Coronavirus Latest: COVID Racism As Asian Australians Made 'Scapegoats' For Virus Crisis
How to recreate pubs at home; Ruby Princess finally leaves.
Hello! It’s Thursday, April 23. I took yesterday off because, well, I felt like it! Here’s today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’.
Each day I’m bringing you 5 things to know about the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak + 5 non-corona things to keep you up to date with what’s going on.
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 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 6am Thursday, Australia has 6654 reported cases of COVID-19 (that’s +7 since the day before), with 5012 reported as ‘recovered’; there have been 74 deaths; and more than 458,000 tests have been done, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. Full global stats breakdown below
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
COVID racism on the rise
Politicians are calling for a public anti-racism campaign connected to coronavirus, as Asian Australians report a sharp climb in horrible abuse and violence linked to the pandemic. I wrote a report (click here to read) about a national database which has logged 240+ incidents of racism in less than a month, including people being spat or coughed on, tripped, abused in supermarkets, and even physically assaulted. It comes after two female international students were victim of a shocking random attack on a Melbourne street (story here), and repeated incidents of awful racist graffiti nationwide.
Former race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane told me that Asian Australians were being made “scapegoats” for the virus — even though, as shown by this federal health department chart (available here), the VAST majority of Australian cases are linked to Europe and the USA, with Asia just a tiny portion.
Pub at home
For something lighter, I’ve been writing some nicer coronavirus stories recently — mostly about how you can try to recreate your local pub in the comfort of your own house.
Pub trivia companies are now running hugely popular and very fun trivia nights over Facebook Live, letting teams play together even though they’re not allowed to meet in person (story here); while local independent craft beer breweries are becoming really innovative in how they stay in business, trying a bunch of fun and interesting things, even while they’re not allowed to open their bars (story here).
Indie brewers are facing huge income losses — 93% say they’re now losing money — and many may not weather the storm of coronavirus. So unless you only want the big corporate pubs to be in business when this is all over, go support a local brewer and buy some beers.
Billionaire avoids ‘mandatory’ quarantine
WA Today reports that billionaire media mogul Kerry Stokes was not forced to quarantine in a hotel upon returning from Aspen on his private jet (nice life for some!). Instead, Stokes and his wife were reportedly allowed to quarantine at their home, unlike many other international arrivals who were forced to spend two weeks locked in hotels.
“Mr and Mrs Stokes strictly followed all the required protocols during that time, as did the air crew”, a spokesperson told WA Today, claiming that Stokes had recently undergone a medical procedure and was allowed to go home instead. “Many thousands of Australians have also received exemptions over the last month.”
Ruby Princess gone
The infamous cruise ship is finally - finally - leaving, heading out of Port Kembla (near Wollongong on the NSW south coast) this afternoon.
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 5.30pm AEST Thursday) report 2,630,778 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 183,489 deaths.
The United States has 842,624 confirmed cases, with Spain next but far behind on 208,389, then Italy (187,327). The U.S. has the most deaths (46,785), then Italy (25,085) and Spain third on 21,717.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 6am Thursday) show 6654 cases, 5012 people recovered, 74 deaths, and 458,000 tests.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
There’s still not much news on King Jong-un, with North Korea staying (predictably, as always) quiet — after it was reported that he was gravely ill following surgery (story here)
CHOICE has ranked the best Anzac biscuits
The NRL has said May 28 will be the “definite” day the season restarts — but there’s still a lot of questions about how it will work
Everyone on the internet loves Big Poppa, a dog who looks very sad while stuck in isolation
And the iconic Cadbury marble chocolate is back, which is apparently a big deal and very exciting for some people
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