Cases are up today...apparently there has been a significant outbreak in the south eastern suburbs that may have been simmering for some time...

Not good.

Cases are up today...apparently there has been a significant outbreak in the south eastern suburbs that may have been simmering for some time...

Not good.

Not good that one person, disobeying rules, visits 5 households. Of course they all get it, real family togetherness.

Good. The tracers got to all 34 of them, tested and quarantined at home. Outbreak squashed - we hope!

'...The families who allegedly breached coronavirus restrictions will not be fined, Mr Andrews said....'
Why?

Just proves , once again, that it is only mugs who even try to do the right thing and obey the law in Victoria. An innocent infringement and you will get the book thrown at you but a flagrant breach and ho hum who cares she'll be right.

'...The families who allegedly breached coronavirus restrictions will not be fined, Mr Andrews said....'
Why?

Just proves , once again, that it is only mugs who even try to do the right thing and obey the law in Victoria. An innocent infringement and you will get the book thrown at you but a flagrant breach and ho hum who cares she'll be right.

Mr Andrews expained why. Better they tell the truth. It aint right, its how safety works.

Apparently 21 new cases covering Friday 18/9.
From observations during an hour out in the sunshine today (19/9) a marked increase in those not wearing and/or half wearing masks was seen.
There were the usual sacred cows (joggers and cyclists) not required to wear masks, of course, but of the others, young females (often with kids in tow) and older men (silly old bastards) seem to be the main offenders. Plus a number of 'invincible/macho/bogan' young men.
Hopefully the warmer weather will help reduce numbers but wearing masks will always be a help.

Mr Andrews expained why. Better they tell the truth. It aint right, its how safety works.

That's all very good, through their Investigations should show up who breached the rules, than bang a big chunky fine to them.

Mr Andrews expained why. Better they tell the truth. It aint right, its how safety works.

That's all very good, through their Investigations should show up who breached the rules, than bang a big chunky fine to them.

Just as well others that manage the joint know the difference between revenge and justice.

Just as well others that manage the joint know the difference between revenge and justice.

The public want both revenge and justice (the Government probably won't follow through with justice but anything's possible with an angary mob)

Punishment is an accepted part of justice.

My observations from passing through a 'ring of steel' checkpoint:

Due to certain temporary family circumstances I have had a recognised reason to travel from Gippsland to the Melbourne metropolitan area and back a few times in the past fortnight. Things have changed since these checkpoints were originally set up apparently. Now the only checkpoint on the Princes Hwy to Gippsland is eastbound just past the Shell servo at Nar Nar Goon. There is no checkpoint on the way to Melbourne. The checkpoint is staffed by police and ADF personnel. Traffic is progressively slowed from 2km out and funnelled into one lane and slalomed at the checkpoint to prevent cannon-ballers. Batches of 6 vehicles at a time are processed.

I have heard anecdotally that during busy times on weekdays not all traffic was being stopped, but I believe it is now. I have been stopped 3 out of 3 times, the first two on previous Sundays and again this morning. Traffic has been light on all occasions and the delay was never more than a few minutes. Today was slightly different in that electronic messaging is now on display to make sure you have your licence and permit ready for inspection. I get the feeling that people who normally reside in the lockdown area will need such ironclad evidence, whereas all I had to do this morning was produce my licence to confirm my address and concur with the young digger on duty that I was on my way home. Of course, I have the other necessary documentation with me should I need to produce it, but it hasn't been required yet.

Heading to Melbourne the Princes Hwy is normally quite a busy road, especially around late afternoon and it still is throughout the Latrobe and West Gippsland areas, but now once you go past the Drouin exits it largely disappears. At one stage I had a section of road to myself of at least 3km in length! Traffic thickens up again on the Pakenham Bypass but is still less than normal. Coming home, roads that I use in the outer metropolitan area to make my way back onto the Princes are virtually deserted.  

My experiences have been nothing like those felt by people stuck in 15km jams on the way to Geelong.

Apparently 21 new cases covering Friday 18/9.
From observations during an hour out in the sunshine today (19/9) a marked increase in those not wearing and/or half wearing masks was seen.
There were the usual sacred cows (joggers and cyclists) not required to wear masks, of course, but of the others, young females (often with kids in tow) and older men (silly old bastards) seem to be the main offenders.
Hopefully the warmer weather will help reduce numbers but wearing masks will always be a help.

Mask wearing is definitely slipping outdoors. I don't think the warm weather helps.

EDIT: Back from Fitzroy/Collingwood nightly recce. I would say non-compliance on masks was as high as 20%.

In Coronavirus news from elsewhere, France recorded a record 13,000 infections in the past 24 hours, Infections are rising in Spain as well. some local restrictions are also being implemented in the U.K as well to try and arrest the spread, but so far the hospital admissions are not what they saw in the first wave, but still they are high.  I should note that the U.K are trying their hardest to avoid a 2nd national lockdown, there is one being talked about over there I understand, India's cases continue to surge, with another 93,000 cases in the last 24 hours.

In Coronavirus news from elsewhere, France recorded a record 13,000 infections in the past 24 hours, Infections are rising in Spain as well. some local restrictions are also being implemented in the U.K as well to try and arrest the spread, but so far the hospital admissions are not what they saw in the first wave, but still they are high.  I should note that the U.K are trying their hardest to avoid a 2nd national lockdown, there is one being talked about over there I understand, India's cases continue to surge, with another 93,000 cases in the last 24 hours.

Interesting both Spain and France have more new cases in 2nd wave than 1st, but so far the death rate has only increased marginally. Seems to support the comments that the virus a combination of the virus weakening, medical response improving and those at risk better protecting themselves.

Probably supports a case for not going into lockdown.

In Coronavirus news from elsewhere, France recorded a record 13,000 infections in the past 24 hours, Infections are rising in Spain as well. some local restrictions are also being implemented in the U.K as well to try and arrest the spread, but so far the hospital admissions are not what they saw in the first wave, but still they are high.  I should note that the U.K are trying their hardest to avoid a 2nd national lockdown, there is one being talked about over there I understand, India's cases continue to surge, with another 93,000 cases in the last 24 hours.

Interesting both Spain and France have more new cases in 2nd wave than 1st, but so far the death rate has only increased marginally. Seems to support the comments that the virus a combination of the virus weakening, medical response improving and those at risk better protecting themselves.

Probably supports a case for not going into lockdown.

If the virus is weakening, that will be a good thing, it's still probably a little bit too early to say for sure though, I do note that on the Worldometer website, the death's now are coming down from the high 6,000s per day to the low 6,000s - high 5,000s, so I guess watch this space.

*Edit, can I please ask one of the esteemed panel members here, why has China's Coronavirus death count been on 4,634 for some 3 months or more now??

There is precisely zero evidence that the virus is ‘weakening’ it will likely get less virulent with time, but we are not at those times yet.

The increasing infection rate with plateaued mortality rate is solely due to human interventions such as, in earlier diagnosis and better treatments, nothing has changed with the virus.

'...The families who allegedly breached coronavirus restrictions will not be fined, Mr Andrews said....'
Why?

Just proves , once again, that it is only mugs who even try to do the right thing and obey the law in Victoria. An innocent infringement and you will get the book thrown at you but a flagrant breach and ho hum who cares she'll be right.

Those families were from an ethnic background and they actually got an apology from the Chief Health Officer for having their ethnicity named... they certainly did not get fined despite having caused an outbreak.

If they were Anglo people they would have had the book thrown at them.

Nearly all the new jobs were self-employed workers taking out ABNs and joining the gig economy. Ie. Uber Eats/Menulog drivers...

Incidentally, the UK is tightening up rules again as the second wave hits.  Sound like they're going to have a rough winter.

That's why the official unemployment rate has become meaningless - we're turning into a third-world entity now where window washers at the traffic lights are put into the same category as Alan Joyce earning twenty five million a year. Both have JOBS, doesn't matter that one person is living in a cardboard box and the other in a mansion.

Most people still have no concept of the huge wave of poverty about to wash over this nation now that the government money is evaporating and those without proper jobs will be exposed. We've added probably one and a half million people to below the poverty line in the last 12 months.

'...The families who allegedly breached coronavirus restrictions will not be fined, Mr Andrews said....'
Why?

Just proves , once again, that it is only mugs who even try to do the right thing and obey the law in Victoria. An innocent infringement and you will get the book thrown at you but a flagrant breach and ho hum who cares she'll be right.

Those families were from an ethnic background and they actually got an apology from the Chief Health Officer for having their ethnicity named... they certainly did not get fined despite having caused an outbreak.

If they were Anglo people they would have had the book thrown at them.

Obviuosly didn't really listen to what Prof Sutton said.

By way of his personal experience with a group, he explained that the family dynamics of recent ethnic arrivals works differently than the average angry white male.  
Some of the peanut galley immediately pounced and denounced that group as the culprits for Covid - they were wrong.

Prof Sutton's applogy was for that group's embarrassment and hurt, having been dragged into the media mire.

If any should appologise it's those meatheads that put 2 and 2 together and came up with bananas, just to get a xenophobic gotcha.

'...The families who allegedly breached coronavirus restrictions will not be fined, Mr Andrews said....'
Why?

Just proves , once again, that it is only mugs who even try to do the right thing and obey the law in Victoria. An innocent infringement and you will get the book thrown at you but a flagrant breach and ho hum who cares she'll be right.

Those families were from an ethnic background and they actually got an apology from the Chief Health Officer for having their ethnicity named... they certainly did not get fined despite having caused an outbreak.

If they were Anglo people they would have had the book thrown at them.

Obviuosly didn't really listen to what Prof Sutton said.

By way of his personal experience with a group, he explained that the family dynamics of recent ethnic arrivals works differently than the average angry white male.  
Some of the peanut galley immediately pounced and denounced that group as the culprits for Covid - they were wrong.

Prof Sutton's applogy was for that group's embarrassment and hurt, having been dragged into the media mire.

If any should appologise it's those meatheads that put 2 and 2 together and came up with bananas, just to get a xenophobic gotcha.

I did listen to what he said and it sounded like total rubbish along the lines of "we decided not to punish them because they came clean and told us exactly who they had visited and where"... so why issue 20,000 fines to people if all they had to do was come clean and tell the police exactly what they were doing?

Isn't this one set of rules for the poor 'recent arrivals' who purposely ignored restrictions that were posted in two different native languages (including Farsi) - but another set of rules for the people they they can more easily punish without being accused of ethnic harassment or racism?

And peanuts like you think it's all okay for the government to go hard on Australian-born people because they should know better? Please, that's just racism.

And this is exactly what that driveling apologist Andrews said yesterday when questioned about why they hadn't fined those Afghanis:

"I think that if you start (issuing fines), you run the very real risk that people are not full and frank in the interviews. Or indeed some people may not come forward and get tested, if they fear that they can't do that in an open process, if we were to try and do a kind of retro analysis of every one of the now close to 20,000 interviews that we have done, through the course of those interviews, many, many people in many different ways will have essentially admitted to doing certain things, and it is about trying to balance up," he said.

"We might all feel better if those five families got a fine, but ultimately the value of the fine is nothing compared to the value of the information that they give us.

"Because that is how you pull it up. That is how you drive the numbers down. That is how we get to a point where these rules would need to be in place."

So clearly there's one set of rules for Australian-born people and another set of rules for those who aren't born here: Laws don't apply at the discretion of a government terrified of being accused of racism through racial profiling of who is actually spreading the virus. Yet if the families involved were Australian-born they would have been naming and shaming them AND throwing the book at them with fines.

Ridiculous - this reverse-racism has got to stop. The law needs to apply equally to everyone or not at all - one or the other.

I did listen to what he said and it sounded like total rubbish along the lines of "we decided not to punish them because they came clean and told us exactly who they had visited and where"... so why issue 20,000 fines to people if all they had to do was come clean and tell the police exactly what they were doing?

Isn't this one set of rules for the poor 'recent arrivals' who purposely ignored restrictions that were posted in two different native languages (including Farsi) - but another set of rules for the people they they can more easily punish without being accused of ethnic harassment or racism?

And peanuts like you think it's all okay for the government to go hard on Australian-born people because they should know better? Please, that's just racism.

back on form, personal abuse and attributing thoughts to others not held nor expressed.

And of course making stuff up. Tracers are not police, and their discussions are medical in confidence. Singling out a very small group(34)  against 20,000 others who have to some degree exposed themselves - sometimes outside the rules. You decide if it's racist, but it's sure divisive.

We can only be thankful that angry white men such as yourself don't have the inflence you hear in your own echo.

BTW - a very ethnic diverse bunch being chased around town yesterday for very real law breaking. Benny Hill would be proud.
What was that about only Aussie-born being picked up? Ask the residents in Housing towers how the feel about that rubbish.

Is there really any need for this?

Yes Bevans, it is.

The law of parsimony, what some may know are Ockham’s razor tells us that the ‘simpler solution’ that of wearing a mask in public is the likely best solution.

If you go out determined to demonstrate how selfish you can be by breaking the law and defying police, don't expect sympathy.