COVID-19: who’s going full doomsday prep on this?

H

Hal-9000

Likes Dirt
clockworked said:
Listen I'm not trying to be derogatory to your opinions here but there are some faults that are important enough to mention.
  1. Need and like are also different concepts. You need to stay healthy mentally and physically, true. But you only want to achieve that outdoor. It is not inpossible for you yo achieve this indoors, in isolation. Its just much, much harder.
  2. The virus remains viable for hours in the air. you can be out in yhe middle of nowhere and still transmit it to anyone that walks through yhe space in the next few hours. Therefore one could not possible "guarantee" anything in that regard. It certainly isn't 100% safe
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1. People's mental health is extremely important and is something that seems to be getting overlooked in these discussions. With the current restriction, issues are even more compounded.
My next door neighbours son suffers from depression and has spoken about (and gotten close to) suicide on a few occasions. MTB has done him a world of good mentally and we already know how good mid to high impact exercise is for mental health. He can't get the same workout by walking and has zero interest in running. To compound issues, he will not be going back to school next week as the government has said that kids who can be taught at home should stay at home and so he is really upset to not be able to see his friends for possibly the whole of next term. A daily ride at the local MTB park which is a 10minute drive up the road is really helping the boy get through what is a stressful time for kids right now. Take the riding away and his mental state could take a nose dive.
So while for you it may be "just a ride", for others, it's much more than that so let's not pass judgment eh?

Meanwhile, you can go down to the shops to get a bit of Thai food if that is what you feel like, you can go to Bunnings to do a few unnecessary home improvements and horse racing can continue because according to our Premiere, it makes people feel good and can apparently be done in a safe way.
Now, if my neighbour can get in my car and drive 10mins away to go for a ride with his son and not come into contact with anyone else (which is extremely easy to do), why shouldn't he? Surely his mental state is more important than someones desire for takeout when they can't be bothered cooking or the revenue earned from gambling (which if you watch Daniel Andrews press conference today, he let slip is the real reason for horse racing going ahead.)?
Everyone just needs to take a step back and assess the situation logically, not by over reacting and fear mongering.

And in relation to point 2. Therefore walking around the block in a built up area could be worse than heading into the bush for a ride as people walk in and out of their houses and on the footpaths to go for walks or go to the supermarket etc and so there is a much higher chance of the virus being in the air there than out in the bush.
 
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ozzybmx

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
My cousin (23yrs younger than me) and her partner, both 24ish, she's from N Ireland and he's a Pomme have been in Aus on a working visa for the past 8 months. Both are qualified teachers and hoping to stay in this great country in the future, currently shacked up in a farm just outside Shepparton, in share accom with 20 other pear picking backpackers, production has ceased but they were allowed to stay on... that was a week ago, now just been told to GTFO.

I know they mean well but I told them to stay out of Melbourne as part of their travel plans anytime soon, minimise unnecessary contact with everybody and everything, then if need be, grab a bus towards the SA border and I would come pick them up ... just phoned frantically, were homeless BUT we have bought a car, located in Melbourne and currently getting roadworthy cert, picking it up tomorrow :(

I was a bit apprehensive about letting them come straight here as it was... now thinking I will get them an Airbnb for 2 weeks somewhere.

Neither of us can risk getting it, she will kill old people in her nursing home if she gets it, I could decimate the workforce providing critical infrastructure.
 
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nathanm

nathanm

Eats Squid
ozzybmx said:
My cousin (23yrs younger than me) and her partner, both 24ish, she's from N Ireland and he's a Pomme have been in Aus on a working visa for the past 8 months. Both are qualified teachers and hoping to stay in this great country in the future, currently shacked up in a farm just outside Shepparton, in share accom with 20 other pear picking backpackers, production has ceased but they were allowed to stay on... that was a week ago, now just been told to GTFO.

I know they mean well but I told them to stay out of Melbourne as part of their travel plans anytime soon, minimise unnecessary contact with everybody and everything, then if need be, grab a bus towards the SA border and I would come pick them up ... just phoned frantically, were homeless BUT we have bought a car, located in Melbourne and currently getting roadworthy cert, picking it up tomorrow :(

I was a bit apprehensive about letting them come straight here as it was... now thinking I will get them an Airbnb for 2 weeks somewhere.

Neither of us can risk getting it, she will kill old people in her nursing home if she gets it, I could decimate the workforce providing critical infrastructure.
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Really good example of one of the many, many flaws in the governments thinking. So many people on working Visa's and the like have been left stranded and pretty much encouraged to just "go home". But with no accomodation, transport etc they are at such a high risk of catching and spreading the virus. But the government chooses to simply ignore them, hoping that problem will resolve itself. making matters worse the government is also not providing any funding or assistance to them.

Locate them, shelter them (like we do for incoming travellers) and repatriate them.
 
stirk

stirk

Burner
I agree with the Tasmanian's regarding closures moving more people who want to get out to exercise into higher traffic areas. That's exactly why my little known local walking track is seeing double the numbers of people as the popular tracks are closed. And as other have said we can then go shopping and expose ourselves to a shitload more contagion than if we were to go for a ride in the bush.

We are in unprecedented times and the response is not ideal as a more measured approach with commonsense prevailing to such activities as mountains biking would be ideal but is probably very hard to implement and get a well understood message out to all concerned. Hence we have large closures which is easy to deploy quickly.......it's easy and seen as action......sigh

Also the fact that if large MTB parks are closed and it's known a few less populated small ones are open they'd then be flooded with people. So it's not an easy situation for anyone to manage and it's changing daily.


Good time to remember not to upload your lesser known trails to Strava publically!!
 
ozzybmx

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
nathanm said:
Locate them, shelter them (like we do for incoming travellers) and repatriate them.
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Exactly, so from tomorrow there 20 of them heading off hunt around VIC for work... good work Gov !

I'm going to Airbnb them for 2 weeks to make it as safe for us and others as possible.

The other issue is, the Gov only changed the rules on them a few days ago allowing them to extend working time with employers. They had great jobs in QLD and the employer was sad to see them go... but cant drive back there now.
 
pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Hal-9000 said:
Premiere, it makes people feel good and can apparently be done in a safe way.
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Not of you're a horse.

ozzybmx said:
My cousin (23yrs younger than me) and her partner, both 24ish, she's from N Ireland and he's a Pomme have been in Aus on a working visa for the past 8 months. Both are qualified teachers and hoping to stay in this great country in the future, currently shacked up in a farm just outside Shepparton, in share accom with 20 other pear picking backpackers, production has ceased but they were allowed to stay on... that was a week ago, now just been told to GTFO.

I know they mean well but I told them to stay out of Melbourne as part of their travel plans anytime soon, minimise unnecessary contact with everybody and everything, then if need be, grab a bus towards the SA border and I would come pick them up ... just phoned frantically, were homeless BUT we have bought a car, located in Melbourne and currently getting roadworthy cert, picking it up tomorrow :(

I was a bit apprehensive about letting them come straight here as it was... now thinking I will get them an Airbnb for 2 weeks somewhere.

Neither of us can risk getting it, she will kill old people in her nursing home if she gets it, I could decimate the workforce providing critical infrastructure.
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Shit!!! Does this mean the price of pears is going to sky rocket?


stirk said:
That's exactly why my little known local walking track is seeing double the numbers of people
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Wentworth Falls, little known...
 
clockworked

clockworked

Like an orange
rangersac said:
Outside exercise is listed as an allowable activity in every state. Leaving aside whether you think this is the right thing to do or not (and personally I think it's very important for health and well being), because it's permitted then sensible provision needs to be undertaken to allow it to happen. Blanket closures are potentially counter productive. Here's an example, and yes it's a personal one so I have skin in the game, but I'm happy to be convinced if I am being illogical.

I live in Coningham, Tasmania, and over my back fence is the Coningham reserve, a 1000+ acre recreation area managed by Tas Parks and Wildlife. When I say managed, they look after the external signage and have a description of the reserve on their website, and they send a patrol around probably twice per year. Any on ground management (weeding, tree planting, trail maintenance) is undertaken in collaboration with Parks (i.e we tell them we want to do something and they assist) by the Friends of Coningham Landcare group and the Coningham Mountain Biking Club, both of which I am a member. The reserve has no picnic or camping grounds, toilets, gates to open, hand rails, and multiple access points, none of which are large car parks. So zero touchy surfaces to transmit droplets (unless you are the sort of walker who goes out of your way to touch every tree you walk past), and limited spots for groups to congregate. If I go for a walk or a bike ride in the reserve on an ordinary day I would be lucky to see one other person. However because it is Parks land it is now closed.

Less than 100m away at some points is a coastal reserve trail managed by the local council. It's a pretty narrow strip of land, mostly around 50-75 metres wide with a single trail running between a few small beaches. There's a toilet block at one beach and a few picnic tables and benches at several locations on the trail. This is still open, and friends of mine who's properties border this trail, estimate that foot traffic on it has tripled since the reserve closed. I've walked it a few times with the kids since closure and have run into several people both times.

The local roads have no footpaths, and it being quite a bushy and hilly area, nature strips bordering the roads are basically non existent. So in summary the options to undertake a listed allowable activity are as follows:

1: Walk/ run/ bike ride down the middle of fairly hilly roads. Unattractive at best, and with little kids potentially dangerous.
2: Walk/ run/ bike/ do beach activities using access points that limited, have surfaces for COVID transmission, and now see very frequent visitation.

Or I can:

3: Walk/ run/ bike ride in a 'closed' reserve where contact with other people is extremely unlikely (even if it was open) and surfaces for droplet contamination essentially don't exist

What do you think is the safest option?



I am interested to know where you have seen this information as what you are described is aerosol based transmission and there is no evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted in this fashion
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Looks like I'm wrong! That NEJM study was the one paraphrased to us by the dental board when they placed restrictions on us, but it looks like the WHO has moved on from that position. Thats good news!

@stirk says it clearly though: while its a shitty rule, and bunnings and the thai shop should probably be closed too, its a simple enforcable rule that benefits the majority at the expense of a fairly small minority. Certainly looks to be working based on the latest numbers reported by the government
 
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