As far as I'm aware Australia has done most thing's right and stayed away from Trumpian nonsense. So this is pretty disconcerting as they keep saying this is a marathon, not a sprint.
We know we’re the cautionary tale that the rest of the country is scaring themselves with in order to keep 1.5 metres apart
www.theguardian.com
I think on paper Australia did 'most things right' -- there are some details lacking though. Back in mid-March, when under some popular pressure (seeing what was happening around the world, there was a genuine desire to 'do
something') a rather limited lockdown was entered. The onus was very much on individual behaviour, and for the most part there was a high degree of compliance with this; yet industry and business, with the exception of hospitality, leisure and tourism, had relatively few restrictions placed on operations. Retail shops got to define whether they were essential or not, even if individuals could only leave the house for 'essential shopping'; the Aussie equivalent of B&Q? Never shut. Hairdressers and barbers? Remained open throughout. Construction? Unions and construction firms joined forces to argue for
twenty-four hour worksites.
So yes, Australia entered a lockdown relatively early on, and was largely free of idiots and conspiracy theorists, but on the other hand that lockdown was never really
that strict. The other key thing to remember is that when Australia entered this lockdown, there
weren't really many cases of coronavirus here at all. The vast, vast majority came from people returning to the country who were then put in hotel quarantine. This means, again on paper, the conditions were always ripe for 'crushing the curve', as one government minister put it.
Now what happened in Victoria - as alluded to above - was the management contracts for the hotel quarantine scheme (really, the essential piece in this puzzle, since that's where most cases were) was handed to the equivalent of say, G4S. This lot then subcontracted smaller security firms, etc. and staff basically had no training and very limited PPE. A couple of things are suggested above that need rebutting: the first is that these security firms may just be 'scapegoats'. No, genomic sequencing seems to suggest that the vast majority of cases in Victoria can be traced back to one particular hotel, Rydges on Swanston. The fault lies firmly with the management of hotel quarantine by these security firms. The second is that it was a guard 'entering a relationship' with a returned traveller - there is no evidence for this; it's enough to say these guards were not really trained, provided with the correct gear, etc.
So at this point it's a perfect storm, right? Australia
has 'crushed the curve' because most of its cases have been in hotel quarantine, and hotel quarantine is the weak link here. But the other weak link is industry, which has never really had any restrictions placed on it. In mid-May spread from the hotel quarantine situation has begun to embed in communities where many members work in the very precarious industries where very few restrictions are in place -- and since most of them are casual workers they have little choice but to work, for fear of losing their livelihood.
Since mid-May - again - 80% of cases have been attributed to workplace spread.
But it was only yesterday that real restrictions were put on workplaces. I think that says it all.
www.dw.com
this article is batshit crazy. 
www.brusselstimes.com
uk.reuters.com
