Parts of Tasmania enter snap lockdown, authorities ‘disappointed to be here’

By Kelsie Iorio

That’s all for tonight

Today has been a lot. No denying that. But you made it through! Take care of yourself this weekend. Nourish your body. Go for a good walk. Call someone for a mega chat! Cuddle your pet. Cuddle your household members where appropriate. Be nice to strangers. Actually, just be nice to everyone. The blog will be back tomorrow.

What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and there were no restrictions? 

We would be on the first plane to Sweden to see our son and his young family. Our granddaughters are 4 and 2 and we have only held the oldest when she was 6 months old. And on the way home we would stay somewhere warm and luxurious- Maldives maybe?

-Nan and Pa

I’m in Canberra and my adult children are in Melbourne. I dream of being able to give them a big hug and enjoy a family holiday together on the beautiful NSW South Coast.

-Jenny

I’d want a rerun of the Tokyo Olympics with the full she-bang

-Turn back time

(BIG yes to this one ^^)

If I could wake up tomorrow and all was normal, I’d jump on the first flight to Melbourne to see my family. I’m a hospital worker in the ACT so even when borders have been open there has been almost no opportunity to get home and abide by hospital restrictions. Haven’t been home in two years.

-Tanya

TRAVEL!!✈️🚙🚂⛺️🏖

-Nomads

First thing I’d do is not look at the Coronavirus Blog …. despite all the good people at the ABC who have been somewhat brothers/sisters over the last 18 months!

-Ian

Hey, we’d miss you too! Maybe just not all the life-altering, plan-destroying madness that comes with it. 

Fake COVID-positive text message no joke

Again — don’t do this. 

The team at ABC Goulburn Murray understands a border resident received a fraudulent text message advising them they had returned a positive COVID-19 result — the recipient had been to an exposure site and was tested before they got the message. 

Murrumbidgee Local Health District’s director of public heath Tracey Oakman says it takes a lot of resources to investigate things like this, which is a waste of time when the area is already on such high alert.

“I don’t think it’s funny to text your mates to tell them they’re positive. It is not a joke,” she says. 

“It is a very wasteful and expensive joke on the community and it’s not funny at all.”

Busy dealing with a devastated yr12 child who has been back at school for one week and been told today they have to prepare for exams remotely back at home again to avoid getting covid or becoming a close contact and risking sitting exams. A quick whiff of friends and teachers onsite learning support and back home ya go…all while Melb Cup welcomes 10k people to a race track to watch horses and anyone in Melbs can travel to Sydney and back!?! Poor kids.

I’m so proud and stoked that once the grief and trauma of this whole thing settles that these stoic, courageous, adaptable, fun loving, realistic young people will be our future leaders. Sending love and hoorays to our kiddlywinks…they need a bit of wind in their sails. Be nice if the politicians and media did the same for the next few weeks. I’m off to cuddle a child.

Two COVID cases detected at Howard Springs in the NT

The NT Government says a 25-year-old woman and a child have tested positive for COVID at the Centre for National Resilience (aka Howard Springs) after arriving from Sydney on October 11. 

The woman and child travelled straight from the airport to quarantine, and 20 other passengers on the same flight have been identified as close contacts. 

“Five of these people went directly into quarantine at the CNR upon arrival and will complete 14 days of quarantine,” a statement from NT health authorities says. 

“The remaining 15 are members of the Australian Defence Force and travelled directly from the airport to the Bladin Village Quarantine Facility.”

Authorities say the woman and the child have mild symptoms — no details on the woman’s vaccination status. 

Annastacia Palaszczuk has changed her Twitter profile picture, looked weird after seeing that picture every day. Could this indicate a change in strategy for Queensland

-New Profile Picture

Here’s something most of us never would have imagined doing in 2019 — analysing the social media profile pictures of politicians to try and work out what they’re going to do next 😂

Do you know when permitted workers in Melbourne will have to prove they’ve had their first dose?

A couple of anti-vaxxers at my husband’s workplace have decided to make a booking for a vaccine in November which they have no intention of attending so they can get round the mandate. I wonder how many are exploiting this loophole because I can’t imagine they were smart enough to think of this by themselves.

-Frustrated in Melbourne

Ok firstly, don’t do this. Fake bookings are a waste of everyone’s time.

Secondly, for authorised workers in Victoria (other than aged care, construction, healthcare, school, childcare and early education who are on different timelines), from October 22 onwards, you have to have had a first dose or have a valid medical exemption to be able to attend on-site work.

If you don’t either get the jab or have a valid medical exemption, you can’t go to work. If you can work from home, good for you, but you can’t rock up on site. 

There aren’t any fines in place for individuals who don’t meet these requirements at the moment, but there are for workplaces. Do you really want to be the one who gets your workplace fined? Can’t imagine it would go down too well with the boss. Also, there ARE fines in place for providing false or misleading info about your vaccination status — up to $10,904.40 for an individual. 

Judge dismisses challenges to NSW COVID-19 vaccination orders for workers

This news dropped a little earlier, but we have some more detail now — a judge has dismissed two legal challenges to health orders requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in NSW.

Unvaccinated workers initiated the court action, saying their employment had been impacted, but Justice Robert Beech-Jones ruled the arguments had failed on all grounds. 

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant, the State of NSW and the Commonwealth were named as defendants.

Jamie McKinnell has the full story.

Question for you, blog friends: 

If you woke up tomorrow and everything was “normal” (think back to 2019, no restrictions, no travel bans, no threat of a deadly virus coming for you and the people you love) — what would you do first? Where would you go, who would you see, what have you been waiting for the most? 

Tell me in the comments and we’ll all dream together. 

Staff losses due to Victoria’s vaccine mandate won’t affect students, union says

From next week, every education worker in Victoria must have had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, or must have booked an appointment to receive it, and they must be fully vaccinated by November 26.

The Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace says anecdotally, most members say they’ve either been vaccinated or are getting vaccinated, and she’s certain students won’t be affected by any stand-downs. 

“We are confident the majority will be vaccinated as per the Chief Health Officers’ Order, and our view has always been to proceed in accordance with his directions,” she says. 

“We’ve clearly explained to members the implications of not being vaccinated and how their employers might respond to that in not letting them attend on site. There will be some people opposed to vaccines and have genuine concerns and some degree of nervousness about the vaccine related to their own health.

“We’ve just encouraged them to talk to their health professional when making those decisions.” 

An interesting take from the Queensland Premier

Some people have commented that it’s a little brag-y.

There’s an ad doing the rounds in Queensland about Delta being on our doorstep, so fingers crossed this doesn’t come back to bite anyone in the bum. 

Royal Hobart Show still going ahead for now

Someone wrote in asking about the Royal Hobart Show earlier — in a Facebook post, the Hobart Showground says at this stage, the event will still proceed as planned next week. 

“We will await advice from Public Health and keep you all updated,” the post says.

“We expect to know more by Monday.”

The Show is meant to start after the lockdown is scheduled to end — so if it ends as scheduled that’s good news, but if it gets extended, organisers might be in a spot of bother. 

SA man’s exemption to return home approved after sister and nephew’s funeral

An Adelaide man who was stuck in Canberra after travelling there to attend the funeral of his sister and nephew has now been given an exemption to return to South Australia.

Idris Martin lost his sister Dahlia to complications during the birth of her son Silas on October 1 — little Silas died seven days after his mum.

“It was supposed to be one of the happiest days of our lives and it turned out to be the worst day of my life and the worst week of my life,” he said.

But he’s now confirmed on Twitter that he is able to get home, and thanked those who helped him. 

Tasmania, your 5km radius map has arrived

Is this the first one of these we’ve done for Tasmania?? I reckon it might be. 

As we heard earlier — for the next three days there’s a 5km limit on how far you can travel from home in the vast majority of circumstances, for the southern Tas LGAs that are now in lockdown. 

Check out the map tool here. 

Is this the craziest day in blog history??

-Hatter

I genuinely wish I could say yes, but it’s not even close. That’s not saying today hasn’t been ridiculous — there have just been some days over the last 18 months that have been way worse. 

Can you still fly from Hobart to Brisbane?

Due to fly out tomorrow..

-Jonathan

You can, but you may run the risk of being placed in quarantine when you get in.

At this stage, Queensland has ruled that you must quarantine for 14 days and get a COVID test ASAP if you’ve been at an exposure site in Tasmania (or anywhere, for that matter). 

Whether or not Queensland authorities make a late announcement upgrading this advice, we’re going to have to wait and see.