Friday and the Federal government was copping heat for what was happening in Victoria.
There were four new cases in Melbourne taking the current Whittlesea cluster and 15,000 close contacts identified. It was also pointed out that some of these venues had more people reported at them then QR code recording had indicated. Sadly this meant people were either failing or choosing not to log in when they arrived at the venues and this complicated contract tracing now.
Wage subsidies were being looked at for affected businesses but nothing definitive was offerred yet.
Some of these cases had been symptomatic for days before getting tested in what cold and flu season.
People were definitely getting tested now, a new record of 47,462 tests had been carried out in one day as well as a new state record 17,223 vaccinations in one day.
While the federal government had sent 160 Australian Defence Force members to Victoria to assist they were copping heat for their primary responsibility in the vacccine roll out.
As Australia reached 4,031,539 vaccine doses administered (close to two months after we initially planned to hit that number), half a million Australians having been fully vaccinated and a record 124,000 jabs in a day the media reported on the fact that those in aged care and disability were not yet all vaccinated.
Ten million doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer had been delivered in the country.
A quarter of those were being held in reserve for second doses and the rest had been distrubuted to the states according to Health Minister Greg Hunt.
Yet only 6,000 out of 26,000 Australians who lived in disability care had received a vaccine.
As Pfizer was made available to more people in Australia there was also going to be less than 200,000 doses of the vaccine in June than there had been in May.
True story.
Meanwhile my older sister who lived in disability care and was under 50 well she wasn’t vaccinated. Her story one of thousands in this country.
Then there was the fact that there were aged care homes staff and residents yet to receive one jab.
At the five minute mark of the below report you will see a little bit covered about Sikh Volunteers Australia who are delivering food to the needy during lockdown when demand increases. Good people doing good deeds. Legends!
The lockdown in Victoria prompted more people to get vaccinated in Queensland with the daily dose up by 7,000 in the past 24 hours including Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.
So what was the total, well that was hard to get from official sources but COVIDLIVE.COM.AU reported 771,016 vaccine doses had been administered in the state with 88,774 Queenslanders apparently fully vaccinated. The population of Queensland was 5,185 million.
And as Channel 7 News reported only 25 Queenslanders who lived in disability residential care had been vaccinated.
Twenty five.
That wasn’t even one a day for how long we had been vaccinating in the state.
That wasn’t…
That was…
That…
Th..
….
That wasn’t good enough. Not one little bit.
Not now.
Not ever.
May 29
Saturday and there were five new cases in lockdown Victoria.
There was also protest against the lockdown in Melbourne but the police were ready for them.
Fourteen people were arrested and 55 were fined.
May 30
On the 30th of May, 2021 the World Health Organisation reported there had been 169,631,767 confirmed cases globally with a daily increase of 480,388.
There had been 3,646,501 deaths worldwide with a daily increase of 11,838.
In Papua New Guinea there had been 15,901 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 53. There had been 162 deaths.
By June 6, 2021 there will have been 38,176 vaccine doses administered in the country.
A small drop in the ocean for a country with a population of 8.776 million people.
News in Australia had switched to the crisis in India, then the Victorian lockdown but the country of the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels still needed us.
In Australia there had been 30,083 confirmed cases with a daily increase of ten. There had been 910 deaths.
By the 6th of June, 2021 there will have been 5,203,977 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
in Kenya there had been 170,485 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 444. There had been 3,141 deaths with a daily increase of 17. The country was coming down from a recent wave.
By the 9th of June, 2021 there will have been 1,030,445 vaccine doses dispensed in the country. Kenya had a population of 52.57 million people.
In Malaysia there had been 558,534 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 9,020. The highest daily increase of cases in the country ever. There had been 2,650 deaths with a daily increase of 98.
On June the 3rd, 126 deaths reported in one day would set a new daily record for that statistic.
By the 6th of June, 2021 there will have been 3,330,436 vaccine doses dispensed in the country. Malaysia had a population of 31.95 million people.
In Canada there had been 1,374,275 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 3,202. There had been 25,440 deaths with a daily increase of 29.
By the 3rd of June there will have been 25,226,671 vaccine doses dispensed in Canada which had a population of 37.59 million people.
In the United Kingdom there had been 4,480,949 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 3,240. There had been 127,775 deaths with a daily increase of seven. On June 2nd no deaths from COVID would be recorded for that day.
By the 7th of June, 2021 there will have been 68,381,870 vaccine doses dispensed in the country with a population 66.65 milion people.
In Russia there had been 5,063,442 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 9,694. There had been 121,162 deaths with a daily increase of 355.
By the 8th of June, 2021 there will have been 30,708,050 vaccine doses administered in the country with a population of 144.4 million people.
In Turkey there had been 5,235,978 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 7,656. There had been 47,271 deaths with a daily increase of 137.
By the 8th of June, 2021 there will have been 30,857,320 vaccine doses administered in the country of over 84 million people.
In India there had been 27,894,800 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 165,553!
There had been 325,972 deaths recorded with a daily increase of 3,460.
By the 7th of June, 2021 there will have been 238,840,635 vaccine doses administered in the country.
In the United States of America there had been 32,916,501 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 25,091. The kind of daily increases that had been seen during a downturn of COVID in May 2020.
There had been 588,292 deaths with a daily increase of 743.
By the 3rd of June, 2021 there will have been 301,161,088 vaccine doses administered in the country of 328.2 million people.
In the wake of my sister and her husband finally getting the jab it was timely to think of where vaccinations were in the UK.
More than 37 million Britons had received at least one vaccine dose.
The initial roll-out targeted 32 million people who were either aged over 50, or residents and workers in aged care, or frontline health care workers, or those with underlying health problems and unpaid carers.
People who fell under those categories had accounted for 99% of all COVID deaths in the UK and the government had aimed to have offered anyone in that group at least their first jab by the 15th of April.
Now the rollout had expanded to get 21 million Britons aged 20 to 49 years old to receive their first jab by mid-July.
The thirty seven million equated to 70% of the adult population.
More than 21 million had their second dose.
There was a move to crank up second doses to over 50s in the wake of the new Indian variant.
In mid-march 500,000 first doses were administered per day.
Now first doses averaged 190,000 per day and 340,000 second doses were being administered on average.
A jab manufactured by US firm Novavax will be made in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England, while another by French company Valneva will be made in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland.
On Friday here in Australia there was plenty of COVID news to cover.
Some continued coverage in the need to get more people with disabilities vaccinated.
There was talk of putting blood clot cases into perspective from COVID restrictions.
There was talk of the need to get overseas students able to study at Universities in Australia.
Gauri Gupta, sister of Govind Kant’s who passed away in India, spoke to 7:30 about her loss.
There was talk of getting MRNA production up in Australia in the next two years with the federal government putting a callout for companies to make applications.
Recently a 53 year old South Australian man received a jab on the 4th of May and ended up in hospital May 18 with severe abdominal pain.
There was also the 18 year old nurse in Queensland, a 57 year old woman in and a 79 year old man both from Victoria.
Over 230 volunteers were allowed back into the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne including ‘The Splint Ladies‘ who have each been volunteering at the hosptial for three decades.
It was also reported that earlier in the week the Chinese made COVID vaccine Sinopharm was dispensed in the Solomon Islands making it the first Pacific Islander nation to receive the vaccine. Australia had also pledged to deliver 60,000 doses of AstraZeneca to the islands.
India appeared to be coming off the peak of its largest and most devasting wave. The virus was spreading more rurally sadly in the country which would have consequences since there were less resources in those places.
In neighbouring Nepal it was reported 50 per cent of COVID tests returned positive on a daily basis, sometimes higher. The number of hospitalisations had increased and beds and oxygen were in short supply.
Following a petition that I coincidentally signed urging the Australian government to help, they announced seven million dollars of support would be sent.
The World Health Organisation reported on the 21st of May, 2021 in Nepal there had been 488,645 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 8,227. There had been 5,847 deaths with a daily increase of 190.
But for some none of that was the big news of the day.
Oh no.
The big news for them was that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had not yet had her COVID vaccine.
And neither had the Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young.
With so much coverage about blood clots people argued leaders taking the jab could build confidence.
They argued this struck the wrong tone, gave the wrong message.
Dr Young as a health care professional was waiting to get Pfizer and the Premier merely said she was waiting to do it after her flu shot which she had not yet had – halfway through Autumn.
At work we had taken our flu shots in early April but another school of thought was workplaces should hold off giving flu shots so early in the season.
In the past 24 hours in Australia 92,000 doses had been administered in the country.
The next day there was continued back and forth reported between Premier Palaszczuk and Prime Minister Morrison about the potential Wellcamp Airport quarantine facility. No real movement there.
On the ABC their program The Vaccine covered the latest on the vaccine roll-out in Australia and the latest news coming out of India.
Health Minister Greg Hunt’s words at a press conference were covered as unhelpful as the main vaccine on offer in Australia remained the AstraZeneca vaccine which had links to very rare cases of blood clotting.
You could argue it was simply acknowledge the fact that some people were going to hold out for Pfizer regardless of their age but there was a need to encourage people to get vaccinated as soon as they could.
Also has history had shown, we couldn’t assume that vaccine doses would arrive as we hoped they would at the end of the year in the quantities expected. There was a winter to contend with in between too.
Casey Briggs reported there had been 3.47 million vaccine doses dispensed in the country with over 100,000 doses dispensed.
The seven day average was just under 70,000 a day.
it was also reported cases were back on the rise in Brazil and surging in many South East Asian nations like Thailand and Malaysia.
Physician and journalist Dr Norman Swan on the program spoke about vaccine hesitancy and the roll-out in Australia in general.
He advised waiting for Pfizer a choice someone could make but that given the leaks from hotel quarantine already and the rising number of infectious cases now was not the time to wait to get vaccinated.
The latest 617 Indian variant 617 was almost 40 more infectious than the British variant.
The R number is the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to on average.
The original Wuhan variant that swept the world had an R number of of 2.4
The UK strain that originated in Kent had an R number of 4.5.
It was estimated the Indian variant’s R number was at least 6 maybe even as high as 8 and could prove a little vaccine resistant.
He also reminded that risk of death from COVID goes up and the risk of blood clotting from AstraZeneca goes down.
He also spoke of how initial clinical trials presented the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine with an efficacy rate of 62 per cent.
SInce those trials, AstraZeneca was been dispensed twelve weeks apart with better results and both AstraZeneca and Pfizer seemed to give almost 100 per cent chance of avoiding hospitalisation from COVID. The current efficacy rate in the real world from infection was about 85 per cent with AstraZeneca and 95 per cent with Pfizer. A significantly smaller gap.
Infectious disesases expert Associate Professor Sanajaya Senanayake from Australian National University also joined the program.
Which I understood what I meant but at the same time the number of vaccines being dispensed was being reported and also the reality of the statistical likelihood was also being covered but of course fear doesn’t make you act sensibly.
There was so much talk about the need for more marketing, the fear of blood clots and while I understand all of that is relevant.
I have to say the most important thing was getting our most vulnerable and our most keen vaccinated. That came down to logistics and that came down to organising.
My older sister in disability care had still not been vaccinated.
Our aged care residents and staff had still not all been vaccinated.
Plenty of young people were keen do the smart thing and get vaccinated.
Worry about them.
They don’t need an ad to convince them and they know what’s at stake.
Sunday and on the 23rd of May, 2021 the World Health Organisation reported there had been 166054891 confirmed cases globally with a daily increase of 590064.
There had been 3564623 deaths worldwide with a daily increase of 11865.
In the Solomons Islands there had been 23 cases recorded and zero deaths. As of the 13th of May it was reported 11,536 vaccine doses had been administered.
In Papua New Guinea there had been 15,187 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 54.
There had been 156 deaths with a daily increase of two.
More had to be done.
There had been 13 new daily deaths recorded on the 20th of May, a record for the country.
More had to be done.
As of the 13th of May there had been 11,537 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
In Australia there had been 30,004 confirmed cases with a daily increase four. There had been 910 deaths.
As of the 27th of April, there had been 3,089,183 vaccine doses dispensed in the country.
In Nepal there had been 505,643 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 8,591. There had been 6,153 deaths with a daily increase of 129.
By the 29th of May there would have been 2,802,596 vaccine doses administered in the country with a population of 28.61 million people.
In Malaysia there had been 505,115 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 6,320. There had been 2,199 deaths with a daily increase of 50.
As of the 16th of May, there had been 1,914,554 vaccine doses administered in the country with a 31.95 million people.
In Canada there had been 1,352,121 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 4,676. There had been 25162 deaths with a daily increase of 51.
The country had reached the milestone of 25,000 dead from COVID on the 20th of May with 25,018 and a daily increase of 35.
The country was coming off its most recent and largest wave of COVID with the percentage of its population much higher than it had been only a few weeks earlier.
By the 27th of May there would be 22,622,529 vaccine doses dispensed in Canada which had a population of 37.59 million people.
In the United Kingdom there had been 4,460,450 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 2,523. There had been 127,716 deaths with a daily increase of six.
By the 31st of May the UK had dispensed 64,923,228 vaccine doses amongst a population of 66.65 million people.
In France there had been 5,497,073 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 11,821. There had been 107,732 deaths with a daily increase of 75.
By the 29th of May there would have been 36,487,886 vaccine doses dispensed in a country with 67.06 million people.
In India there had been 26,530,132 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 240,842. There had been 209,266 deaths with a daily increase of 3,741.
The next day India would reach the milestone of over 300,000 COVID deaths with 303,720 and a daily increase of 4,454.
While the country was coming down from its most devastating wave with reported case numbers there had been 4,529 deaths reported four days earlier on the 19th of May. The highest number of daily deaths from COVID in the country ever.
By the end of the month on the 31st of May, there would have been 218,358,591 vaccine doses dispensed in India.
In Brazil there had been 15,970,949 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 76,855. There had been 446,309 deaths with a daily increase of 2,215.
In Brazil the highest number of daily deaths had been 4,249 reported on the 10th of April, 2021.
By the 27th of May there would have been 60,017,445 vaccine doses dispensed in a country with 211 million people.
In the United States of America there had been 32,762,914 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 27,921. There had been 583,696 deaths with a daily increase of 743.
By the 27th of May there would been 294,270,594 vaccine doses dispensed in a country with 328.2 million people.
Over the weekend protests and riots had spread across America at one point Trump was taken to an underground bunker at the White House.
As chaos reigned on the streets the American President sought to reclaim them by force if necessary.
America has a long standing history of riots followed by the National Guard being called out. The National Guard is also called out in times of great crisis to search for missing persons, clear towns devastated by natural disasters and provide security when the Emergency Services are no longer enough to quell unrest.
For Trump the call out of 5,000 National Guard troops across 15 states on the 31st of May was not nearly enough. He started talking about the use of full time military.
On Monday before the curfew set in Washington it was announced that Trump was going to hold a press conference.
Police on site started pushing back protestors to increase the perimeter around the White House. Channel 9 Australian reporter Amelia Adams was on site braving rubber bullets, chemical irritants and fired up protesters.
Ms Adams was there and reported at different times that the more peaceful elements of the protest had gone home in lieu of the curfew and then at other times that bad elements were there and at other times the better elements were still present. The footage showed emotions were high but also that the protestors for the most part were urging calm.
The footage nonetheless shows on the ground shepherding of the crowd away from the White House in a show of force. It was later clarified that tear gas was not used but more pepper spray. For protestors suffering the effects the distinction held no relevance. The canisters were also shown to be thrown back by some protestors and it appears to me that firecrackers may have been dispersed by them as well along the ground.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker cited 100 incidents involving journalists including 20 arrests and 60 assaults over recent days covering the protests across the country.
Once the crowd was cleared Trump strutted out with his Secret Service and held The Bible up in front of St John’s Church.
The rioting and protesting is distressing for many, myself included. It is natural to want to protest for social justice, to get off your ass and to actually stand for something.
When the protests turn into riots it is also natural for people to want to see law and order restored.
As reporters are assaulted, police and protestors are killed, businesses are torched there are no clear answers. Trump’s call to put down rioters and make the streets safe to walk again appeal to some. A show of force is part of that.
Yet for many – leaders don’t divide, they pull us together, they acknowledge wounds that need to be healed and they don’t make it about them.
“The President of the United States should be part of the solution – not part of the problem.”
Gathering far more press coverage and proving far more damning were comments made by General Mattis in a statement that was published in the Atlantic magazine.
General Mattis had served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1969 to 2013. His last command was U.S. Central Command. He joined the U.S. Marine Reserves during the Vietnam War and earned his commission through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps while completing a Bachelor of Arts at Central Washington University. He went to war for the first time as a full bird Colonel in the Persian Gulf. He was a General during operational service in Afghanistan and Iraq which included the Battle of Fallujah. Persistently apolitical, he was known for being well read and a blunt talker.
Trump hired him as Secretary of Defense upon winning the election in 2016 and unlike most of those hires General Mattis was still around two years later. As disagreements between the two grew General Mattis eventually resigned and in response Trump sped up the end of his tenure. Mattis never discussed their disagreements and never publicly criticised President Trump.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us.”
The World Health Organisation reported on the 3rd of June that in the United States of America there had been 1,798,330 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 14,692.
The number of dead Americans due to COVID-19, 105,008 with a daily increase of 761.
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 