Spoke with my mother in Australia last night and it reinforced for me how the US has completely lost perspective on COVID-19 both in terms of scale of outbreak here and needed response.
Australia has seen daily cases spike to 450+ a day. No there aren’t zeros missing there...
Australia has seen daily cases spike to 450+ a day. No there aren’t zeros missing there...
Australia is a small country. But it has a population of 24m people. That’s more than Florida (20m), which is reporting roughly 10,00 cases a day.
My county in Maryland has a population of 1m. It has reported 17k cases and > 700 deaths. Australia has had 14k and 161 deaths.
My county in Maryland has a population of 1m. It has reported 17k cases and > 700 deaths. Australia has had 14k and 161 deaths.
How is Australia responding? Any intl travelers (including Australian citizens) have to spend 14 days in quarantine under guard at a government-designated hotel.
In response to the latest spike caused by an outbreak in Melbourne authorities have locked down the city again.
In response to the latest spike caused by an outbreak in Melbourne authorities have locked down the city again.
They also three weeks ago imposed heavy restrictions on travel between the two most populous states - Melbourne’s home of Victoria and New South Wales.
Unless you have a special permit you cannot cross the border...
Unless you have a special permit you cannot cross the border...
There are of course some protests and conspiracy theories. But authorities aren’t messing around...
Here is the story of how one man was arrested for “running the border” that my mother pointed out last night:
smh.com.au/national/outta…
Here is the story of how one man was arrested for “running the border” that my mother pointed out last night:
smh.com.au/national/outta…
Again, the current spike in Australia (pop24m) is to a little over 400 cases a day. In Texas (pop 29m) the surge has been to more than 10,000 cases per day. And all the borders to neighboring states remain open...
What is the difference? In Australia authorities have prioritized the public health response far earlier than in the US. The measures are also targeted... (The closure of the Victoria/NSW border by the way was the first in a century.)
That has had benefits. The schools in my mother’s NSW beach town re-opened in May. My kids here in Maryland are going to be doing online learning until January at least and may not see a classroom this coming school year.
Some see the spike in Australia as a sign even their measures aren’t working. But that completely ignores scale of outbreaks we are talking about. If Florida was reporting just 400 cases a day and reacting to it with targeted lockdowns we’d be in a very different place in the US.
It’s in part why my mother in Australia keeps peppering us with text messages. She’s baffled by what is happening here. She and her partner are fine by the way. She just hasn’t been able to visit us this summer as planned and misses her grandkids, who are growing like weeds.
Fin
