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March 30, 2024

Lockdown needed following COVID-19 case

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Ms Saffin said that with any lockdown, we expect the NSW Government to immediately put in place the essential supports for the communities and businesses in all affected local government areas.

‘I know that lockdowns hurt, but administrative delays hurt more.

‘We need more timely advice and more detailed information from the NSW Government and agencies like NSW Health, NSW Treasury and Services NSW. All local MPs and Mayors need to be contacted and kept informed.’

Investigations are underway into the source of a Sydney man’s infection with COVID-19 and local venues which he may have visited in the region.

‘This person, aged in his fifties, has been active in the community since July 30 and possibly infectious for several days.’

As a precaution everybody who is in the following local government areas should immediately isolate and have a COVID-19 test if they have even the mildest of symptoms: Byron Shire, Tweed Shire, Ballina, Lismore City, Richmond Valley and Kyogle.

‘Considering that Tamworth is now in lockdown with no known cases, it follows that a similar lockdown here in the Northern Rivers is looming.

‘I encourage our community to remain vigilant, follow the COVID-19 rules and get tested even with the mildest of symptoms.’


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11 COMMENTS

  1. No, Janelle, lockdowns are not the answer and the hope that Australia can keep it’s finger in the dyke forever is a forlorn hope. I have passed covid times in Portugal and have seen it all.
    My advice – stay at home if feeling slightly off color and roll out vaccines for those who want them and Vitamin D and Ivermectin for those who don’t. They all have good efficacy. Just stop the ridiculous politicised culture wars over the pandemic and provide medical options for all.

    • I am surprised you don’t advocate drinking bleach too. With experts like yourself giving such dubious advice we should all be gallivanting about the globe any moment now . As for having seen it all …. You see what you choose to see ,those blinkers of yours seem to have a very narrow focus .

      • Never mind Mac, it appears ridicule and cancel culture are the weapons of choice of the anti-debaters.

        Take Dr Joseph Varon for example, Chief of Critical Care at United Memorial Medical Centre and United General Hospital in Houston.

        He was the go-to Dr for media reporting on covid in the US, they even labelled him the “Covid Hunter” for his successful treatment of covid… until he revealed that he was and still is, saving critical Covid patient lives with Ivermectin. BTW – he also believes in vaccines.

        Dr Varon was the Principle investigator in the recent peer-reviewed research that looks at Ivermectin in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 published in the American Journal of Therapeutics. He has also contributed to more than 830 peer-reviewed journal articles, 10 textbooks, and 15 dozen book chapters to medical literature. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for Critical Care and Shock and Current Respiratory Medicine Reviews.

        But non of this matters for the anti-debaters.

        Never mind the fact that Ivermectin is a well-proven drug that won the Nobel Prize in 2015.

        Never mind the fact that literally billions of doses of Ivermectin have been safely administered to people worldwide, earning it a place on the top of the W.H.O.’s Essential Medicines list with the highest safety profile.

        Many will attack alternative thinking with a stunningly profound sense of illogically misplaced moral superiority that is completely detached from on the ground, real life experience and observable reality. Clear evidence that people are suffering from a very dangerous and malignant form of groupthink. If you wont debate or cant debate without ridicule, something really smells.

        Please do better to promote healthy debate and question everything with large doses of kindness.

        • No, no, no Steve, it does matter to us so called “anti-debaters”. When the data exists to back its use we’re interested believe me.

          There is some interest in ivermectin in medico circles, it’s just not considered – by many more learned people who would also know – to have met the stringent trial requirements to be considered a first port of call treatment. I think it’s generally considered safe but so is paracetamol but it’s not used as a Covid treatment.

          Why do you believe this guy but not the many scientists who tell you there are demonstrably better treatments? Are you the anti-debater? Do you likewise think he’s on the money about vaccines or is that where your belief in him ends?

          Aren’t you cancelling us saying we’re just into groupthink?

          But yes, kindness always – stay well!

          • Great news you’re a pro-debater Liz! Open debate lends itself to problem solving.

            Trail data exists on ivermectin, and it has been peer reviewed.

            Suggesting a drug, that has been around for 30+ years and has recently been trailed for treating covid-19 with results published and peer reviewed, has “not met stringent trial requirements” tells me those in “medico circles” you speak of either made the statements a long time ago or are not up to speed.

            Why would anyone “believe this guy” Dr Joseph Varon?

            He is an eminent, treating Dr who is considered one of the top physicians in the United States and a world leader for his work on Covid19 and his care for affected patients. Also, it’s nice to know that the skin he has in the game, is his hands treating patients. His record speaks for itself, but if any individual had a severe case of Covid 19, I reckon they would want one of the world’s most experienced Doctors in treating Covid-19 successfully, by their bedside if they had the choice.

            Regarding vaccines – I think it’s wise to weigh up the current chance of death or severe illness for any individual’s particular health status and age cohort. To suggest the jab is good for everybody before trials are complete, presently due in October 2022 for Moderna and January 2023 for Pfizer, would be very unwise in my view but that’s just me, time really is the best judge.

            Re scientists suggesting “there are demonstrably better treatments?” I’m not aware of other peer reviewed treatments, can you elaborate on what they are?

            And no cancelling from me, simply suggesting groupthink is dangerous as it puts undue pressure on individual thought processes and can restrict us from discussing alternative ideas.

            We need ideas more than ever and is extremely important to encourage discussion with empathy, otherwise the un-vaxed will be treated appallingly when they have every right to make their own decisions about a jab for a virus that will likely not kill the vast majority of us. To suggest they are being selfish (vax shaming) by sitting on the side lines, while even the experts are still learning, is a dangerous tribal mindset and a very slippery slope that won’t end well. E.g. We should not ostracise overweight or obese individuals who can put pressures on our health system that can have detrimental follow-on effects for other healthy people.

            Thanks Liz, looking forward to further engagement and perhaps an answer to my query should you find the time.

          • Steve, I find many things about the pandemic worthy of staying informed. It’s interest and curiosity that mainly piques any obsession I have – not fear as many conspiracists (not you) assure me I’m gripped by.

            We are living through one of history’s major events and how that plays out politically, geo-politically and ethically is a source of fascination. Add to this mix the wealth of learning we are being exposed to in the science of disease and human behaviour and you have me pretty hooked.

            There’s much in this mix that I get sufficiently concerned about to make frequent comment but I am not interested in getting into a competition of who can provide the most web links or tracts of cut and paste. You might see this as a reluctance for unblinkered research and debate but there’s a simple reason.

            I don’t know about you, Steve but I don’t have any medical training. I don’t believe I have the expertise to adequately analyse and evaluate the reams of data coming from primary research nor the expertise acquired from front-line experience. My doctors don’t rely on their own primary research for the advise or treatment they give me .

            What I object to are people assuming they can engage in highly specialised debate with equal authority to those in front line research or those with the expertise to fully understand and interpret the research. Definitive statements, based on a particular “individualthink” allegiance undermine group efforts to combat disease based on a consensus of advice – efforts like lockdowns, social distancing, masks, vaccination et al. I don’t want to do this without feeling much more confidence that the advice is unequivocally wrong and I know better. Guess what, I started taking vitamin D for its immune boosting properties but I don’t therefore dismiss everything else.

            What are the alternative treatments? Very few I understand but it seems there are fewer deaths now from Covid19 partially from the use of antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs plus other non-pharmaceutical interventions. I don’t dismiss drugs like ivermectin and dearly hope that more successful treatments will be pursued and discovered but I’m swayed by advice like:
            “The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, consisting of a large group of clinical experts, is continuously updating treatment recommendations based on the best available evidence. They have not made any recommendations for the use of ivermectin, doxycycline or zinc outside of properly conducted clinical trials with appropriate ethical approval.” Health.gov.au

            There are similar statements on the US FDA website. Is deciding that I don’t have the expertise to reject this ‘groupthink”?

            Did you listen to the impassioned speech delivered in parliament yesterday by a doctor backing the censure motion against George Christensen. He referred to the distress communicated constantly to him, by colleagues treating people on the front line, about the impact of unqualified, undermining statements.

            I didn’t ask you why you WOULD believe this guy just why you lean to this research to the exclusion of other opinion. What are the criteria (eg anything on a government or medical association website should be dismissed?) Similarly there is one other matter I feel happy to comment on. Ivermectin, like other Nobel winning breakthroughs are no doubt really useful. But, like the similarly fantastic HPPV vaccine, efficacy in one area does not demonstrate efficacy for Covid19 nor justify the rejection of a multi pronged approach to a pretty tricky pathogen. Pretty basic logical flaw.

            Not the “pro-debater” you might have hoped for – sorry to disappoint!

        • i’ve heard that ivermectin is great for tapeworm, and other parasites, shame co-vid is a virus, but kind of fitting for those advocating its use…

  2. Thanks, Mac.Most of our epidemiologists, immunologists, virologists and public health experts wouldn’t agree with you but I’m sure you know best.

  3. Dave is right..according to the consensus of many
    Internet using humans…Seems the rest of the population hasn’t adapted to the reality that has evolved since the initial onslaught of the virus.We were scared in the beginning because we didn’t understand it…it brought about lots of changes in our world and now on final analysis we realise that if we are in good health,we really don’t have much to worry about…However…if yr overweight,consuming dead carcas,going to the pub..doing drugs etc..well,that’s always been a liabilty for yr survival…why should the government keep going on with this farce now that the truth has been revealed??Invermectin…vitamin D…basic precautions of mask wearing etc…
    Same thing what usually happens with the capialist system is that people get really good at their jobs..pour money n resources into it….therefore strengthening the system that has been put in place…and then even if it isn’t working they find it really hard to either complete its cycle or in the end it usually results in destruction…reign it in boys!..reign it in…WHAT GOES UP…MUST COME DOWN!…THATS THE WAY IT GOES…THATS THE WAY IT GOES…

  4. Kate, it is just not true that you are completely safe if you are in good health and lead a healthy lifestyle. That’s dangerous misinformation. That’s even more true of the Delta variant that has muscled out the others and is infecting the young and healthy.

    For just one example that’s really close to home, have a listen to the following interview with a teacher infected in Melbourne’s recent outbreak. It’s short and interesting! I’m sure you could even track him down and establish his bona files rather than dismiss it as the ABC being in on the hoax.

    https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/drive/richard-bacchus-marsh-teacher-recovered-from-coronavirus-2/13486644

    • Where did I say “completely safe”…don’t twist my words…there’s a risk with most illnesses that if not treated correctly it could result in death.
      All I’m saying is…update and adjust to the latest information and perhaps instead of going along…business as usual,adjustments can be made in alignment with the current understanding that’s taken us 1.5 years to arrive at.
      I don’t believe that there’s a conspiracy against us BTW…just to be clear…but that its the natural progression of how the capitalist system works..no shame,blame or guilt…good people doing their best to help…but bit of foresight would indicate….the truth…the reality that the people in power need to be aware of to make good quality decisions…and not just…following other countries as Australia has the tendency to do.
      Anyway…thanks for the link…will check it out.

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