https://www.redbubble.com/i/mask/Mackenzie-and-Clare-and-Alanna-and-Ellie-and-Tameka-and-Steph-and-Chloe-and-Emily-and-Caitlin-and-Hayley-and-Sam-by-TooUpfront/40964467.9G0D8

Matildas facemask!

You can bet your bottom dollar that's how China are doing it.

Doubt it'd be what we would call "voluntary" though.

There are also calls to perform "challenge trials" in which vaccinated people are deliberately infected with coronavirus. However, there are ethical concerns due to a lack of treatments.

This is what I don't get. How is it more ethical to do the current type of trial which also requires a proportion of the cohort to catch the virus (including those on a placebo) over a long period of time while perhaps a million more people die than a challenge trial that could give us an answer in two weeks? I would volunteer.

Oxford Uni publishing data from the first stage of trials of their vaccine, so far so good, hopefully they finish the final stage by the end of the year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-53469839

400+ new cases is obviously scary, but remember this data has a ten day lag due to the average time to get test results. Tomorrow the 18th is ten days from the 8th, the last day before we went back to lockdown, so hopefully new cases will start trending down in the next few days.

If not: full steam ahead to Level 4.

I give you www.theshot.net.au

The Shot is a real news service covering all the news stories that are so ridiculous that they sound like they could be satire.

It honestly feel like there's a large portion of America that is focused on trying to put The Onion out of business.

I got tested and it wasn't too bad but if they went any further with the swab up my nose it would have been interesting lol 

Thank fuck our pollies at least listen to medical experts.

-PB

Got tested a couple of weeks ago because I had a bad cough.  Yep the swap goes so far up the nose you will have tears streaming & so far down the throat the gag reflex kicks in.  

A mate of mine said the nose swab went so far up there it dislodged painful childhood memories from his brain lol

Alternatively, it is a pretty shit thing to go thru.

Granted it is no big deal in the grand scheme of tracking this virus.. but really the test fxxxing sucks. The nose swab is intense pain. A lot of people from the throat swab have to cough and spit and stuff, more often than not all over the person performing the test and with that comes the mental pain of feeling sorry for them (even though they are used to it). As important as it is to step up and get tested when appropriate, it is hard to downplay what an unpleasant experience it is to get done. 

I will say though, I got tested mid-May and had a really hard time. I have heard people getting tested more recently and the test sounding more forgiving. Not sure if their methods have changed, or just the vibe of it different? Or maybe it just felt overhyped to them. Either way, it is hard not to get a tear in your eye when that nose swab is done. 

No they won’t. They will continue to click bait.

Murdoch press are notorious for it.  Until they get called out by say media watch they'll often ignore it

Yeah but thats a direct quote from the Australian. Of course its hidden half way down.

Its no big deal MC.
Was made an issue in the early days of testing but it really isn't that bad.
4 in the fam have had it done incl me, went no where as deep as made out originally.

oh well, covid will always be around us till when/IF a vaccine finally comes along.
The Crossroads spike really is a piss off for us but no where near as bad what Melb is going through.
All the best fellas down there - get tested if not yet and keep safe.

The hun are running with it . Aussiepride is quoting the hun and the msm . 

Not fun getting tested 

From this strain, we have cases from Casula to Star City. It would be interest to know which workplace they are talking about. 

Thanks Melbourne. 

Melbourne man 'likely' responsible for Crossroads Hotel cluster

 Health authorities in NSW say a man from Melbourne is "likely" responsible for sparking a cluster of coronavirus cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in south-west Sydney. 
The man, who works for a freight company but is not a truck driver, travelled to Sydney on June 30 and is thought to have infected several colleagues at his workplace. The group went to a function at the Crossroads Hotel on July 3. "We've made these links with extensive interviews over multiple public health units," NSW Health's Jeannie Musto said. 
So far, 34 COVID-19 infections have been linked to the pub.

====

:crazy:

"DHHS says it has still not established the source of any of the interlinked clusters, with Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton on the record expressing scepticism that the protesters caught the virus at the rally."

So the direct link between BLM Melbourne protest and spike has finally been reported.
There was mumours of the severity of it but recently the effect was down played.

Its disappointing to hear but it doesn’t come as a surprise.
I’m not against the movement, black lives matter and all lives matter.
The disappointment is more choosing the middle of a pandemic to do it when at the same token Australian’s were respectful and creative when it came to acknowledging our soldiers on ANZAC day by staying at home and paying their respects from their driveways. I wish they chose to get the point across in a sensible manner.

Its not the sole factor for the shit fight we are now in but it’s contributed to setting back our economy for a min few months and will result in plenty of jobs lost.

Yeah was having this discussion with a bloke who reckons they're heading for a civil war over these deaths.  I said they just see these deaths as the cost of doing business and life needs to go in regardless.

Seppos are funny like that.

Considering it's been about 2 weeks since LFC clinched the title and fans congregated on Anfield by their thousands, would be interesting to see if there's been a spike on cases on Merseyside to correlate with this...

"Your lives are a sacrifice I am willing to make"

I reckon the pollie's have run the numbers over there & have no problems with several hundred thousand deaths.  

Lol imagine being so pretty you go after your own chief health expert.

-PB

-PB

14 cases today. 4 returned travellers, 2 from Victoria and 8 from Crossroads Casula.