COVID Latest: Economy Could Take 5 Years To Recover
Monday: Society mostly back to normal by July; sports stars launch crowd campaign
Morning! It’s Monday, June 15. Here is today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’ — 5 things to know about COVID-19 today, + 5 non-corona things as well.
Latest AU stats: as of 9pm Sunday, Australia has 7320 reported cases of COVID-19 (that’s +18 since the day before), with 6838 reported as ‘recovered’, and 102 deaths, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. More stats below.
1 QUICK THING
Recently I asked some of you to do a quick poll for me about ‘5+5’ — thank you to all who did! Very helpful. Could I ask you to do me a huge favour and do one more survey for me? This time it’s literally one question, and it’s a multiple choice! It’d be really helpful for me and 5+5. Click here to do the survey please!
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
‘Record deficit’ for Australia and a five year recovery
The federal budget will head into unprecedented deficit territory for the next few years, PM Scott Morrison has warned (link). Speaking to the CEDA State of the Nation conference this morning, Morrison said Australia would be in line for “record deficit this year and next”, and that it could take some five years to return to how things were before the pandemic outbreak.
(Nearly) everything back to normal by July 1
NSW has flagged plans to get back to its pre-COVID state in just weeks, with nearly all restrictions to be canned or significantly wound back soon (link). Nightclubs would be just about the only thing to remain shut, with the likes of cinemas, theatres, theme parks and strip clubs — currently closed due to distancing rules — allowed to reopen from July 1. The only restrictions that would remain for those spots are the ‘4sqm’ rule (i.e. one person for every four square metres of floor space), and even that could be up for re-evaluation if new diagnoses remain low, according to the SMH (link).
Sports stars plead for COVID app downloads
Pro sporting codes are returning to play in Australia — and my Dragons are, predictably as ever, struggling in the NRL — but one still remains not normal, and that’s the lack of crowds. Last week the national cabinet agreed on a plan where large stadiums could admit up to a quarter of their usual patrons from July (link), but now some of the nation’s top athletes are getting behind a united campaign to get that number even higher, faster.
The ‘Let Us Play’ initiative has the backing of big-name NRL, AFL and netball identities like Nathan Buckley and James Tedesco, and they’re asking for people to download the COVID Safe phone app (link). The takeup of the app was initially flagged as vital for unwinding lockdown rules, but the government doesn’t talk about it as much lately as they did a few weeks ago. As of latest figures, around 6 million Aussies have downloaded the app, but it’s not been revealed exactly how many are using it regularly, and remembering to turn it on (and leave it on) when they’re out and about.
“By downloading the COVIDSafe app, we take ourselves one step closer to being able to meet at our favourite football stadium, or netball court, or basketball court,” an open letter reads.
“We all need to remember that there is no guarantee that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be found, so we all must act now to contain outbreaks and avoid a second wave of the disease. If a second wave were to happen we could see the end of our sport as we know it. That terrifies us and calls on us all to act now.”
Plan to ease travel restrictions and quarantine
While community transmission of the virus is effectively eliminated here, with only a handful of cases each week coming from person-to-person contact in Australia, more new cases are being diagnosed in recently returned travellers. That’s perhaps why the Daily Telegraph is reporting opposition from the NSW government to a plan to cut mandatory quarantine time for business travellers from the current 14 days to just seven (link).
Under federal rules, those returning to Australia from overseas are forced to isolate — usually in a nice hotel, guarded by the army — for two weeks, but the Tele reports the Home Affairs department is being asked to look for “ways to ease entry restrictions for business travellers from hubs in the Asia-Pacific with low rates of COVID-19” like Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. Gladys Berejiklian said on Sky News it was “too soon” to be considering this yet.
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 9.30am AEST Monday) report 7,887,221 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 432,632 deaths.
The United States has 2,093,335 confirmed cases; Brazil is next on 867,624, then Russia (238,004). The U.S. has the most deaths (115,729), then Brazil jumping to number two for the first time with 43,332, and the United Kingdom back in third on 41,783.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 9pm Sunday) show 7320 cases, 6838 people recovered, and 102 deaths.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
The big politics story of the day is Victorian state MP Adem Somyurek, a Labor party member you’ve probably not heard much about (link). An investigation from The Age and 60 Minutes, aired on TV last night, shared explosive allegations of branch stacking and factionalism in the VIC ALP, including hidden camera footage and secret recordings of Somyurek allegedly threatening to target the seats of federal MPs. Somyurek has now resigned as minister, and Premier Daniel Andrews is set to speak very soon.
Staying on political scandals, The Guardian has published this story — the first in a series this week — on Liberal ministers including Simon Birmingham, Dan Tehan and Stuart Robert attending swish party fundraisers while on business in Sydney, raising further questions about how politicians use the public purse to benefit their own parties.
Aussie authorities are scrambling to try to help actor Karm Gillespie, who was sentenced to death by firing squad in China over the weekend for bringing several kilos of ice into the country in 2013 (link). Gillespie featured in TV series including Blue Heelers and The Man from Snowy River.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said her government “would consider” the possibility of strengthening penalties around vandalism of statues or public monuments (link). It follows the alleged defacing of a Captain Cook statue in Sydney, and the toppling of memorials to colonisers or slavers worldwide during Black Lives Matter rallies.
Speaking of which, those BLM protests continue — and still in massive numbers. Here’s one from Brooklyn, New York today
IMPORTANT EVERY DAY
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.
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Signing off — stay safe, be healthy, look after yourself and others.
Josh