Who Wants to Go Back into their Covid Dog Kennel Again? By James Reed
Be warned dear friends, the ruling elites have not given up on lockdowns, which are now part of the new normal. It is the equivalent of home imprisonment, unless one gives off grid, an option which looks better by the day.
“The federal government will launch a new Covid plan and spend $2.1billion as it prepares for cases to double, a new variant to emerge and a deadly flu season to run rampant in winter.
The winter plan was requested by national cabinet to ensure the country and health systems were prepared for spikes in respiratory illnesses and will be a major topic of discussion at Friday's meeting.
UNSW modelling has revealed cases will double within the next four to six weeks with a massive surge already recorded in NSW and Victoria.
NSW recorded 16,288 cases on Thursday - up from 11,388 on the same day last week - while Victoria reported 7,779 - up from 7,093.
University of Melbourne epidemiologist James McCaw said rising cases are likely due to immunity from booster shots starting to wane, rising mobility and a jump in BA.2 cases.
BA.2 is up to 30 per cent more transmissible than Omicron and is expected to make up 90 per cent of Covid cases by winter - raising fears unpopular restrictions could be reintroduced to curb the spread.
'Isolation and quarantine still have a role to play [in keeping infections down], but compulsory measures aren't required now. It is still too early to treat COVID-19 like the flu,' Professor McCaw said.
The World Health Organisation said last month that BA.2 'appears inherently more transmissible than [the initial Omicron lineage] BA.1'.
'Experience overseas has shown BA.2 can move quite quickly to become the dominant sub-lineage ... but we don't have any evidence that it is more or less severe clinically,' acting Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale told the hearing.
Professor Robert Booy eased concerns of the new variant saying residents were less likely to become seriously ill if they had received their booster.
'Vaccination still works very well,' he told Channel Nine's Today Show. 'There is a good incentive for those few people who have not had to go and get it.
'More than half of people have already had a booster, but those who haven't, it will find you, because it is even more transmissible.'
Professor Booy said the infection rate would slightly increase with the new variant.
'Instead of on average one person being able to infect up to 10, could be 12 or 13,' he said.
'Omicron in general is much, much different from the ancestral strain, the one we got first two years ago.
'It is dramatically different. That is why it can be immune evasive. Our immunity from vaccines or natural infection is not as strong as Omicron. So get vaccinated.'
According to the latest NSW Health coronavirus surveillance report, BA.2 cases made up about a third of sequenced infections in the last two weeks in February.
Dr Gale said a rise in cases was likely due to a number of factors including the new sub-variant, increased mixing of young people in school and university, and the scrapping of restrictions such as mandatory masks.
The biggest increase in cases over the past week has been in people aged 10 to 19, who comprised about one in four infections.
Booster shots have stalled in recent weeks, with about 56 per cent of people aged over 16 having received a third shot.
Mr Hazzard said he was concerned 'people have gone to sleep on the virus, but the virus hasn't gone to sleep on the community'.
'People need to go out and get the booster fast,' he said.
Labor health spokesperson Ryan Park said there were concerns rising cases could 'add further stress on our hospitals', particularly as the state enters flu season.
'It's critical that the government outline exactly how they are going to prepare hospitals to face a potentially significant increase in hospitalisations given the staffing shortages already facing hospitals,' Mr Park said.
The government will shore up stock of Japanese encephalitis vaccines, with 130,000 doses to be purchased under a new $69 million package to combat the virus.”
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