COVID Latest: Wear A Face Mask During Sex, Study Recommends
Wednesday: International holiday travel options; claims China held back important data
Morning! It’s Wednesday, June 3. Here’s today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’.
Here’ 5 things to know about COVID-19 today, + 5 non-corona things as well.
If you haven’t already, please sign up above ^^ to get this every day in your emails (and tell your friends + share on social).
Email me at joshbutler.journalist@protonmail.com for tips, ideas or just to chat. You can also find me on Twitter at @joshbutler; on Facebook; and Instagram.
Latest AU stats: as of 9pm Tuesday, Australia has 7221 reported cases of COVID-19 (that’s +17 since the day before), with 6625 reported as ‘recovered’, and 102 deaths, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. Full global stats breakdown below.
1 QUICK THING
HELP PLEASE! I’ve been doing ‘5+5’ for a few months now, and a few hundred of you have subscribed — so thanks! I’d like to make this more useful and informative, so please share your thoughts with me at this survey here. It will take about one minute (mostly multiple choice) and would be really helpful for me, to know what you want. Click here to do the survey.
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
Love in the time of corona is risky
People should consider wearing face masks during sex, a new study from Harvard University researchers has recommended. The study found “all forms of in-person sexual contact carry risk for viral transmission, because the virus is readily transmitted by aerosols and fomites”. The study formulated a little table of recommendations for forms of sexual activity, ranging from abstinence (lowest risk, of course) to sex with someone with whom you haven’t been quarantining together (riskiest).
In that last scenario, people are told to consider showering before and after contact, wiping down surfaces, avoiding swapping fluids, and wearing a mask (more here). Coming into contact with someone you’ve been quarantining with is less risky, and of course, less ‘personal’ types of contact are less risky again… but something to think about…
China held back COVID data from WHO
The Associated Press has obtained recordings appearing to show that Chinese officials deliberately didn’t share coronavirus information with the World Health Organisation early enough, even as the WHO went out of its way to praise China for its help (link). WHO experts said they had “very minimal information” from the earliest stages of the virus in China, with another saying “they’re giving it to us 15 minutes before it appears on CCTV [China’s state television station]” (link). China has been slammed by nations worldwide over claims it didn’t move fast enough to warn others of the virus, and even actively suppressed information getting out, with governments including Australia calling for an international inquiry into COVID’s origins.
International travel — when?
The New Daily has this piece looking at what holidays for Australians could look like soon. New Zealand is already on the cards in coming months, but a “South Pacific bubble” for travel could be not too far off as well, according to some experts, with countries like Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia all potential destinations. It comes after Greece included Australia in a bubble of its own, allowing Aussies to visit there without going into quarantine on arrival — but The Guardian reports (link) it could be “too good to be true”, with the logistics of actually getting to Greece making the offer nearly impossible to take up at this stage.
Keep up the hygiene
More things are opening up again, like pubs, restaurants and gyms (soon). That’s good! But we need to keep doing all the safety and hygiene things we’ve been doing — like hand-washing, distancing and more. Really, you should be thinking about it more than usual, because you might be seeing more people than you have for a while, and others might not be as diligent as they should be. The federal government is reminding all people to be cautious and careful.
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 9.30am AEST Wednesday) report 6,372,447 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 379,709 deaths.
The United States has 1,831,435 confirmed cases; Brazil is next on 555,383, then Russia (423,186). The U.S. has the most deaths (106,180), then the United Kingdom (39,452) and Italy third on 33,530.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 9pm Tuesday) show 7221 cases, 6625 people recovered, and 102 deaths.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
The protests in the United States have drawn renewed attention to the structural issues and discrimination facing Australia’s Indigenous people.
The ABC published this powerful article titled ‘Australia had its own George Floyd moment, only it passed without international outrage’ — reminding people of David Dungay’s death in custody, and reupping stats that “Indigenous Australians make up 3 per cent of the population and about 30 per cent of the prison population” and “we lock up Indigenous Australians at four times the rate of black Americans”.
Others, like Celeste Liddle, have pointed out again that there have been more than 400 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission into that very issue — more than one per month — and no police have been convicted in those deaths. Writing for The Guardian, she said “despite the fact that this keeps happening, Australia mainly turns a blind eye to the problem, or bends over backwards to justify the fact that Aboriginal people are the most incarcerated race of people on the planet.
Dungay’s death — after being restrained by prison guards in 2015 — has become a flashpoint for Australia-specific action. Protests nationwide are planned for this Saturday (more info here and here) with Dungay’s death named as one of the causes for some of these demonstrations, while other demonstrations were held overnight in Sydney (link and link). Dungay’s family told The Guardian this week they were “traumatised anew by footage” of Floyd’s death (link), and are calling for a new investigation and possible charges against those involved.
Closer to home, a NSW Police officer has been placed on “restricted duties” after video footage went viral of him handcuffing an Indigenous teenager, then using a ‘leg sweep’ move to knock his off his feet onto the ground face-down (link and link). The teenager’s sister told Triple J’s Hack “Teenagers, they're lippy, but you don't just abuse children because they're lippy.” (link).
People posting the black square on Instagram are also being asked to donate to funds supporting the protests in general. There are a number of fundraisers and initiatives you can help — both in the U.S., specifically related to the George Floyd demonstrations, or closer to home on Indigenous-specific movements. Triple J has a good summary here.
But IMPORTANT: if you’re going to post the black square on Instagram or any other social network, organisers and activists are asking you do NOT use the hashtag ‘Black Lives Matter’ — it might be intuitive to do so, but the entire feed for that hashtag (which people use to get out important information about protests, safety, activism and donation) is entirely blacked out, making it less useful (more explanation here). Write the phrase out, hashtag #BlackOutTuesday, but activists are asking you to not use the BLM one just now
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.
Signing off — stay safe, be healthy, look after yourself and others.
Josh