Straya!

[pErvinalia]

redacted

[pErvinalia]

Show me a country with similar high levels of vaccination rate to our big states (Victoria and NSW are just shy of 95% double vaxxed over 16 years) where their health system is overwhelmed. We're basically approaching herd immunity in Victoria and NSW (and the rest of the country in the next month or two). Something like 80% of the total population (Vic and NSW) double vaxxed.

[JimC]

All restrictions should be lifted. The vaccinated are only under a low threat from the virus now. It's the unvaccinated who are doing the dying.

In NSW, that seems to be the program. But, unvaccinated people in NSW are seeing that it won't be long before they can do what anyone else can. So, no pressure to get the jab. In the People's Republic of Victoria, restrictions on the unvaccinated will last well into next year, so at least some of the refuseniks here will get pragmatic, and have a change of heart...

[macdoc]

Show me a country with similar high levels of vaccination rate to our big states (Victoria and NSW are just shy of 95% double vaxxed over 16 years) where their health system is overwhelmed. We're basically approaching herd immunity in Victoria and NSW (and the rest of the country in the next month or two). Something like 80% of the total population (Vic and NSW) double vaxxed.

Means dick all at this point ....you simply don't have enough virus circulating is all to even think about herd immunity. That can change very quickly.
Too many places with high vax rates opened up ....then the shit hit thefan.
You aren't reaching herd immunity when the kids are a pool. More than 20% of Australians are under 16.

The new variant is a known unknown ....staying with reasonable restrictions is the smart move.

[pErvinalia]

80% fully vaccinated at least (plus those who've had it and aren't vaccinated). That's herd immunity levels. Not least because the unvaccinated are largely children, who aren't as succeptible to getting the virus, and also are less symptomatic.

[macdoc]

not sure what koolaid you are drinking...

‘Australia’s national aspirational coverage target is 95%,’ it says on its website. ‘Reaching this aspirational target will give us enough herd immunity to stop the spread of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.’

‘And that’s because Delta has now developed a method of ensuring that it can infect children ... the idea of the adults protecting everybody else, it no longer holds.’

Professor McLaws contends that even with opening vaccination to 5–11-year-olds, as seems likely in the new year, the prospect of whole community protection will still not be attainable.

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinic ... live-in-au

[pErvinalia]

80% was the figure repeatedly mentioned at the start of the pandemic. You've found an obscure link. Good for you.

[pErvinalia]

From your own link

‘New South Wales is probably the best example of a part of Australia that’s close to herd immunity,’ Associate Professor Trauer told newsGP.

‘They’ve made a huge difference to the epidemic through vaccination, clearly, and that’s been the major thing that’s turned it around in that state.

‘Maybe it’s not quite herd immunity, but it’s pretty close.’

[macdoc]

It ain't horseshoes...

[JimC]

I think that Oz will need to learn to cope with a certain amount of covid bubbling away, even when our vaccination levels reach their limits (which hopefully will be at least 95% of over 12s, plus an increasing number of vaccinated children over 5 next year). Keeping some reasonable blend of mild restrictions and vaccine mandates well into next year should make for a soft landing, in the sense of preventing a major upsurge in hospitalisations and deaths.

[pErvinalia]

Person with omicron active in the community in Sydney.

[Svartalf]

Hey, a totally silly question for you Aussi mavens...

I've been reading about a drink called bingara (no idea whether it's supposed to be a brand or the type of hooch); in the book it's used in cocktails along with gin and lime juice...
but all I can find by that name is a place in NSW... anybody know whether the place would have lent its name to some kind of potable?

[JimC]

I can find nothing linking this NSW town to drinks of any sort, Svarty...

[Svartalf]

That's the trouble with that author, he mixes enough fact in the fiction that you can't be sure what is what
Plus in some cases, he talks of real thing, but writes the name in such a way it's at best difficult to link his stuff to its real world counterpart.

[NineBerry]

At least you won't suffer from White Death now, Svarty.