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![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
I've been watching rugby (training) twice/week down at Uni Park.
Will be certainly heading out to the Fan Day and inter-club at Wanneroo on Saturday.
Club rugby still has a strong attraction each week.
I'm hopeful that there may be a game-changer re SR Pacific.
Generally pleased with the STAN offering (but would always like more).
Just wanted to put some perspectives out there from a different part of the world.
There are ways to minimize the risk and safely partially open the borders, Mark just has to look around the world and use science.
The part I do not understand and can’t see how it is backed up by science is the 14 days quarantine when entering. Omicron, which is now the dominant variant , has an average incubation period of 3 days and low hospitalization rates for vaccinated.
For example the state government here in Labrador when entering now ask for 5 days self-isolation with RAT testing everyday if your fully vaccinated, unvaccinated is 14 days flat. If you test positive you isolate for an additional 7 days and must have two negative tests 24 hours apart after symptoms have gone. This is a pretty workable solution that allows movement while minimizing spread, you can’t stop it and it isn’t going to just disappear.
Btw we had a hard border like WA until September last year , have been wearing masks and six feet for two years, had very low case counts and our health system is more f**cked then WA. The chief health officer here, who has been very strict, cautious and science based (the politicians were kept out of it) over the last two years, has admitted with Omicron that a balance has to be found and it can’t be stopped so the goal is no longer to stop it but manage the spread. In her words “with Omicron it will become endemic and everyone will get it at some time, we just need to make sure it’s not at the same time and protect the vulnerable”. FYI we had very few cases up until they started opening up and now we are getting about 300 cases a day, 2800 active cases in total with 20 in hospital. These aren’t out of control numbers and the restricted (not hard) border is helping control it, while letting us move about. Other provinces in Canada have no border controls and are seeing 5000+ a day, still low hospitalization rates but at those numbers a small % makes a large count, similar to the east coast of Oz.
I think Mark missed a good opportunity yesterday to stick to his schedule and get brownie points but also tighten the originally planned testing and isolation rules a bit to minimize and not just try and eliminate the risk. 5 days isolation and testing would be manageable for most people and sport teams especially with bubbles.
Lastly when Omicron started to appear last year in November the Canadian government started purchasing RAT tests in bulk and handing them out like lollies. I believe Mark only just purchased some last week, it really doesn’t seem like they have any backup plans except for shut the border when COVID doesn’t follow the plan.
Go build a snowman will ya!!
But seriously, McGowan has followed the medical advice right the way through. They have released that advice tonight unlike the f@ckwit in NSW who ignored & sidelined the CHO.
Benefits of COVID-19 booster shots in WA would start to wane after March: Chief Health Officer
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/....html#comments
P.S. I hope they can work something out before the first home game or the old man might miss out his $6 schooners.![]()
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Lots of snowman here but they disappear very quickly under the snowblower.
Don't get me wrong we've got a few Premiers like the NSW fella and their states are paying the price as well. The WA government has handled the first part of the pandemic very well but they don't seem to have a way out of a very dynamic situation that will never present them the exact conditions they want.
This article is interesting and I read the actual recommendations from the CHO.
To summarise my thoughts, something doesn't add up, and no I don't mean that in a conspiracy theory way I mean it in the sense that there doesn't seem like there could ever be an endgame. I'm surprised they haven't done more modelling before they made the announcement. What if they've missed the optimal window?
Here is another view from the point of view of an epidemiologist on waiting for booster coverage. The data can be viewed in many ways.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-...ward/100773218
My fear and frustration for WA (and my family and the Force) is there won't be the optimal conditions for the border opening that the government want and it become another 6 months to a year (waiting for flu season to be over) while the rest of the world has moved on. Tony Lewis has already said another year like 2021 could be a disaster for the Force.
Or the virus makes its way in (as it already has) and is uncontrolled because the COVID measures (masks, social distancing etc) the border opening would bring in are not in place and it spreads rapidly.
For what its worth.
I would rather be living in WA right now then NSW.
For what its worth
I think McGowan is doing a very good job protecting the WA Population of the current COVID shitfight.
NSW Numbers as of 8PM 21 Jan 2022
244,724
Active cases
2,762
Admitted to hospital
204
In intensive care
70
Requiring ventilation
11582 new cases yesterday.
Everyone I talk to here in Sydney believes that it's only a matter of time till they have COVID and 93.5% of the NSW Population are Double Vaxxed and 31.6% of NSW Population have the Booster.
plus they support a really crappy Super Rugby Team and I just cant stand it anymore.
Exile
Port Macquarie
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" - Rocky Balboa
Well said X. I have never been a fan of McGowan or voted for him, but listening to him on TV justifying keep the WA borders shut, I found myself agreeing with most of what he said. Hard to argue against him when he says WA is healthy and booming compared to the rest of Australia.
Also great to get some feedback from DazloT on how things are working in Canada.
Fly-in-fly-out ‘clean teams’ plan being hatched to save WA sport after border backflip
A fly-in, fly-out “clean team” plan is being hatched in an attempt to salvage WA sport after the State Government border backflip left clubs scrambling to save their seasons.
The SOS — Save Our Sport — scramble is being led by Western Force chief executive Tony Lewis who has written to the government asking for an urgent meeting, calling for “direction and understanding”.
Under the scheme, visiting sides would need to test negative at their airport of departure and again at Perth Airport. They would then go into a bubble at their hotel, travel from their hotel to the game and then immediately return to their hotel or go directly to the airport.
With a number of clubs stuck interstate or relying on home games for financial reasons, Lewis said a clear plan needed to be reached across the board.
Glory owner Tony Sage, Wildcat Vic Law and the AFLW Eagles.
LONG ROAD HOME
‘We’re f***ked’: WA teams react to border blindside
Braden Quartermaine, Nick Taylor, Craig O’Donoghue & Eliza Reilly
“We want the government and police to sit down with all WA professional teams so we can tell them this is the only way to protect Mark McGowan’s desire to keep WA safe and keep sport alive,” he told The West Australian.
“We also want to work out how we can ensure our teams can travel and get back without having to isolate.”
Perth Glory chief executive Tony Pignata has also been in touch with other sports to ensure a united front.
“We need a plan going forward. We can’t just sit on our hands and wait,” Pignata said.
PERTH, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 17: Feleti Kaitu?u of the Force runs the ball during the round nine Super RugbyAU match between the Western Force and the NSW Waratahs at HBF Park, on April 17, 2021, in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Feleti Kaitu’u runs the ball against the NSW Waratahs. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images
“People think that we are just a game but this is what puts food on the table for our families. We are a business. We provide a service to WA. I don’t think we are getting respect.”
Glory face a multi-million dollar loss if they cannot get home games. They have about 80 people currently in Sydney, including both their men’s and women’s squads, staff and families.
Perth Wildcats are meanwhile searching for ways to play all 14 home games in Perth.
They were due to return from Victoria and play against New Zealand at RAC Arena on February 6. The team has been interstate since December 27 after starting the season with five home games.
Wildcats chief executive Troy Georgiu said they were doing everything possible to finish the season with another nine games at RAC Arena.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 19: Bruno Fornaroli of the Glory attempts to shoot under pressure from Scott Neville of the Roar during the round 11 A-League match between Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory at Moreton Daily Stadium, on January 19, 2022, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
The Perth Glory have been stranded on the east coast for weeks. Credit: Albert Perez/Getty Images
“The first stage is understanding how we can manage our home game situation. That will involve conversations with all of the stakeholders — the NBL, the WA government and WA Police,” Georgiu said.
“We are fortunate that we are a sport where you can play more than one game in a week so if we have to have catch-up games towards the back end of the season and play multiple home games over the period of two or three weeks, then we are lucky we have the ability to do that.
“The NBL have provided support to try to accommodate our 14 home games as much as possible.”
In a letter to members, Fremantle chief executive Simon Garlick said they were working with the AFL and WA Police to find out what the border restrictions meant.
“The decision is one that would have some of our members feeling frustrated and disappointed, and others feeling safe and secure,” Garlick wrote.
“For the past two years very challenge that COVID-19 has presented our club and our industry has been accepted and met, and this one will be no different.”
https://thewest.com.au/news/coronavi...flip-c-5396333
I've seen similar to that epidemiologist's view. The biggest difference between here and NSW seems to be that WA has rapidly introduced mask mandates, indoor capacity limits etc. Nobody has confirmed it, but I think McGowan's biggest fear might be how this could affect the mining sector - he seems to be aiming at a soft landing. As infection numbers increase (hopefully along with availability of RATs) he'll move on things like arrivals requirements, definitions of contacts self quarantine etc - indoor social distancing rules seem to be of very little value with this beastie. In any event he's earned enough brownie points for me to cut him some slack on the current situation and hope for the best.
Because it's already here he will seem foolishly inflexible by not allowing "FIFO, no community contact" sports protocols. The risk seems small enough compared to the possible damage if he refuses.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
I'd bet the farm that McGowan consulted with Gina and Twiggy before the delay was announced
with rampant hospital overloading currently, and no appreciable effect from COVID on that, you would think his greatest fear should be that his health system will collapse if 200 extra patients are added to the mix due to an outbreak.
he has still made no moves on solving the shortage of doctors and nurses, such as increasing salaries to entice health workers from other jurisdictions, engaging with the significant number of health workers who chose to lose their job rather than get vaccinated (anecdotal) and find some form of acceptable solution, ease entry requirements for health workers from overseas. I have heard stories of qualified nurses from other countries having to work as waitstaff because they can't get their qualifications recognised. Surely they can find a solution to those problems in the 2 and a bit years they've had to look at the problem.
But maybe the whole lock the disease out and maintain mining revenue is his biggest concern.
C'mon the![]()
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Other, possibly more enlightened people, would disagree.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.