Coronavirus 4 - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

[Dave The Man]

Looks like there could be caps again on AFL games next year

https://twitter.com/theagesport/status/ ... 23139?s=20

[pietillidie]

As far as the tests go, I saw them in the pharmacy today. $15 for a single test. pass.

That's criminal for something that needs to be free. People are reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary, let alone find where something might be in stock and then pay $15 a piece for them all the while risking catching the bloody virus while looking for them. Complete madness.

The government can't ask people to take something seriously and then take the pi$$ like that.

[eddiesmith]

^
The Dandrews die hards lost the capacity for reason a long time ago. Dom in NSW is leading the charge and other states are falling in line with their own local quirks.

National Cabinet tomorrow will be interesting. More borders are open, more restrictions on people moving are being reduced. I read an opinion piece somewhere today, all politicians of all parties follow the polls, there is clearly no appetite from any government to ruin Christmas with increased restrictions.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. massively increasing case numbers when they're majority under 30 aren't necessarily going to lead to massive increases in hospitalisations or deaths in a highly vaccinated society

As far as the tests go, I saw them in the pharmacy today. $15 for a single test. pass.

Yep not worth it at all. Although we’ve been told if you’re exposed at work and say so at the testing site you get 5 free tests.

[David]

As far as the tests go, I saw them in the pharmacy today. $15 for a single test. pass.

That's criminal for something that needs to be free. People are reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary, let alone find where something might be in stock and then pay $15 a piece for them all the while risking catching the bloody virus while looking for them. Complete madness.

The government can't ask people to take something seriously and then take the pi$$ like that.

Agreed. And the article I posted details the entirely predictable consequences of this: people on tight budgets who need them are deciding against picking them up because the cost is too high, while corporate reps come in and buy up all the stock. In short, you've basically got the supply-and-demand model for AFL grand final tickets being applied to antigen tests in the middle of a pandemic. Madness.

[Pies4shaw]

And meanwhile, from the country that never does anything for free, we have this for comparison: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ht-omicron

The details in the name of the url are a typo - it's actually half a billion free tests. That's not enough - but it puts our leaders to shame (which is not something I usually expect from a US Federal Government).

[What'sinaname]

As far as the tests go, I saw them in the pharmacy today. $15 for a single test. pass.

That's criminal for something that needs to be free. People are reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary, let alone find where something might be in stock and then pay $15 a piece for them all the while risking catching the bloody virus while looking for them. Complete madness.

The government can't ask people to take something seriously and then take the pi$$ like that.

Nothing is free. The so called free vaccination, free testing is costing the Government billions of dollars. I sure hope you don't whinge when tax rates have to increase to pay for all of these free things.

[stui magpie]

As far as the tests go, I saw them in the pharmacy today. $15 for a single test. pass.

That's criminal for something that needs to be free. People are reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary, let alone find where something might be in stock and then pay $15 a piece for them all the while risking catching the bloody virus while looking for them. Complete madness.

The government can't ask people to take something seriously and then take the pi$$ like that.

Agreed. And the article I posted details the entirely predictable consequences of this: people on tight budgets who need them are deciding against picking them up because the cost is too high, while corporate reps come in and buy up all the stock. In short, you've basically got the supply-and-demand model for AFL grand final tickets being applied to antigen tests in the middle of a pandemic. Madness.

You think these corporate reps are buying for personal use?

[pietillidie]

As far as the tests go, I saw them in the pharmacy today. $15 for a single test. pass.

That's criminal for something that needs to be free. People are reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary, let alone find where something might be in stock and then pay $15 a piece for them all the while risking catching the bloody virus while looking for them. Complete madness.

The government can't ask people to take something seriously and then take the pi$$ like that.

Nothing is free. The so called free vaccination, free testing is costing the Government billions of dollars. I sure hope you don't whinge when tax rates have to increase to pay for all of these free things.

If you have time in between textbooks, I hear Oxford are looking for a professor of public health economics.

[pietillidie]

That's criminal for something that needs to be free. People are reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary, let alone find where something might be in stock and then pay $15 a piece for them all the while risking catching the bloody virus while looking for them. Complete madness.

The government can't ask people to take something seriously and then take the pi$$ like that.

Agreed. And the article I posted details the entirely predictable consequences of this: people on tight budgets who need them are deciding against picking them up because the cost is too high, while corporate reps come in and buy up all the stock. In short, you've basically got the supply-and-demand model for AFL grand final tickets being applied to antigen tests in the middle of a pandemic. Madness.

You think these corporate reps are buying for personal use?

Yeah, the interdependence of society, corporations, individuals and the economy has perhaps never been more obvious than right now. It doesn't matter where the supply is going unless it's being hoarded; all proper testing is beneficial, work or home, while people need confidence in their workplace to keep the economy ticking along.

The problem appears to be the lack of supply and cost deterrent. The lack of supply might be incentivising sales to the highest bidder, but you definitely want companies testing as well.

[David]

That's criminal for something that needs to be free. People are reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary, let alone find where something might be in stock and then pay $15 a piece for them all the while risking catching the bloody virus while looking for them. Complete madness.

The government can't ask people to take something seriously and then take the pi$$ like that.

Agreed. And the article I posted details the entirely predictable consequences of this: people on tight budgets who need them are deciding against picking them up because the cost is too high, while corporate reps come in and buy up all the stock. In short, you've basically got the supply-and-demand model for AFL grand final tickets being applied to antigen tests in the middle of a pandemic. Madness.

You think these corporate reps are buying for personal use?

The article isn’t clear on that, but my assumption is that they’re for the company’s employees. Whether they’re all being used or being kept for a rainy day is another question. I’m not saying it’s bad for companies to have tests on hand, but what seems obvious is that the tests are being distributed according to ability to pay, not according to need. I think my grand final tickets analogy is an apt one.

[What'sinaname]

Not really. Go on Chemistwarehouse online right now and buy a pack of 5...free delivery too.

This proves the value people put on their health. People like to whinge and whine when the Government doesn't spend billions to protect them, but they wont put their hand in their own pocket to protect themselves.

[David]

You’ve got a spare $50 on hand for that (while stocks last)? I can assure you that not everybody does. And even for those who do, the prospect of dropping a pineapple on these is a clear deterrent to getting tested, which is hardly what we need right now.

[What'sinaname]

lol...spare $50.

And again, you highlight the value put on health.

Happy to put a lazy $50 at the pub, at Dans, at Smokemart, buying plastic Christmas crap.

You don't need a spare $50. You just need a $50.

[David]

[Pies4shaw]

Yes - it's about encouraging people to make the correct choice in the interests of public health generally. If the disease had a 40% fatality rate, people would just get the test because they'd have a very immediate interest in wanting to know whether they need urgent treatment. But here you have a disease that we know, statistically, will kill lots and lots of people but the chances of it killing any particular person are low - you want every particular person to make the choice to have the test in the interests, for the most part, of not killing other people. That's not a situation in which it is remotely sensible to charge people - why would you, eg, spend $15 to take a test that might protect Stui but is likely to be little interest to you - you'll know if/when you need medical treatment and taking the test won't alter that.

Thus, the idea that people should just "find $50" is moronic. You "find $50" in pressing circumstances because you want to feed your child or get your mother urgent medical treatment - you don't do it to prevent the abstract possibility that people you have never met in a place you have never been might get ill.

And, once again, I respectfully observe that even the United States has worked that out (see the link in my post last night). What is wrong with our pathetic excuses for governments that they can't?