Coronavirus Latest: Aussies Will 'Embrace' Tracking App, Govt Hopes
'Insane' anti-vaxxer theories; a 'Team Australia' moment; Trump TV Time
Morning! It’s Monday, April 20. Here’s today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’.
Each day I’m bringing you 5 big things to know about the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The fire hose of news being blasted out every day is getting more intense and confusing. Let me try to help you get it under control.
I’m now devoting the second ‘5’ in ‘5+5’ to some non-corona news & nice/fun things, just to give a bit of breathing space. I think we could all do with it.
If you haven’t already, please sign up above ^^ to get this every day in your emails.
You can email me at joshb2@protonmail.com if you have tips, feedback, ideas or just want to chat
You can also find me on Twitter at @joshbutler; on Facebook; or on Instagram
Wash your hands and sneeze into your elbow. Practise physical distancing - at least 1.5 metres of separation. “Stay the fuck at home”.
Latest Australian stats: as of 3pm Sunday, Australia has 6606 reported cases of COVID-19 (that’s +41 since the day before), with 4230 reported as ‘recovered’; there have been 70 deaths; and more than 420,000 tests have been done, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. Full global stats breakdown below
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
Hopes for a ‘Team Australia’ moment in corona app
It’s now been confirmed by the federal government that the COVID-19 tracking app will not (for now) be mandatory. If you need a quick catch-up, check The Guardian’s explainer here, but basically Scott Morrison wants you to download an app that will store a record of who you come into contact with, so if you (or someone else) gets coronavirus, it’s easier to find and quarantine those you’ve potentially infected. It’s being billed as a way for lockdowns to ease, because it will be easier to stop outbreaks happening if they know who’s meeting who, and therefore rules can relax.
Experts say it needs about 40% of the population to use it to be useful, to give an accurate picture of who people are potentially infecting. At this point, the government doesn’t have plans to make it mandatory — with government services minister Stuart Robert hoping is will be “a Team Australia moment” where citizens will voluntarily “embrace” it. We’ll see.
‘Insane’ anti-vaxxer theories
The Sydney Morning Herald has this story on anti-vaxxers distributing material in the suburb of Ryde, calling coronavirus a “plannedemic”. The letters warn people not to get flu shots, and to resist social distancing rules. Needless to say, you should ignore all that. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard called the claims “absolutely insane" and told anti-vaxxers to “go away”.
Trump TV Time
If you haven’t seen yet, Donald Trump is doing daily White House briefings about America’s coronavirus response, and they’ve been… interesting. And by ‘interesting’ I mean ‘off-the-wall cuckoo bird wild’. Happening around 9am AEST each day, they’re one of the first things I consume each morning, and it’s like getting a mainline of crazy hooked straight to the brain. Trump gives updates on testing numbers and responses, but essentially the briefings soon devolve into a long speech where Trump rails at politicians he doesn’t like, yells at journalists who write stories that make him look bad, literally reads out printed copies of articles he does like, and lately he’s started showing little video presentations of people saying nice things about him.
This morning, he dissed an aide who prepared a video about New York governor Andrew Cuomo — who has been sparring with Trump about ventilators and medical supplies — because the video prepared didn’t have a specific compliment Trump wanted in there.
It’s quite something to see the leader of the free world treat important pandemic updates like a campaign rally, or even a comedy club open mic night.
Economists slam ‘callous’ calls to cut coronavirus rules to help economy
As detailed last week, there are growing calls from some commentators (representing a very small but vocal minority) for coronavirus rules to be lifted, because they’re an “over-reaction” and hurting the economy (more info here and here). Now, a group of nearly 120 Australian economists have come out in opposition to that view, urging the government to stick with social distancing in an open letter.
“We believe a callous indifference to life is morally objectionable, and that it would be a mistake to expect a premature loosening of restrictions to be beneficial to the economy and jobs, given the rapid rate of contagion,” the letter reads.
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 7.30am AEST Monday) report 2,394,291 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 164,938 deaths.
The United States has 755,533 confirmed cases, with Spain next but far behind on 196,664, then Italy (178,972). The U.S. has the most deaths (40,461), then Italy (23,660) and Spain third on 20,595.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 3pm Sunday) show 6606 cases, 4230 people recovered, 70 deaths, and 420,000 tests.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
Controversy has erupted after copies of Malcolm Turnbull’s new book were allegedly circulated among the Canberra political set. Lawyers for the publishing house behind the book have pointed the finger at a staffer in Scott Morrison’s office. The Guardian reported that staff member has apologised - full story here. There are also calls for Turnbull to be banned from the Liberal Party over the book, which is unsurprisingly not very kind about several senior government ministers (story here).
A man dressed in a cop uniform killed at least 10 in a shooting massacre in Canada today. The motive behind the a 12-hour rampage, where he drove to multiple locations, is not yet known (story here).
David Attenborough has issued another stark climate change warning, saying we might be approaching our “last chance” to change. He urged politicians to address “the biggest problem humanity has ever faced” (story here).
I saw this floating around yesterday and loved it. A set of words that describe some feeling you may be having during this weird time — some of them are a bit made up, but it’s nice. I like ‘liberosis’.
And you simply must watch this footage of a police department trying to catch a runaway pig.
IMPORTANT EVERY DAY
You “must” stay home at all times unless to shop for essential supplies; get medical care; exercise alone or with one other person; or work and education (more info here).
be hygienic; wash your hands properly, at least 30 seconds with soap and water, multiple times a day (here’s how you need to do it, plus a handy Dr Karl video tutorial); sneeze and cough into your elbows.
Listen to only official information from the World Health Organisation and legitimate health bodies — Don’t share dodgy stuff on Facebook. If it looks too good (or bad) to be true, it often is.
World Health Organisation latest statistics here
Australian government latest statistics here
Signing off - stay safe, be healthy, look after yourself and others
Josh