Summary
- Victoria’s five-day, hard lockdown has ended and greater Melbourne is no longer considered a COVID hotspot. Residents are now free to travel more than five kilometres from their homes and the four reasons for leaving home have been revoked, but some restrictions on public and private gatherings remain.
- State health and hospital pages have been swept up in Facebook’s mass ban of news publishers in Australia, a move which risks undermining public health messaging ahead of the coronavirus vaccine rollout which begins next week.
- Victoria has recorded no new local COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row, although one new case has emerged in hotel quarantine. NSW has achieved its 32nd day in a row without a local case, while Queensland has recorded its 42nd straight day of zero cases.
- Debate rages among scientists over whether a nebuliser really was the source of Victoria’s Holiday Inn outbreak, as the Andrews government has suggested. Meanwhile, the man blamed for spreading the virus by using the nebuliser is pushing for an independent review of his case.
- Visit our new vaccine tracker, which shows how many people around the world have been vaccinated so far and which countries are leading the charge.
Interactive: Is your town on the list for aged care vaccines next week?
By Rachael Dexter
As we reported in the blog earlier (1.42pm), the federal government has released a comprehensive list of nearly 200 towns and suburbs across Australia where aged care residents will be vaccinated next week.
Our visual journalist Jamie Brown has knocked up this nifty searchable list and an interactive map that you can use to see whether your local area is part of the week 1 rollout.
More than 500 nurses will travel to 190 towns and suburbs across the country to deliver the first Pfizer vaccines.
Sixteen Pfizer hospital hubs will also help vaccinate the residents of more than 240 aged care facilities.
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The day in review
By Robyn Grace
That brings us to the end of another big day of coronavirus coverage. A reminder of what made news today:
- The federal government released a list of nearly 200 towns and suburbs across Australia where aged care residents will be vaccinated next week.
- Health and hospital pages were swept up in Facebook’s mass ban of news publishers in Australia, a move that risks undermining public health messaging before the coronavirus vaccine rollout begins next week.
- Office workers and shoppers have slowly returned to Melbourne’s CBD after Victoria’s five-day “circuit-breaker” lockdown ended. But 3400 people potentially exposed to the virus as a result of Melbourne’s Holiday Inn outbreak are still self-isolating.
- The city’s annual Moomba festival has been cancelled for the first time in its 66-year history. Reduced crowds under COVID-19 restrictions and the cancellation of key festival events including the parade and Birdman Rally were deciding factors.
- Victoria recorded no new local COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row, although one new case has emerged in hotel quarantine. NSW achieved its 32nd day in a row without a local case, while Queensland has recorded its 42nd straight day of zero cases.
- Life expectancy in the United States dropped a staggering one year during the first half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its first wave of deaths, health officials are reporting.
- Britain will become the first country to deliberately infect healthy volunteers with coronavirus, now that the country’s ethics body has approved a “human challenge trial”.
Also, don’t forget to check out our new vaccine data tracker.
The impact of Facebook’s news ban on news websites
By Craig Butt
Analysis of Facebook link sharing data by the Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Research professor Axel Bruns shows how the number of links posted to Australian media websites on the social network plummeted on Thursday as soon as the news ban was implemented.
Professor Bruns tracked the number of hourly links to 35 Australian media organisations shared on public Facebook pages over the past three days, which are a proxy for posting dynamics across the social network and his graph shows the impact Facebook’s ban on referral traffic as soon as it was implemented on Thursday morning:
“The dropdown here is just over 50 per cent,” he said. But he said even links to an Australian news website that had successfully been posted would not have been viewable by Facebook’s Australian users, meaning the actual drop-off was even higher.
“My guess is that those pages may have posted content via overseas Facebook accounts (or using workarounds of some sort) - but that access to these posts is blocked for Australian users. So even those 50 per cent of posts that are still being made may not reach their intended audience.”
US life expectancy drops by one year
Life expectancy in the United States dropped a staggering one year during the first half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its first wave of deaths, health officials are reporting.
Minorities suffered the biggest impact, with black Americans losing nearly three years and Hispanics, nearly two years, according to preliminary estimates Thursday from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is a huge decline,” said Robert Anderson, who oversees the numbers for the CDC. “You have to go back to World War II, the 1940s, to find a decline like this.“
Other health experts say it shows the profound impact of COVID-19, not just on deaths directly due to infection but also from heart disease, cancer and other conditions.
“What is really quite striking in these numbers is that they only reflect the first half of the year ... I would expect that these numbers would only get worse,” said Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a health equity researcher and dean at the University of California, San Francisco.
This is the first time the CDC has reported on life expectancy from early, partial records; more death certificates from that period may yet come in. It’s already known that 2020 was the deadliest year in US history, with deaths topping 3 million for the first time.
Life expectancy is how long a baby born today can expect to live, on average. In the first half of last year, that was 77.8 years for Americans overall, down one year from 78.8 in 2019. For males it was 75.1 years and for females, 80.5 years.
Dr Otis Brawley, a cancer specialist and public health professor at Johns Hopkins University, said the focus really needed to be on getting every American adequate care.
“And health care needs to be defined as prevention as well as treatment,” he said.
Overall, the drop in life expectancy is more evidence of “our mishandling of the pandemic,” Dr Brawley said.
“We have been devastated by the coronavirus more so than any other country. We are 4 per cent of the world’s population, more than 20 per cent of the world’s coronavirus deaths,” he said.
Not enough use of masks, early reliance on drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, “which turned out to be worthless,” and other missteps meant many Americans died needlessly, Dr Brawley said.
“Going forward, we need to practice the very basics” such as hand-washing, physical distancing and vaccinating as soon as possible to get prevention back on track, he said.
AP
Virus fragments found in two more Queensland sewage catchments
By Matt Dennien
Queensland health authorities have detected COVID-19 fragments in two further sewage catchments, chief health officer Jeannette Young says.
The detections in Maryborough, about 250 kilometres north of Brisbane, and Rockhampton, about 380 kilometres further north, come amid a number of recent positive test results across the state.
Dr Young urged anyone with any symptoms to get tested immediately, given the recent Melbourne cluster and the uptick in interstate travel, with early identification of the virus “critical”.
Wastewater testing is an early-warning system for COVID-19 outbreaks.Credit:University of Queensland
“We are concerned by the new variants that are emerging overseas that are more contagious than previous variants we have seen in Queensland,” she said.
“It’s also possible that this detection relates to previous COVID-19 cases that can shed viral fragments for a couple of months after they are no longer infectious.”
Queensland Health data has shown virus fragments were detected 110 times in wastewater between July and December, with the most frequent positive results found throughout the state’s south-east corner and Cairns.
Breaking: Melbourne’s Moomba festival cancelled
By Carolyn Webb and Rachael Dexter
Melbourne City Council has just confirmed that the annual Moomba Festival will not go ahead next month due to restrictions brought about by COVID-19 and the recent snap lockdown.
In a statement Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the massive reduction in crowds and cancellation of major drawcards meant the event was not feasible.
The Moomba Festival usually draws over a million people over the long weekend in March.Credit:Simon Schluter
“Reduced crowds together with the cancellation of key elements such as the Birdman Rally, the Moomba Parade, and most recently, the water skiing, mean that the Moomba we know and love cannot go ahead,” the Lord Mayor said.
Usually more than one million people attend the multi-day festival over the Labour Day long weekend in Melbourne along the Yarra River.
“This year, because of COVID-19 safety requirements, we would be able to only have around 14,000 attendees at Moomba each day,” Cr Capp said.
According to the Mayor, the Victorian Water Ski Association pulled out of the festival this week, while some interstate suppliers were unable to commit to the event in the wake of the five-day “circuit-breaker” in Victoria which ended today.
“This is an incredibly difficult decision to cancel such an iconic event but we want to provide activities to encourage Melburnians to come into the city and enjoy what is on offer,” the Lord Mayor said.
The council has promised other local attractions to encourage people into the city over the long weekend, but did not specify what they would be.
Melbourne aged care case still under investigation
By Rachael Dexter
A quick update on the news that emerged last night of an elderly gentleman from an aged care facility in Melbourne’s north who had returned a weak positive result this week after two negative tests.
The man, who lives at Twin Parks aged care facility in Reservoir, was diagnosed with COVID-19 in August last year. His latest test result is thought to be an instance of viral shedding rather than a new infection.
The Victorian Health Department has just advised his case is still under investigation, with yet another test taken today and an expert panel reviewing the findings.
The man has no links to the Holiday Inn cluster, but all staff and residents at Twin Parks have been tested this week in light of the weak positive.
Wastewater viral fragments found in Wantirna, Boronia, Carrum Downs, Langwarrin, St Kilda and Caulfield
By Rachael Dexter
Symptomatic residents in three wastewater catchment areas in Melbourne’s south and south-east are being urged to get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible, with viral fragments found in sewage this week.
The Victorian Health Department has just advised that the Wantirna South/Boronia, Carrum Downs/Langwarrin and St Kilda East/Caulfield areas showed up weak traces of COVID-19 in wastewater samples taken on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Anyone who has any symptoms of COVID-19 is urged to get tested, especially if you live in or have visited one of these areas during these periods:
- Wantirna South or Boronia from Saturday February 13 to Monday February 15 (includes parts of Bayswater, Ferntree Gully, Knoxfield and Tremont)
- Carrum Downs or Langwarrin from Saturday February 13 to Tuesday February 16 (includes parts of Skye)
- St Kilda East or Caulfield North from Saturday February 13 to Tuesday February 16 (includes parts of Balaclava, Caulfield and Elsternwick)
Viral fragments may appear in samples due to a person who is shedding from an old infection, but can also indicate an active case not known to authorities.
Wastewater samples have helped find active cases in Lakes Entrance and more recently in the Roxburgh Park area, according to the Health Department.
You can find where to get tested in your local area via the map below which pulls locations from the Department of Health’s website.
In photos: Melburnians re-emerge from lockdown into a sun-drenched city
By Rachael Dexter
A few more photos have just hit the newsdesk from photographer Paul Jeffers, who has been out and about in Melbourne documenting the city after its third lockdown ended last night.
It’s a gorgeous day out there - currently 33 degrees. Despite the heat, it seems some people are still wearing masks outdoors even though the rules have relaxed (you now only need to wear them indoors and outside when you cannot keep distance from others).
If you’re stuck inside like me, enjoy Paul’s photos of freedom:
Diners, shoppers and pedestrians fill Centre Place post lockdown on Thursday.Credit:Paul Jeffers
Melburnians re-emerge from lockdown into a sun-drenched city on Thursday.Credit:Paul Jeffers
Degraves Street was humming on Thursday afternoon.Credit:Paul Jeffers
Interactive: Is your town on the list for aged care vaccines next week?
By Rachael Dexter
As we reported in the blog earlier (1.42pm), the federal government has released a comprehensive list of nearly 200 towns and suburbs across Australia where aged care residents will be vaccinated next week.
Our visual journalist Jamie Brown has knocked up this nifty searchable list and an interactive map that you can use to see whether your local area is part of the week 1 rollout.
More than 500 nurses will travel to 190 towns and suburbs across the country to deliver the first Pfizer vaccines.
Sixteen Pfizer hospital hubs will also help vaccinate the residents of more than 240 aged care facilities.
‘Assault on a sovereign nation’: Hunt ramps up Facebook rhetoric in question time
By Rachael Dexter
G’day, Rachael Dexter here to take you to the end of the day. Feel free to drop me a line on email if you have news tips.
Turning our attention to the latest from question time in Parliament House in Canberra...
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has repeated his condemnation of tech giant Facebook in question time just now, claiming the move by the company to shutter the Facebook pages of Australian news outlets and government departments was “an assault on a sovereign nation”.
Mr Hunt made similar remarks in a press conference held a short time ago.
The government is doubling down on its rhetoric towards Facebook, which overnight blocked Australian users from accessing the pages of news providers and sharing links from news websites.
As we’ve been reporting, there have been a host of non-news providers caught up in the ban. Mr Hunt took particular offence to the removal of a number of health service pages.
“The ability to provide vaccination information at this critical time and on this day we know that a major global corporations has taken a decision which is denying Australians access to fundamental health, mental health and vaccination information,” he said.
“Facebook has taken steps, which are unprecedented and reprehensible. Unacceptable in a democracy such as this and an abuse of their power.”
Although a number of health departments and organisations have had their pages reinstated, the page for the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne is still offline.
“This is outrageous and unacceptable. We expect that Facebook will fix these actions immediately and never repeat them again,” Mr Hunt said.
“This is an assault on a sovereign nation. It is an assault on people’s freedom and, in particular, it is an utter abuse of big technology’s market power and control over technology.”
Mr Hunt claimed that Facebook’s moves indicated the company was putting “profits over people”.
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2021-02-18 08:33:00Z
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