Fiji Airways to resume Australian flights in December

nouflyer - it's not about case numbers it's about vaccination numbers. UK has been having daily new case numbers of 25,000 to 35,000 but very few deaths & not many people are going to hospital.

I might fly to USA via Fiji. Incredibly cheap cf. other airlines & the A350 business class is the best around, as told to me, by those who have flown it.

Regular the hospitalisation rate is Moree than a few people it is around 1000. 2-3% of a very large number is still a large number. And being sick at home wth covid is not much fun. 

paterick

many who get covid don't even know it or don't get even the slightest bit sick & don't need to go to hospital

Regular my issue is those that do need to go to hospital which is around 5% (at 70% vaccination rate from the UK experience) and those that need medically supervised home care is mech greater, probably around 10% of cases. A small percentage of a very large number is still a large number hence the need for home quarantine and for Fiji to be very careful. The issue is not those that don't get the slightest bit sick but those that do.

Quote from Jeremy Clarkson. “I did not battle Covid, I sat down with a book until it went away”

When the population is mostly vaccinated you need to move away from case numbers as the cases will be less severe due to the population being vaccinated.

Yes, post vaccination, the "positive case" figures are meaningless. The metrics that matter are hospitalisations and deaths.

John not sure the figures are meaningless. In places with very high vaccination rates they still need testing to see prevalence for public health reasons. The vaccines are good but not perfect so there will still be people getting quite sick and having long covid, which will be a continuing public health issue.

John,  the other point is people are receiving hospital led care in their home in NSW 650 in hospital and 2300 hospital led care in homes that is a daily or twice daily call to a nurse to report ‘vitals’, so the issue of what to report can get murky.

Quite right John. Daily case number figures have been meaningless for a long, long time. They drive all the wrong behaviours.

Not sure they are meaningless to health experts as they are a predictor of health resources required a little while later and also a good way to encourage people to get tested which helps in my first point.

They are meaningless as a number to be broadcast to the general public. Who cares if it’s 1 or 1000? Nothing will change until the government get “their” vaccination rates. So all we need is that number. 

think Scomo has been told. If he doesn't open int borders, there'll be shooting in the streets.

Richard we also need high testing rates and infection numbers certainly help in encouraging people to get tested. Otherwise it is surveillance testing which is much harder to organise. Having a good sense of so called breakthrough cases (those fully vaccinated and positive) and under hospital care or not  is important to know.

tommy

not talking about flying to USA via Fiji today, but in just under 4 months, when supposedly both Australia & Fiji will be well over the 80% double jabbed.

80% is a great number but it's a bit illusory. Firstly, it refers only to those eligible for a jab: there's a big cohort of kids out there who are not eligible, not counted in the 80% and are very much at risk in a spreading event. Secondly, getting to 80% double jabbed is not going to be easy: 10% of those surveyed say they definitely will not get a jab and another 10% say they are cautious or undecided. Only one country in the world, the UAE, has achieved 80% full vaccination so far. Thirdly, there are experts saying 80% would be enough to contain Alpha but not Delta, the latter requiring 90%  I'm as keen as anyone for relaxation of restrictions but...

Correction: "...one country...of more than a million people..."

when those who haven't been vaxxed realise they can't do "ANYTHING" they will get their shots. Delta is only marginally more virulent than Alpha. (not 1000s of % more virulent like the media like to make out)

I don't disagree about motives to get vaccinated. This from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control regarding virulence of Delta:  "more transmissible than the common cold and influenza, as well as the viruses that cause smallpox, MERS, SARS, and Ebola—and as contagious as chickenpox".

Tommygun it is about as virulent as chicken pox it seems, which is probably a but more than 'marginally'.

Standard controls such as fully vaccinated Passport & negative test prior departure and possible a rapid test on arrival will be very common to any destination in 2022/23 It may even trigger that preflight Visas become necessary again for Authorities to do traveller checks prior arrival.

yes if Fiji don't get tourists soon, China will move in with dodgy loans.

Mu ? International borders nothing to do with premiers luckily

believe transit passengers will be allowed in Fiji, but, unlike previously, you won't be able to leave the airport.

Previously many passengers from BNE to LAX or SFO who had 3 or 4 hours to kill at NAN, would leave the airport, go to a nearby hotel (some very close, ie. 250m walk), have a swim etc. get a room for a few hours, have a shower. This might not be permitted.

$40 million a day on testing! Are we mad? Imagine all the money wasted over the last 18 months being spent on hospitals and education. 

Richard without testing we would be spending far more a day than that on health alone. You have to know where a disease is to treat it.

GoRobin what you refer to is surveillance testing (those with no symptoms or contact) which I think has been stopped and never really took off. Most testing is for those with symptoms or contacts, which makes perfect sense.

Regular I think it is May. Soem are talking an early give-away budget then an election in May straight after like they did last time.