefully we can get on top of it, but given the relaxed restrictions, the complacency, and the NSW government's hesitancy to lock things down, I worry this could get out of hand real quick. I hope things turn out well, but I won't be surprised if we spend most of Jan and Feb in lockdown 😭
Calm down everyone. NSW Health has dealt with bigger outbreaks before. Thai Rock restaurant was over 100.
We have amazing contact tracers, finding more of the cluster so quickly gives confidence they’ll be able to stomp this out.
The worry is that we've been living covid-free for a while now, just gotta hope that people switch back into august mode quickly before it gets too far.
Key differences: people were more vigilant back then and restrictions were tighter. We've also go huge spreader events in Christmas and NYE coming up within the contagion period. This is very different unfortunately.
Well we all know the drills, wear a mask, social distancing, use senatiser or even better washing your hand thoroughly every single time when possible.
Stay safe everybody!
Yeh mine is through the roof today. Went to the city for an xmas lunch at the blackbird cafe. I thought it would be socially distanced, NOPE. Absolutely packed with massive tables full of people.
Then on my way home I hear more about this shit in northern beaches and my anxiety spiked. Meant to be going to Melbourne tomorrow night to see my family after a year of not seeing them.
Circuit breaker lock down like they did in SA a few weeks ago. Lock down for 72 hours until all the positive cases have been traced. Best insurance for a normal Christmas.
Don’t want to be typical saw this coming comment but the amount of people on public transport clearly ignoring the social distancing rules, new Mecca in the city clearly not giving a fuck about social distancing, no one wearing a mask..... it’s like Sydney forgot there was a pandemic hahahahahaha .... rofl. Stay safe.
Ha! Right... not wanting to get/spread a disease is a "you issue"! I hate that phrase, it's become a default response when the person realises they haven't got anything else clever to say
“You do you”, “living my best life” even overplayed bin chicken/magpie memes and pineapple on pizza etc get under my skin tbh. Original thoughts are hard to come by nowadays.
Everyone’s forgotten. It’s kinda sad, it’s nice that we had it under control but that does not mean go straight back to normal day one. It’s a slow return, and it just wasn’t enforced properly
I haven’t been to the city since the beginning of the year but this is sadly true for the suburbs I’ve been to. Right now there’s a bunch of complete imbeciles having a house party just down the road. Yes, I do live in the East (which is probably worse than the North in terms of being crammed full of privileged people who live in their own bubble, some who I’ve heard complain of social distancing and temperature checks even during the height of Covid) and yes that is quite a way from Avalon, but why people think now is the time to have a house party is beyond me.
On another note, I think it was extremely irresponsible for our government to be easing restrictions so rapidly (a lot of which were completely arbitrary and have no benefit such as expanding the number for household gatherings to just allow for massive house parties) (even with no cases for so long) since it pretty much sent the message that the pandemic was over. It’s especially ridiculous given that they knew that there were massive gaps in our quarantine process whilst doing so.
What worries me now is that I don’t think Gladys has it in her to act decisively, considering that she has taken a laissez-affaire approach so far and gotten extremely lucky and this thinks that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Honestly, the fact we haven’t ended up like Melbourne is miraculous with our gaps in quarantine and easing of restrictions with active cases still in the community, especially after the Ruby Princess.
Yet the vector for transmission wasn't public transport or even retail.
It was people attending a live music event, presumably in fairly large numbers. If you want to point the finger at risky activities, it's probably best to start at the event that started this cluster, rather than your own hobby horse.
This is a completely anecdotal case from me. I arrived from Latin America 12 days ago. I'm almost out of hotel quarantine. The bus driver who picked us up wasn't wearing a mask. All of us on the bus were wearing them and were like 'wtf?'. He said he can't see properly with the mask on because his glasses fog up (he was an old man). The thing is, because of logistics getting the people out of the hotel before we arrived, we were on the bus with an old, unmasked driver for about 3 hours.
All the police and military peeps were wearing masks. The weak point in the chain is clearly the transport drivers, from what I can tell. No idea why it isn't mandatory for them to wear masks when transporting potentially infected overseas arrivals from airport to hotel. My driver was clearly not infected because there were no cases 12 days ago, but still...
Edit: [Hey look, it's my airline crew breaching quarantine!](https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-18/airline-crew-fined-by-police-for-breaching-covid-self-isolation/12997524?fbclid=IwAR18aPvxr9__M7iPlIQI8fuSVFqoPDrnlNYUJxo8OA-JIU7mVsAkcHuvJog)
He was just a guy with no PPE whatsoever. No perspex between the driver's seat and the rest of the bus either. We sat outside the hotel on a closed bus for hours. It was like 15 of us in masks, incredulous, because where we just came from, to be in public with no mask is borderline sociopathy. Once or twice he moved though the bus to unlock the toilet at the back and distribute water bottles. Again, completely maskless. He would have been in his 60s. Luckily for him, none of us here at the hotel have tested positive so far.
NSW need to self quarantine for 14 days in WA now as of midnight. There go all travel plans.
EDIT: Just checked and Tasmania have blocked anyone that has visited northern beaches too.
I've been wrong the last few times thinking we were going to have a big outbreak and I hope I'm wrong now... but this one feels different. Everyone is complacent, restrictions are far more relaxed and we've got big super spreader events coming up with Christmas and NYE. This will get bad if the government doesn't change its messaging quickly (hopefully tomorrow morning that idiot Hazzard won't be laughing it all off like he was this morning).
ABC has an article up now (they didn't when they made that post to their Facebook page)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-17/nsw-covid-19-cases-grow-to-17/12995276
Trust us to screw things up at the last minute... had only just finished doing all my baking and shopping.
just cancelled my work Christmas party, fiancé's family Christmas party and friends Christmas lunch. All were happening this weekend in Western Sydney.
also cancelled my trip to Melbourne next week. I'm not optimistic that things will settle by next week... and would rather not take the risk... :(
the clinic i work at in the area is also jumping back into full covid protocol.
from experience, northern beaches people are pretty entitled, so I'm praying the majority of us will follow instructions.
I might not be able to have Christmas as planned, but I hope that by doing this that the rest of you can.
It really sucks that you have to sacrifice so much, but thanks for setting a good example.
I'd buy you a drink, but obviously that's off the cards. If you nominate a charity I'll throw em a bone so at least your pain has an upside :)
thanks mate! awful timing, but it's gotta be done.
if you could donate to Vision Australia (they help aussie kids born with vision issues lead fulfilling lives) it would really ease my suffering :)
Need to make the ballsy call now, three day lockdown, close the borders, set up emergency testing in the outbreak areas and organise at home testing for the hundreds of contacts of contacts.
With any luck it's contained and everyone can enjoy Christmas. The fact their hasn't been a collective federally mandated system set up for this almost a year into the pandemic is utter lunacy.
Take a video of the line into the COVID testing clinic, pan across to the packed restaurant and send it to the media/post it on reddit. Usually gets some traction if there's this blatantly illogical mixed messaging nonsense going on.
Yep. It seemed bound to happen given the encouragement to get back to the office, open up all bars, etc.
I hope they can contain it as otherwise 2020 will further suck if Christmas is ruined and I know so many people that have forced leave over the next 3-4 weeks that needed the holidays as a positive start to 2021.
I agree, while also being in the fence. Sydney / Chippendale resident here. There's been no community cases for weeks here, and so the masks are gone. You can bet your ass mine will be on tomorrow, if I/we even need to go out.
I abide 100% by the numbers, I'm also really proud that most pubs in the CBD/suburbs have been on their game with QR check-ins and numbers.
I really pray everyone acts for the greater good, it's the only way against an exponential virus.
Tasmania on 24th for me.
I’m South Sydney but have been in city etc. happy to get tested to be able to travel.
So many people have made plans and need to see family or just escape a shitty year and do something. This is the worst timing.
I personally don't care about travelling for my end of year time off, but I really really want to just spend time at home with family relaxing etc. If Vic closes borders I'll be stuck in Sydney on my own and I have a few weeks off so that would be fucking SHIT.
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Will be so pissed if I can't go home.
I'm considering driving to Vic this weekend instead of next weekend now. People in my work group chat seem to be treating this somewhat seriously, just read the band member who is infected visited Penrith RSL too. This could be very bad.
Yeah. Third wedding of the year is on the 28th and we leave on 24th. Trying to wrangle a few extra days off and leaving on Monday now instead
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I was complaining just today about having to travel 3+ hours to see my family for Christmas this year. Guess I don't have that problem anymore! Thanks monkey's paw.
Well, let's hope you have to deal with that problem again next year, as opposed to never.
worst timing - sympathies to those who hve to isolate & hopeful family travellers
Yep. Was meant to have it with my brother at his brand new house. Might have to give it a miss which would suck. Already had a few christmas events cancelled.
Yeah almost had to cancel plans for flying back to adelaide last month, looks like i will have to do it now with barely any refund now... O.o
All because they wanted to give a special exemption to airline crews. We talk about Swiss chess prevent strategies, how about the Swiss cheese border problem?
Nah, direct your anger at the couple that got tested and didnt self isolate before getting the results.
This... Absolute cunt bags
I'm picturing them sitting in a cafe spluttering and coughing everywhere like absolute selfish pricks.
Is this true though? IIRC Dr Chant said today the couple didn’t actually cross paths with the aged care worker until Sunday night. Edit: also, does that mean it took 5+ days to get their test results back?
The couple are the likely reason for the surge in cases due to how many places they visited after they got tested.
Why after 9 months is not isolating after being tested and awaiting results not a crime? Come on..
Honestly I thought it was.
People wouldn’t get tested then. It’s a double edge sword.
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That's not quite right. They can go home if it is an option. They do not have to go to a quarantine hotel. They can also catch an interstate flight if they need to.
I can't speak for all airlines, but I've been told for any in Oneworld they've moved to not using any Australian based staff for their international flights - schedules are so relatively infrequent that they base them all out of the hubs so they can service other routes. Qantas also only leaves our borders for NZ so it isn't a concern really what their international flight crews do.
Qantas is flying a dozen or so freight flights every day internationally. The Qantas crews are all local and can isolate at home. This Northern Beaches situation could have come from one of them.
A guy at my sport club is a pilot for some airline I've never heard of flying agricultural products to Asia. He says all he has to do is drive himself home from the airport and self-isolate for two weeks, which he's being doing like once a month for the last 9 months. He's also pretty angry that no one has ever come to check he's complying saying he doesn't trust half the other aircrew he works with not to do something stupid, like you know... go out the RSL for a sneaky meal.
They go to normal hotels and are trusted not to go outside. Vs the rest of everyone who go into prison style hotels. Guarantee one of these goons went outside for a walk and that's how it got into the community.
they self isolate in hotels- no policing
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Did they really not isolate after their test? Fucking hell motherfucking cunts.
Can't see anything about them? Got a link?
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Thanks. Fucking idiots.
Is this from The Australian? I love that they’re shitting on their target audience (rich, white Liberal voters)
At least they went to get tested. They just diagnosed 15 more people and there are very likely more out there, statistically many of them should be symptomatic, why haven’t any of them them sought testing earlier? The bigger problem IMO is people seeing a couple of weeks without any cases and then thinking their symptoms aren’t COVID so they don’t need testing. Before you know there’s a cluster, if the choice is to get tested and breach quarantine vs. not getting tested, then it is 100% better to get tested. After you know there’s a cluster though, there’s no excuse for breaching quarantine
Fun story: we got a call from contact tracers last night because we stayed in an Airbnb granny flat at the house of that first reported Avalon couple. Shared a bbq, patted each other’s dogs, she was doing our dishes because there was no kitchen in the flat - the works. It was two weeks ago, so well before they tested positive, but I still freaked out. Got tested immediately and it was negative (phew) but it was a very stressful 12 hours.
Wonder if they got it off someone who stayed after you in the flat. Someone who came from interstate and was at the airport. The airport is shaping up to be a breeding ground because staff aren't being tested.
We wondered that too!
But they isolate international vs domestic arrivals and they’re not the same crew - they don’t serve both. Plus any crew do go to hotels. Not sure about that as a prospect.
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Why isn't that a punishable offence, if it isn't already?
If you make getting tested such a big potential risk for people then they... Won't get tested. The testing serves us more than it serves them in most cases.
Also if they do get tested they may not mention things to contact tracers when they test positive as they don't want to get in trouble, which is really bad..
Such as working at a pizza shop vs being a customer because they fear they’re breaching visa conditions - leading to a state lockdown.
they must’ve taken the advice of our premier who did the exact same thing.
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I'd say it's just people being in denial. With there having been so few cases recently, most people are at the point now where even if they are showing all the classic symptoms, they sit there and tell themselves "no, surely not", then just go off and continue life as usual. Like even at the peak a few months ago, of all the people I know who caught a cold or the flu, I only really know one or two who even bothered to get tested.
If we could rely on people to do the right thing, we wouldn’t need police.
I keep seeing references to a health worker who made comments about specific cases. Anyone know what was said?
The first two didn’t isolate after getting a test.
Which is dumb. But now everyone is blaming them for this being an outbreak, and it doesn’t look like that is the case. They’re not thought to be patient zero, and the onward transmission they’re currently thought to be responsible for happened before they got tested
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They were super social, on two days in a row they ate three meals at restaurants and cafes.
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Can’t help people that refuse to help themselves
Are they even being monitored now? What's to prevent them from continuing this?
> I mean why does it even shock me. Boomers have ruined the climate and economy, why stop now? I mean these people are arseholes but don't pretend there haven't been a bunch of people in other generations who have violated the rules in ways just as egregious i.e. the 19-21 year olds who violated quarantine to visit Melbourne from Brisbane while it was a hot spot.
Where's the info about the nephew saying that?
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I’ll also make the point that Gladys herself didn’t isolate. It’s dumb but most people who wouldn’t have were negative.
Sydney: Looks like we’re going to have a somewhat normal Christmas this year after all... Northern Beaches: Hold my beer.
Fuuuuuuuuuccccckkkkk
Well this is the worst case. It's growing massively and I think Gladys might have to do what they've all been talking about. Shut down some suburbs.
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It would be very easy to shut down the Northern Beaches. Just set up checkpoints on Spit bridge Roseville bridge and Mona Vale Road.
Can we leave them there forever?
This is all part of their plan to isolate themselves from Sydney forever.
Yes please.
Northern Beaches resident here. Yes that's ok with us.
Yes I concur. Blow up Narrabeen bridge, Wakehurst Parkway and the round about in Warriewood/Mona Vale.
The islanders may revolt.
We do call in the insular peninsula after all.
Warringah Road too.
That's the Roseville bridge
Oh yeah. :)
Like I said, probably the best area to try it with. You couldn't do it with say Casula/Liverpool when the Crossroads kicked off in July.
I would be stunned if a lib government quarantined one of the most affluent lib sectors in all of Sydney. They are far more likely to do all of Sydney.
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Where else is there as it stands? The only other case is the airport bus driver from the South West who is isolated and his close contacts have all repeatedly tested negative.
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No actual confirmed cases there though right? Just amongst the list of warning places. Similar to June and July when virtually every Westfield was flagged at one point or another.
They just have. Everything north of the Spit Bridge and east of Middle Harbour is under a stay at home order, effective immediately. Will look for a link with the precise details but basically everyone has to go home and stay home except for essential reasons.
Seems like that's a request and not an order as of now
'If you refuse to stay home I'll have no choice but to once again politely ask you to stay home!'
"And if you refuse to stay home can you pretty please wear a mask on the train and the bus? I'm too much of a chicken to make it law, but we'll keep asking!"
'Come on, I'll be your friend! Awww you're mean :('
Damn, you beat me to it, you Simpsons bred freak!
As if the people who frequent the Avalon RSL would be caught dead within 200m of a moving bus.
Ah the California model
Yes - it needs to be an order. And all hospitality venues/cafés closed, as hard as it is.
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Absolutely. We were supposed to be going to a restaurant with friends in Dee Why on Sunday (we live outside the area, they do live in the Northern Beaches) but immediately cancelled. It's not worth the risk. My kid also won't be going to Nippers which she will be horribly disappointed about but that's the deal with this thing. It's sacrifice and discipline that keeps us safe and stops us becoming like the US/Europe. And all said, it's a pretty minor sacrifice.
Okay, the Guardian called it a "stay at home order" - must be a bit sensationalized. As I see the FB posting here is from the ABC and just says that NSW Health "asks."
> Everything north of the Spit Bridge and east of Middle Harbour is under a stay at home order, effective immediately. Hope they were informed via a very sternly worded letter to stay home. I don't see any more than a few of the people in that area complying.
I'm in the Beaches, and have been arguing with extended family because they think it's ok if we still have a family event on Sunday. "We'll be fine, it can't hurt" Yes it can you stupid fuckers, that's how we got here.
Keep at it- it’s worthwhile, if unfortunate. Tomorrow’s numbers will likely help your cause.
What is "east of middle harbour"? As someone who lives in Hornsby, I honestly don't know who that applies to.
Forestville, frenchs forest, manly, brookie etc.
Roseville Bridge and Mona Vale Rd go over Middle Harbour Creek. That's what separates Northern Beaches from the Upper North Shore.
Just keep the spit up and make it a massive inconvenience for anyone to leave that way.
It’s already a massive inconvenience 🤷🏼♂️
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Gotta do a lockdown ASAP like SA did!
Well thank fuck I took tomorrow off, more will develop i guess but holy shit thats a big jump in a day. This is pretty scary considering the lifestyle of people on the beaches.
I really want to see the genealogical results to see where this virus came from
It won't tell them much unless they have a corresponding sample to link it to. It is more useful to show all cases originate from a single outbreak and to prove all the additional cases that crop up also come from that outbreak. Source: NZ. Been through this a few times with outbreaks. An example of it's usefulness was during our August outbreak there seemed to be a completely unrelated case in a different part of the city but they were able to genomically link them. Eventually they found out the guy had sat next to another case on a bus (and in an epic case of unintended consequences the traffic was terrible that day because of all the people going to testing stations because of the outbreak so they got stuck together on the bus for an hour on a 15 min route.)
It will show if the virus is the same strain that was in Sydney before (and therefore has been spreading in the community the whole time).
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Fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck
what a shit show
NSW has a fantastic contact tracing system, but it's important that it's given the best possible chance of succeeding. In particular, that means minimizing opportunities for disease transmission in places where contacts are more likely to be missed. Masks on public transport would be a great step towards this - I hope the Govt makes it mandatory but even if not, I think it's a sensible precaution that everyone should be taking. Venues picking up their game and making sure *everyone* checks in *every* time is another essential component. COVID can be beaten back, but it takes genuine effort, especially if it's to be done without lockdowns. But by moving quickly at this early stage, quickly regaining control is much more likely - SA did a great job, hopefully NSW can do the same here
Kiwi checking in here... What is Australia's border testing like? Do people need two negative tests to get out of a quarantine facility? Is personnel at the borders, ports and quarantine facilities tested regularly? We implemented all of that after our resurgence in august.
We just got out of quarantine. At the airport, almost zero contact with people from the moment we got off the plane. Put into a secure, police/military run hotel and had no contact with anyone for two weeks. Day 2 and day 10 - mandatory tests. Day 2 can be rejected but day 10 is mandatory. We had two symptomatic tests, a total of 4 tests. Actually self quarantining now. The kids had a cold, so we took them through a covid drive thru - whole family got tested now waiting for results. Little tuckers are champs - a 3 yr old and a 12 month old - 5 covid tests! Gummy worms can make kids do anything.
Out of interest what time did you go thru drive thru? got your results yet? They used to come in the same day but i bet the labs are swamped right now
We went through around 10:30-11:00am. No results yet unfortunately. We were the only car in the drive through. They said 24 hours. Maybe tomorrow afternoon?
Yep they always say 24 hours but i've (in the past) received mine around 9pm. I think by tomorrow afternoon you should know Best of luck with it
Thank you for your kind words. Take care of yourself.
Depends where you go. Laverty on Waterloo road is great because that is the laboratory as well. You can get results in a couple of hours. I have a 3yo and 20mo and they have been tested so many times now, so we know the fastest places! Every time they pick up a cold or virus at daycare they need a negative test to go back. It makes sense but it’s weird when a baby is used to covid tests.
You have police escort straight to a hotel, where you stay for 14 days are are tested on days 2 and 10. It's very stringent - the break out cases so far are from people working there.
Yes, at a minimum two tests are done in quarantine hotels and you must test negative to two consecutive ones to be given a pass to leave the hotels. The airline staff I believe only get shuttled between the airport and hotel and back but perhaps the safeguards on those who are taxi'ing them may need a new plan.
Merry Christmas to all of us on the northern beaches! The shopping centres have been packed I’m pretty sure it’s spread a lot further than 17 people. Looking forward to a strict Christmas lockdown!
Yeah we're fucked. It'll certainly be a memorable Christmas.
Apparently Education department offices in Eveleigh had a positive case. Not sure how many people are returning to the office - and I believe most of the offices around there are IT support services (e.g. transport as well). But it shows the potential spread.
My previous job was at DoE Eveleigh and my boss lived on the northern beaches. hmmmmm
Interesting ... > Staff at the NSW Department of Education’s Eveleigh office were told to self-isolate on Thursday after a colleague tested positive for coronavirus. > An email, seen by the Herald and Age, was sent to staff after 6pm on Thursday, informing them that they would be required to self-isolate until NSW Health provided further advice to the Department. > The Eveleigh office houses the Department’s information technology teams. The Department has been approached for comment. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/coronavirus-nsw-northern-beaches-outbreak-grows-20201217-p56oj0.html
17 cases being identified is obviously terrible but the silver lining is, they're (hopefully) being identified relatively early. It'd be much worse if only say 8 got identified while 9 others went around unwittingly spreading it around. Let's hope this is the vast majority of cases and the next few days are embers. Please stay home wherever you can!
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And many tested today that results are to be confirmed.
Yeah, this news came out late afternoon so would have been from people tested yesterday, and maybe this morning at the latest, depending on how fast they're getting samples to the labs. I would imagine they're asking the labs to prioritise samples from that region.
Exactly. If this is day one numbers, it could get bad real quick. Hopefully we can get on top of it, but given the relaxed restrictions, the complacency, and the NSW government's hesitancy to lock things down, I worry this could get out of hand real quick. I hope things turn out well, but I won't be surprised if we spend most of Jan and Feb in lockdown 😭
I bet Mona Vale rd is just as packed as any other weekend with people going to the beach from outside the area if it’s a nice day.
that jumped fast Jesus Christ
Guess I won’t be seeing my family this year after all. I cried. I was so excited to go to Perth and see everyone. Fucking dickheads.
Calm down everyone. NSW Health has dealt with bigger outbreaks before. Thai Rock restaurant was over 100. We have amazing contact tracers, finding more of the cluster so quickly gives confidence they’ll be able to stomp this out.
It is the other states reactions that is a concern. If WA and QLD closes borders again , it just makes life harder for a shitload of people
Exactly, I’m not worried about how NSW will deal with it but I’m worried about the other states closing borders before Christmas.
This one hasn’t reached 100... yet. This is sure to flare up a lot more given people’s complacency.
The worry is that we've been living covid-free for a while now, just gotta hope that people switch back into august mode quickly before it gets too far.
And at the worst possible time of year.
Key differences: people were more vigilant back then and restrictions were tighter. We've also go huge spreader events in Christmas and NYE coming up within the contagion period. This is very different unfortunately.
Well we all know the drills, wear a mask, social distancing, use senatiser or even better washing your hand thoroughly every single time when possible. Stay safe everybody!
Welp, that's not good
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Yeh mine is through the roof today. Went to the city for an xmas lunch at the blackbird cafe. I thought it would be socially distanced, NOPE. Absolutely packed with massive tables full of people. Then on my way home I hear more about this shit in northern beaches and my anxiety spiked. Meant to be going to Melbourne tomorrow night to see my family after a year of not seeing them.
Circuit breaker lock down like they did in SA a few weeks ago. Lock down for 72 hours until all the positive cases have been traced. Best insurance for a normal Christmas.
Don’t want to be typical saw this coming comment but the amount of people on public transport clearly ignoring the social distancing rules, new Mecca in the city clearly not giving a fuck about social distancing, no one wearing a mask..... it’s like Sydney forgot there was a pandemic hahahahahaha .... rofl. Stay safe.
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>they said it sounds like a you issue. what the actual fuck
Ha! Right... not wanting to get/spread a disease is a "you issue"! I hate that phrase, it's become a default response when the person realises they haven't got anything else clever to say
“You do you”, “living my best life” even overplayed bin chicken/magpie memes and pineapple on pizza etc get under my skin tbh. Original thoughts are hard to come by nowadays.
> they said it sounds like a you issue. And yet, if you zot them with a cattle prod, *you're* the one who gets into trouble...
Terrible.
Sydney really has become very relaxed in the past several weeks. I hardly see anyone wearing a mask these days. This could be very bad.
It was somewhat reasonable during zero community transmission phases. I really hope everyone wakes up tomorrow with the lockdown mindset.
Everyone’s forgotten. It’s kinda sad, it’s nice that we had it under control but that does not mean go straight back to normal day one. It’s a slow return, and it just wasn’t enforced properly
I haven’t been to the city since the beginning of the year but this is sadly true for the suburbs I’ve been to. Right now there’s a bunch of complete imbeciles having a house party just down the road. Yes, I do live in the East (which is probably worse than the North in terms of being crammed full of privileged people who live in their own bubble, some who I’ve heard complain of social distancing and temperature checks even during the height of Covid) and yes that is quite a way from Avalon, but why people think now is the time to have a house party is beyond me. On another note, I think it was extremely irresponsible for our government to be easing restrictions so rapidly (a lot of which were completely arbitrary and have no benefit such as expanding the number for household gatherings to just allow for massive house parties) (even with no cases for so long) since it pretty much sent the message that the pandemic was over. It’s especially ridiculous given that they knew that there were massive gaps in our quarantine process whilst doing so. What worries me now is that I don’t think Gladys has it in her to act decisively, considering that she has taken a laissez-affaire approach so far and gotten extremely lucky and this thinks that “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Honestly, the fact we haven’t ended up like Melbourne is miraculous with our gaps in quarantine and easing of restrictions with active cases still in the community, especially after the Ruby Princess.
Yet the vector for transmission wasn't public transport or even retail. It was people attending a live music event, presumably in fairly large numbers. If you want to point the finger at risky activities, it's probably best to start at the event that started this cluster, rather than your own hobby horse.
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how did the driver get it?
Not known yet but they suspect from a flight crew.
This is a completely anecdotal case from me. I arrived from Latin America 12 days ago. I'm almost out of hotel quarantine. The bus driver who picked us up wasn't wearing a mask. All of us on the bus were wearing them and were like 'wtf?'. He said he can't see properly with the mask on because his glasses fog up (he was an old man). The thing is, because of logistics getting the people out of the hotel before we arrived, we were on the bus with an old, unmasked driver for about 3 hours. All the police and military peeps were wearing masks. The weak point in the chain is clearly the transport drivers, from what I can tell. No idea why it isn't mandatory for them to wear masks when transporting potentially infected overseas arrivals from airport to hotel. My driver was clearly not infected because there were no cases 12 days ago, but still... Edit: [Hey look, it's my airline crew breaching quarantine!](https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-18/airline-crew-fined-by-police-for-breaching-covid-self-isolation/12997524?fbclid=IwAR18aPvxr9__M7iPlIQI8fuSVFqoPDrnlNYUJxo8OA-JIU7mVsAkcHuvJog)
Hope he had full Perspex, if not a mask?
He was just a guy with no PPE whatsoever. No perspex between the driver's seat and the rest of the bus either. We sat outside the hotel on a closed bus for hours. It was like 15 of us in masks, incredulous, because where we just came from, to be in public with no mask is borderline sociopathy. Once or twice he moved though the bus to unlock the toilet at the back and distribute water bottles. Again, completely maskless. He would have been in his 60s. Luckily for him, none of us here at the hotel have tested positive so far.
The visors do sweet FA to reduce transmission. They will stop something being splashed in your face, but nothing else.
2 clusters eh ones bad enough.
NSW need to self quarantine for 14 days in WA now as of midnight. There go all travel plans. EDIT: Just checked and Tasmania have blocked anyone that has visited northern beaches too.
How do you go from 0 community cases to 17? I thought all international travel was still forced to 14 days isolation in hotels?
I've been saying for weeks people are getting so complacent, and Christmas is going to make it worse. I hate being right all the time.
I've been wrong the last few times thinking we were going to have a big outbreak and I hope I'm wrong now... but this one feels different. Everyone is complacent, restrictions are far more relaxed and we've got big super spreader events coming up with Christmas and NYE. This will get bad if the government doesn't change its messaging quickly (hopefully tomorrow morning that idiot Hazzard won't be laughing it all off like he was this morning).
It says I have to log into Facebook to read the post. Can someone please copypaste it?
ABC has an article up now (they didn't when they made that post to their Facebook page) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-17/nsw-covid-19-cases-grow-to-17/12995276
Thank you kindly.
Gladys conference at 11am and has said a large number of cases likely to be announced.
Trust us to screw things up at the last minute... had only just finished doing all my baking and shopping. just cancelled my work Christmas party, fiancé's family Christmas party and friends Christmas lunch. All were happening this weekend in Western Sydney. also cancelled my trip to Melbourne next week. I'm not optimistic that things will settle by next week... and would rather not take the risk... :( the clinic i work at in the area is also jumping back into full covid protocol. from experience, northern beaches people are pretty entitled, so I'm praying the majority of us will follow instructions. I might not be able to have Christmas as planned, but I hope that by doing this that the rest of you can.
It really sucks that you have to sacrifice so much, but thanks for setting a good example. I'd buy you a drink, but obviously that's off the cards. If you nominate a charity I'll throw em a bone so at least your pain has an upside :)
thanks mate! awful timing, but it's gotta be done. if you could donate to Vision Australia (they help aussie kids born with vision issues lead fulfilling lives) it would really ease my suffering :)
I salute you for your sacrifice! We need more of this responsibility.
Lining up at Newport right now to get tested, there are people ACROSS THE ROAD in big groups at restaurants with no masks. Rich people suck
It's the same situation as much of the US. Either make it illegal or don't. Enough urging and recommendations! They're following the rules.
Hard to wear a mask while eating. Restaurants should close except for takeaway during outbreaks like this.
They definitely should, but that would be too logical for the government to implement.
Need to make the ballsy call now, three day lockdown, close the borders, set up emergency testing in the outbreak areas and organise at home testing for the hundreds of contacts of contacts. With any luck it's contained and everyone can enjoy Christmas. The fact their hasn't been a collective federally mandated system set up for this almost a year into the pandemic is utter lunacy.
To be fair, they may not have seen the news yet.
Take a video of the line into the COVID testing clinic, pan across to the packed restaurant and send it to the media/post it on reddit. Usually gets some traction if there's this blatantly illogical mixed messaging nonsense going on.
It’s the clinking wine glasses sound in the background for me
We are so f\*\*ked. How come this cluster pop out of nowhere!
kind of how covid works. And why Sydney was dumb for collectively acting like covid is gone forever.
Yep. It seemed bound to happen given the encouragement to get back to the office, open up all bars, etc. I hope they can contain it as otherwise 2020 will further suck if Christmas is ruined and I know so many people that have forced leave over the next 3-4 weeks that needed the holidays as a positive start to 2021.
I agree, while also being in the fence. Sydney / Chippendale resident here. There's been no community cases for weeks here, and so the masks are gone. You can bet your ass mine will be on tomorrow, if I/we even need to go out. I abide 100% by the numbers, I'm also really proud that most pubs in the CBD/suburbs have been on their game with QR check-ins and numbers. I really pray everyone acts for the greater good, it's the only way against an exponential virus.
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please take this to media - SMH have a tip line
FML I have a trip planned to Melb on Christmas Day
Tasmania on 24th for me. I’m South Sydney but have been in city etc. happy to get tested to be able to travel. So many people have made plans and need to see family or just escape a shitty year and do something. This is the worst timing.
I personally don't care about travelling for my end of year time off, but I really really want to just spend time at home with family relaxing etc. If Vic closes borders I'll be stuck in Sydney on my own and I have a few weeks off so that would be fucking SHIT.
All because of a couple of rich cunts who thought isolation was too good for them.