Where to start?

 

Where do I start? Consider this as tipping my head out because it is one way to cope with increasing Covid infections and electioneering.

Two weeks of this election campaign to go and shall we survive? Yes, yes we shall. If you go to the source,  you generally get good information which is helpful and enlightening. If you  only pay attention to the campaign, then there is a lot to be concerned about. Smiling family photos somehow equal good government. Really? Have you looked at the facts and what has or has not been achieved? Too many  media people  are playing daft games and thinking they are stealing the limelight and the campaign narrative. The lack of thought and literacy in some of them is embarrassing and not worthy of us. Baffling why any public platform finds it acceptable . Candidate corflutes have been removed, damaged , defaced and remastered to the extend some independents have been recreated as Greens candidates. Is that because the people doing it think Greens are a liability.? I do wonder what goes on in some people's heads when they get up in the morning. And why would they actually print and distribute false signs? So much wrong with these false campaign corflutes and the vandalism. AEC is investigating it. Pity they have had to put up with some people thinking they are not. Whoever is behind this misrepresentation of candidates needs to be established and dealt with. It is awful. 

Our coronavirus infections are escalating and the deaths as well. We are not getting enough people vaccinated and boosted. We are not getting enough people tested. If you are sick with covid and vomiting or have an upset stomach, testing would be hard. Some are thinking , why bother and just carrying on. Masks are being abandoned and that is irrational because they stop the spread! Sanitising stops the spread. Social distancing stops the spread. It simply is not logical to think this is not a problem when our numbers are going up and up. We have no leadership in this matter other than some medical people who keep trying to put sensible messages out on social media.

Then we have our medical system. It is hard to get a doctor's appointment if you have suspected covid. Some doctors don't seem to want to know you or your child. So you ring the covid helpline and get told to go to emergency and emergency isn't the place. You need a proper consultation if you have a child with a fever, vomiting and not eating and drinking for more than a day. There are adults who can't get proper consultations. I accept clinics want to keep themselves safe. RATs can come up negative even though you have symptoms on the Covid  list. We need to know. This is not going away. We keep supplying hosts. Maybe we need a possibly covid clinic  so people with covid symptoms can get timely and effective help. No one wants to go to emergency but how can they get proper medical advice if there is no one to see? It is especially important for older people and young children. 

We have no leadership and we need it. Two more weeks of things being as they feel like being with these negative undercurrents means we shall grow weary. We need direction. 

Covid has not gone away

 

Image: Tip chiplanay

Covid has not gone away. In January it was the second leading cause of death in Australia and by now it might be top because our death rate has increased. But, it is okay , isn't it, it is only old people . The very people who built the strength, safety and security of Australia. The ones who spent their lives making this a prosperous, positive nation. It is okay if they die as long as we can have coffee, go on trips and be normal. The death rate for older people is not acceptable at all. While they are dying, younger people are dying too but no one seems to care. It is only a cold. Just mild really.  There was an article which tried to address this lack of care we had. In the end it assumed it wasn't our fault really. All very understandable. Killing old people is pretty normal and if we had the death rate we have been having this year for anything else, we would be acting on it. We have more than doubled our deaths this year form the previous two years. South Australia has just lost it. Until November 23rd 2021 we had four deaths from the pandemic. It has stayed that way from the beginning. Today we have 351. What is wrong with people?

Reinfection is undesirable, killing people is not nice, putting under 5s at risk is horrible. Forgetting we are coming into flu season and there are other Covid variants is high risk behaviour. So why do we not care? What is the matter with us? Doing what works is not hard and being a rebel without a clue is silly. We are not rebelling, though. We just aren't doing what works. We are not using preventative measures which make a difference. That is not rational. The statistics to do with Covid are starting to amass and picture is not pretty. Living in a disadvantaged area increases your chances of not surviving. 

While we are spouting election tripe we should focus more on our own health and welfare. The election campaign should not exclusively fill the airwaves when we need to stop putting ourselves at risk from a vile disease. Not wanting it is not sufficient reason to ignore it because we have to collaborate to get rid of it. 

For a start , it needs to be broadcast about the distance between primary vaccinations which ATAGI has just notified. They have changed this based on all the data they are collecting. We do have people who are spending all their time trying to help us get through this pandemic. We need to practice the art of noticing and, at the very least, put on a mask. 

Step Up. Stay Safe.

 

SA Health has created an informative little video which you can find on the SA Health site under the Stop the Spread in SA link. It is 30 seconds long and so a good video for short attention spans. People are busy and preoccupied at the moment and concentration levels seem to be less than optimum. People are confused about what is going on. Some are in denial but everyone knows we keep losing people to Covid. Ten in the last two days. We have such a high infection rate for a small state. People worry about the spread, some could not care less and it sets up a lack of ease and tension. Even if you are pretending, getting Covid is no fun. Giving it to someone is disturbing and seeing people you care about die, because this disease can kill , is making people worry considerably. Even if they are putting on a “normal” front, the truth is still there and cannot be avoided. Too many people are getting it and hating it. Some can shrug it off. Others are feeling really depleted  and depressed by it. Like the rest of the country our hospital numbers and infections are up. The death rate this year from Covid is horrible. I feel for those who are losing parents,  grandparents and family members. It is tragic, the moreso because we are faking coping.

This little video is unassuming but makes the points clearly. There is something you can do. You can get tested and you can wear a mask. You can stay home if unwell. Our case numbers are up today because people have had the sense to get back out there and get tested. Hope they put their masks back on too. Double masks in public are so much more effective than if one person hasn’t worn one. It is easy. Testing takes far more effort , but thank goodness people have got back to that good practice! We will get there if we follow good practice and help each other. 

Coping with Covid

 

I am starting to get it, or, at least, I can see what they are trying to do. We are being taken out of a state of emergency and panic with coronavirus onto a terrain where we can manage it in a way which is a bit less invasive and more in keeping with other serious diseases like whooping cough, pneumonia, AIDS. We are being asked to take on the responsibility of following good health advice and managing Covid in a way we manage other serious medical illnesses. It is causing a significant number of deaths. It does spread ridiculously easily. It can cause real health problems in those who catch it. None of this can be ignored but we can manage it better if we follow salient health advice and ask for what we need. 

Professor Michael Kidd is well credentialled and , just as importantly, he has a well modulated voice and a good manner for delivering helpful and useful health information so we can do better at managing this vile virus. Every week he puts up a video on his YouTube channel which is featured on our Australian government health site to answer the top 3 questions  we have with regard to dealing sensibly  with this virus . This week it was about masks use, symptoms and when to act to get medical intervention. He explains it clearly, calmly and well. it is clear from the video we have ways of helping those who are vulnerable and that they can have access to anti viral medication via their GP if they need it. It explains clearly how to go about isolation and gives reference to another site where you can get better help for dealing with Covid at home. 

In South Australia you can get free Rapid Antigen Tests if you are a close contact from RAT collection points and you can find those on the link on the SA Health site. 

People need to know that consulting medical people is the way to go about dealing with Covid and that it is important to be following good health advice. By consulting the federal government and state government health sites you are off to a good start because they are now mustering resources for public awareness raising and education. It is not about what you want. We are dealing with a harmful virus which spreads easily. We need to tackle it in a methodical, adult fashion. 

Mask up!

 

No matter how you think or feel, the pandemic is not over. Coronavirus has not gone away. We have to fight and manage the spread as adults, not fanciful toddlers with the I want ,I want , I want. I don't want covid. I don't want others to get covid. It is horrible . According to our national statistics, 20s and 30s are getting the disease in huge numbers, but older people are dying from it. As politicians forgo mandates and restrictions they must have a knowledge that what they are doing with that is killing old people in significant numbers and subjecting younger people to repeated reinfections and the possibility of long covid. Avoiding hard and difficult conversations about the reality of this disease matters not one bit to the virus. It will infect any host it finds. 

Stephen Colbert addresses the situation in America where they changed mask mandates for flying and some people were caught up in that as they flew. The change was immediately effective. No consideration at all for the health and welfare of others. Flying in a closed box means you can quite easily catch what others have. Been there, done that  as many would have even before the pandemic. The bonus with this clip is you get a bit about the presidentials in France. Colbert is very good. 

Image : Integris
Politicians may be saying one thing but we have to continue to follow good health advice to put barriers between us and the transmission of this virus. More sick people will not make it possible to run businesses and organisations. You need happy, well people to do that. We need to look at how to manage the virus and keep people healthy. Uninfected. Masks help. They really help. Social disancing helps. We have to do the things which keep us effectively in control. Ramping up case numbers and deaths is not a good ploy . How is that helping? Why are we also risking illness to under 5s? Taking control does not equate to locking people up and down when we can achieve vaccination numbers, good air quality and we have RATs available so people can test themselves. For those who think RATs are unreliable , maybe we need to have a good look at that to see if they are or not and how to make them , and people using them, more effective. Dealing with the issues and roadblocks is better than open slather which will create more cases. That is what happens. 

We have increased our flu cases in South Australia. Nobody needs flu either. The advice is to wear masks and social distance and , at least, there is vaccine for under 5s. 

Wearing a mask is the least possible thing you can do besides nothing. Masks work!

Mask mandate ending

Image : Nick Fewings

Coronavirus is quite clearly there. It is placing a burden on us and our hospital and medical staff. If you look at our statistics people in their twenties and thirties are predominantly getting it  and older people are the ones dying. Under fives do not have a vaccine. So, what do we do? Lift the mask mandates. Yes, I know. It is a terrible burden wearing a mask when it protects you and others from a disgusting virus. People just want to be normal. So glad the virus has been told this because as we ease the barriers to infection, we ease the transmission of the virus. Those who were leading at the beginning of the pandemic are now saying, go for it. Just pretend it is normal and we are not in a pandemic. Some people are saying post pandemic , which is clearly not the case given we have a J curve of  infection rates. Masks work. 

Part of this is politicians and medical people will be fed up telling us what works and then people just bang on with their own needs and wants which fly in the face of reality and facts. This is a nasty virus. You do not want it. You do not want to be reinfected. You also need to understand that vaccinated people can get it as well and yes, they can be in hospital. All of this has been explained to us. Masks and vaccines along with fresh air and hygiene will work in our favour. But normal. Eyeroll.  Masks being removed will see an increase in infections. We have seen that elsewhere. Why don't we think that will happen in South Australia? People are their own worst enemy and they are the enemy of the older people and those who are vulnerable. This virus has killed over six million people worldwide, but, you know, normal. Repeat eyeroll.

We are ending our mask mandate in South Australia. Pretty cavalier attitude given the infection rate, the hospitals under pressure and the under fives having no vaccine. Cavalier, might not be the right word , though. Cavliers had the saying, All for one and one for all. You fight a pandemic together. It requires collaboration. Egocentric takes on it are unwise. Prudence, We need to be prudent. Don't know about you, but my mask is staying on. 
 

Infection city

 

Image: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

We are doing well. We have infected so many more people between yesterday and today. We are winning. Best number of infections we have ever had. Mr. Malinauskas is thankfully keeping our vaccination clinics open. Who wanted to shut them when we are trying to get everyone sick and vaccines will help keep them less sick, alive even? We have nothing to offer the under 5s except sending them home from kindy in shame if they cough or have a runny nose. We are totally divorced from Adelaide being in hayfever month from November to May. Some of us can look forward to having flu and covid in winter.  Brighton Secondary School has shifted its students and staff online and other schools have done that with some students as well. Was that wise? Shouldn't we just keep infecting everyone? We need to get the masks off at Easter, though. Best thing, eh? We enjoyed having Christmas disrupted so we were isolating or staying away from family over the festive season. This time we have put a real effort into getting those numbers up so people can be infected for Easter. Whole families can be sick together and eat Easter eggs. We are mad. We need to use some decent  mitigations but that means we forgo moaning and complaining about health protocols which work. We have vaccines. We don't have to shut everything. Masks work. Distancing works. Why on earth we are aiming to keep infecting others is well and truly beyond me. It is not one of my aims in life to ensure I can infect other people with dreadful diseases. So well done schools for keeping your communities safer. Professor Spurrier says we might be reaching the infection peak. It is peak bonkers, that is for sure. Can't wait for us to reach peak long covid which hasn't entered people's minds yet because they don't want to wear masks . Honestly, they are so inconvenient. If this is normal, send help, please. 

Wear a mask

 

Image:  Integris Health

Wear a mask. They work. Our numbers are up again today and we need to keep them down. We don't need thousands of sick people. It is not normal to let a disease spread. Some think it's like measles and mumps and we should just get it over with. It isn't . We haven't looked very much at the implications of long covid and so many people always being sick. Pretending it's not there is not an effective deterrent. Believing safe and health preserving practices are restrictions means the communication isn't right. Not knowing covid symptoms by now means the listening is not right. Sensible health measures need to be adopted and believed. They are not restrictive. Being sick certainly hampers your lifestyle. We can do better. Wear a mask in public setting. They work!

Our Covid challenge

 

Image: SA Health

We can do this , you know. If we set goals, have clear messaging, use what works and help each other, we are in a good position in South Australia to beat these numbers. Team effort and collaboration. We are not hugely built up. We don't have lots of high rise apartments. W have space, we have trees, forests and beaches. We can get away from it and we can shop when it is quiet. Still don't know why, but we do have to get to the supermarket. It is how we are coping. We are also helping each other if there is quarantine and isolation involved. We can safely do that too with contactless deliveries. RATS for familes all going down with Covid is proving to be expensive. Those on pension cards can get their last lot of free RATs this month. Given it started late because of the federal governments expecting chemists to acquire the RATs themselves and the misunderstandings around that,  then maybe that timeline should be extended for another month? Those having to pay for them if, say,  two adults and two children in the home are infected with Covid are having to pay a lot. Can we look at the RATs pricing yet? Can we offer some free? You can get two free with your PCR test. That tends to mean you need a car. We can do the logistics better for people without cars or who are sole parents quarantining with little children. 

The last two days we have got the number down under 5000. That is a great achievement. Today it was 4096 infections and yesterday it was 4483. We know what to do. Stay home if we are sick, mask up, increase fresh air, sanitise, wash our hands, social distance, get vaccinated. Dr Moy(Australian Medical Association Vice President) said yesterday, "We're going to transition from sort of what they are telling us to do — like rules — to what we should do, which is a different world then, and that is where we really get to see what we're like in terms of our care and consideration for each other." 

He is right. They cannot keep telling us. At some point we have to take the science and what works onboard and drive it ourselves. We don't keep being told about seat belts , suntan cream and safety goggles. We are told regularly about using mobile phones while we are driving. Covid is a bit like the latter. We have to keep being told. Who knows why? We must be listening , though, because the numbers are going down and we could get them down more. We need to look at who spreads the infections and where. So many seem to come home from school but many seem to go from home to school. We need to be clear how we are spreading the infections so people can do something about it. Wearing masks works. Pass that on, not Covid. 

Keep calm and cope

Image : fineartamerica
 Living with covid is probably one of the most worrying experiences we have all had together. Add it to family issues, climate issues, acts of aggression and we are living in a high stress world. We are not the first to do this and we'd like to be the last but it won't happen. As far as coronavirus is concerned , we have to pool our knowledge and experience, deal with it in a calm and measured way and stop it from spreading. I heard today of people who had had their first vaccine but won't have a second. Why is that? The vaccine isn't perfect but it has been greatly helping. That information is everywhere and clear.  We need to establish why people don't get three vaccines and may not get the fourth. In South Australia we have been informed there are people who can access that fourth vaccine first once they are four months out from the third. Do people think vaccines don't help? We need to correct that view. Are they too lazy to get the next vaccine? Why? Did they suffer bad side effects which put them off? I had two Astra Zenica and one Moderna. With the Astra Zenica I spent the first month wondering if I would get blood clots because I come from a family with a history of blood clots. With the first dose I was really out of sorts for a week and then, after a month , I was fine. With the second one it was the same but milder. One of the bonuses for me was the Astra Zenica helped my osteo arthritis. It has been far less of a problem. With the Moderna I was off colour for a week , my arm really hurt but tea tree and honey manuka cream really helped that after the first day. I decided I preferred the Astra Zenica side effects. Moderna made me like a snail. Sooo slow. We need to sort out what puts people off vaccines by having decent conversations. One person I know who had had one vaccine dose got covid and then , as soon as he was recovered, he was in the line to get the rest of his vaccines. He had to get really sick to take action. 

We have voices of reason. SA Health is one of ours and today's presser was clear and helpful. We need to know what is being done and what we can do. Letting disease spread is stupid. Really stupid . It is not normal . We have to let the voices of reason hold the spotllight. Another one of our sane and comforting voices is Professor Esterman from the University of South Australia. His calm, measured voice has been with us throughout the pandemic. He neither gives us too much information nor panics. He gives us things to look at and do. His recent article about statisitics in the pandemic made sense and clarified the picture . He encourages us to look for the patterns. 

Professor Pagel in the UK looks at the myths we persist with during the pandemic so we do not help ourselves and get the case numbers down. If we keep letting people get sick it is not going to help at all. If we keep being sick and another variant comes along , we are in no position to defend and protect ourselves. She looks at it calmly. There are things we can do. Today's presser for South Australia was another example of giving us information but letting us know there are things being done and things we can do. 

Coping with Covid

 Image: SA Health /Facebook

When the going gets tough, Adelaide goes to the supermarket. It has not let up since Christmas. There is normally the Christmas rush, a lull then it builds up for Easter again. My local supermarkets are always busy and staff tell me there is rarely a quiet time. What are we doing with all this supermarket haul? I am shopping as I have always shopped. I haven't changed. Are people stockpiling? Comfort eating? Staying at home more and so needing more at home more often? Are they cooking more for themselves? Shopping for others who have Covid?

I do not get the impression we are overweight. In fact, I'd say we are pretty fitness conscious at the moment. In the local area people walk their dogs, their children, walk with their friend or are walking in a group. Some are walking alone. This year there has been lots of walking. Not strolling. A good, solid walk at a good pace. So  why all this supermarket  shopping?

People are sharing ideas as to how to cope too. Some have just been going along quietly and following safe practices. Others are out and about and going off on local trips. Some are attending events. On a regular basis we hear of more getting Covid. Whole families. They approach it logically and sensibly but it is not fun . They get good help from SA Health and they get good help from friends, family and neighbours. Haven't yet heard of anyone just being left to get on with it. Maybe because they can't tell anyone? A lot of people mask up their children and we have kept our masks on because they work. 

It then seems weird to live in a country , and world, where a virus is just left to spread. I grew up in an age where there was polio, diphtheria, rheumatic heart fever, measles, scarlet fever. I was there when the vaccines and good medical practices were being developed. I missed the bit where children had to be hospitalised because of scarlet fever and I had it twice. Once with measles. I was three. My parents cared for me at home and a doctor home visited. They followed what he said. At school I was with children in leg irons and who were sickly from rheumatic heart fever. That experience taught me that not everyone is well all the time. At no point did we let disease spread. As soon as vaccines arrived we had them. We were given bottles of milk and medicine, not disease. 

It was good, then, to hear the press conference this morning which included information about schools. It was done in a very reassuring way for parents, especially, but was very clear about the guidelines for teachers and teaching staff so that everyone had a Covid safe plan. I grew up at a time when everyone did the right thing because it was the right thing to do. Military precision. People have become the options and choices people now. They want to make their own choices. The pandemic has taught us we have to operate as a cohesive group to get success. We cope with those who don't want vaccines by making good health choices for everyone. If they get Covid , and survive,  they will have antibodies. If they spread Covid more easily, as has been said, then we have to look at what they are doing so the social distancing and clean air  is there. The old are dying from covid, not so much the young, so we have to protect older people and we have to protect the under 5s. Clear press conferences help to explain decisions and the conference was firm but fair. 

We had just about five and a half thousand cases today. We have to change this and our behaviour. It is not logical or sane to let disease spread unchecked. It is a lunatic way to go about living. It does not make sense to let Covid spread and offer a legacy of long Covid, constant illness and reinfection, sick households. It will be debilitating and will create so many more problems besides Covid. Common sense and mitigation have to prevail . Talking people  clearly through this has to continue.