Something that’s been a glaring constant in the Wuhan pandemic is that the worst outbreaks can all be sheeted home to official incompetence. Whether it’s the Chinese Communists’ original lies and cover-ups, Bill de Blasio’s disastrous order to house COVID patients in aged-care homes, Australia’s Ruby Princess fiasco or New Zealand’s own farcical border controls.
Like New Zealand, Australia thought it had got on top of the pandemic. Then along came Victoria and its Andrews government.
In the past week, new infections have resurged in Victoria. Its worst day so far has been 81 new infections – although it should be noted that just two new deaths have been recorded after a month with no fatalities. If the history of the pandemic so far is anything to go by, Victoria’s surge may – may – already have peaked far short of a “second wave”.
Still, it’s a massive embarrassment for a government who, like Ardern’s, prided themselves on the toughest restrictions in Australia. Premier Daniel Andrews is scrambling for excuses.
Whatever you do, don’t blame it on massive, left-wing protests.
We’ve had the toughest restrictions imposed on us. We theoretically should be in the best position in Australia. Well, if you put that question to [Daniel] Andrews, he doesn’t seem to know very much – but he can tell you for sure that it has nothing to do with the 40 000 people he let march on our CBD streets a few weeks ago.
The mean incubation period for COVID-19 is between 6 to 14 days. It may be coincidental that cases began to surge within exactly that period after Melbourne’s massive BLM rally. That does, of course, beg the question of why Melbourne, out of all the capitals where the lefty shoutathons du jour were allowed to go ahead?
Daniel Andrews at the moment is working overtime to blame family-to-family transmission.
The not-so-subtle code here is: wogs. You know the ones they mean. Government media releases have been keen to stress that the hotspots are “Melbourne’s multicultural suburbs”. Particular emphasis has been directed at “a large family Eid celebration”.
The Andrews government’s relative willingness to be forthcoming about specific hotspots has shown a notable pattern. Schools and hotels were named; but the source of Victoria’s biggest outbreak, a meat-processing plant owned by a generous Labor party donor, was kept secret for as long as possible.
It may well be that this Eid celebration indeed caused a hotspot – but it also smacks of convenient scapegoating. After all, the Victorian authorities were more than willing to turn a blind eye to large Muslim family gatherings violating restrictions in the past.
But, as Avi says – who can blame them? Why would anyone avoid or cancel family events after the BLM rally was allowed to proceed without hindrance? This is merely the consequence of blatant double-standards and political pandering from those in charge.
The dodgiest part of this entire story is when you look at the numbers carefully. Since the Black Lives Matter rally, we’d had a gradual spike in cases that are consistently getting worse by the day. In the government’s daily briefings we’re being told that the cause of many of these cases is either “under investigation” or “due to routine testing”.
They never seem to follow up on the outcomes of these investigations.
What we do know for certain: at least [four] people at the Black Lives Matter rally tested positive for COVID-19. We also know how infectious this disease is supposed to be. So, there’s no chance that three people in such close proximity to 40 000 others didn’t spread the virus?
We’re being told that the majority of COVID-positive people are asymptomatic. Meaning the three confirmed cases at the Black Lives Matter probably infected tens if not hundreds of other people – who haven’t showed any symptoms. Those people continued with their daily lives as normal, spreading the disease without even knowing they carried it.
Suddenly, we have a spike of new cases that are “under investigation” or “found through routine testing”.
Excuse me for being skeptical and calling out your bull-crap.
Daniel Andrews seems more focused at the moment on covering his arse for his biggest failure through this crisis than being honest with the citizens of Victoria.
A new report is trying to blame “hotel quarantine failures” – even though those were linked to infections from weeks ago, rather than the current spike.
But hey, blame it on anything but your lefty rent-a-crowds.
If you enjoyed this BFD article please consider sharing it with your friends.