atst wrote:I can remember when we were advised masks don't help but once the medical staff were equipped with enough masks, we were advised to wear them, they didn't want the public to buy all the stocks of masks at the beginning, another example of things don't make sense.

Makes perfect sense. People get sick, they go to the hospitals. Hospital staff don’t face enough PPE and get sick, people are screwed.

And if the government first announced that masks help, but DON’T BUY them? Save them for medical staff until there is enough supply for everyone.

Think the average person is going to NOT BUY a mask? There was even a shortage of toilet paper at the beginning.

The People’s Republic of China is definitely taking responsibility. By saying it’s all Trump’s fault (with the help of the CIA, of course). And resuming it’s place as the center of the world supply chain. Starting with selling (or giving away) masks and other PPE.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:23 pm Do you seriously believe that cycling the 'Top End' during cyclone season/the big wet is a good idea.

People can decide for themselves. I cycle in Cambodia during the wet season. I think the cold down south during winter is a much bigger problem than the rain up north when it is hot. I know floods do occur. People may have to stay on one town for a while, if they encounter floods.

Others may not be concerned about the cold weather, but not like the rain. It is up to each individual.

Cycling in a cyclone may not be a good idea. Remember what happened to Dorothy and Toto.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:36 pm conspiracy agendas

I think a lot of people would agree with some people you claim had conspiracy agendas. They might disagree with some others. It would be necessary to look at each on an individual basis.

The key is to let people who genuinely have a different opinion to you, express their opinion. Not just on this subject, but on all subjects.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:54 am Cycling in a cyclone may not be a good idea.

I agree. But cyclones do not occur all of the time. Cyclists could stay put in a town until the cyclone passes. There are normally emergency centers where they can stay.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:36 pm There is one forum owner, he is the Administrator. And there are 3 (three) Moderators.
Unlike yourself, none of us are online 24/7, however, we try very hard to have one of us (voluntary) moderators online at most times.
Moderators have lives outside of the forum. We also have families, jobs, and other interests.

Keep up the good work. The forum needs moderators. You are making a good contribution. If you want to be an even better moderator, take on board good suggestions.

explorer wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:58 am

Username Taken wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:54 am Cycling in a cyclone may not be a good idea.

I agree. But cyclones do not occur all of the time. Cyclists could stay put in a town until the cyclone passes. There are normally emergency centers where they can stay.

Ah, you got me there. Obviously you do know all the answers.

Just one last question, do you always have to have the last word?

Username Taken wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 12:07 pm Just one last question, do you always have to have the last word?

I think if you read many of my other posts, you will know the answer to that.

Sometimes people try to make constructive suggestions, but the other person can take it that you are trying to put them down. How do you get them to understand, these are just suggestions to do things better.

You have your good points.

1. You are more active than other moderators. A lot of things get overlooked by other moderators.

2. You are more honest than some. Some just try to make people happy.

But a weakness is, you don't seem to understand some people genuinely have a different opinion to you. Moderators should stop personal attacks, putting people down, bullying, etc. etc. but not people who genuinely have a different opinion.

I respect people who have different beliefs to me, if they are genuine about it, and are good people. We can sometimes learn from people with a different opinion.

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 9:16 am

atst wrote:I can remember when we were advised masks don't help but once the medical staff were equipped with enough masks, we were advised to wear them, they didn't want the public to buy all the stocks of masks at the beginning, another example of things don't make sense.

Makes perfect sense. People get sick, they go to the hospitals. Hospital staff don’t face enough PPE and get sick, people are screwed.

And if the government first announced that masks help, but DON’T BUY them? Save them for medical staff until there is enough supply for everyone.

Think the average person is going to NOT BUY a mask? There was even a shortage of toilet paper at the beginning.

The People’s Republic of China is definitely taking responsibility. By saying it’s all Trump’s fault (with the help of the CIA, of course). And resuming it’s place as the center of the world supply chain. Starting with selling (or giving away) masks and other PPE.

The government lied and knowingly gave the public the wrong information about safety during a pandemic, totally acceptable.

Back to the topic: Was it touch transmission ?

New Zealand just stamped out its third Covid-19 outbreak
Marc Daalder of Newsroom08:08, Oct 06 2020
Coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand's largest city will be lifted this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.

You might not have noticed it, but New Zealand's third outbreak started in mid-September and has already been stamped out, Marc Daalder reports.

New Zealand's third outbreak of Covid-19 is done and dusted, just a couple of weeks after it first began.

The rapid testing, isolation and tracing of a small incursion of cases linked to people who had recently left a Christchurch managed isolation (MIQ) facility shows our system is working, experts say.

By comparison, the outbreak in the White House in Washington DC is three times larger than our own latest outbreak, which was contained at just six cases.

On September 19, as the Auckland cluster waned, the Ministry of Health reported a new community case of uncertain origin. The next day, it was revealed that the case was a man who had returned to New Zealand in late August and left MIQ on September 11 after testing negative twice. He took a chartered government flight back to Auckland, along with other Aucklanders who had been staying in the Christchurch MIQ facility.

Despite his 14 days of isolation and his two tests, when the man developed symptoms for Covid-19 a week after he reentered the community, he sought a test. The result was positive.

Officials rapidly traced the man's own contacts for the time he had been in the community as well as contacts from the chartered flight. Within four days, all six cases linked to the small outbreak had been identified and further transmission was halted.

The ministry began to investigate a wide range of theories: Was the man harbouring Covid-19 for an unusually long incubation period? Had he been infected by someone else on the plane? If so, how was that second person infected?

That the genome of the virus was a close match for the virus genome carried by someone else who had flown into New Zealand on the same flight and tested positive on Day 12 only seemed to further complicate matters.

On September 21, the Ministry of Health reported that two household contacts of the new community case had tested positive. Two days later, three new cases linked to the charter flight were revealed. By then, 65 of the 86 people on the chartered flight had been tested. By 1pm the next day, all 31 contacts of the three new cases had been identified and isolated.
Bin lids

We now know the full story. The person who tested positive on Day 12 of their stay in Christchurch apparently touched the lid of a bin in the hallway numerous times prior to their positive result. Because staff don't enter rooms in MIQ facilities, shared bins are provided for each floor. They are regularly emptied and cleaned – but evidently not regularly enough. All bins in MIQ facilities will now be lidless, Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said on Friday.

On multiple occasions, another person staying on the same floor touched the bin lid after the infected individual. This person (who later tested positive as part of that September 23 family grouping) would have still been incubating the virus by the time of their own Day 12 test and so the PCR test – which is most effective at catching people who are infectious – came back negative. This individual who had touched the bin lid second then sat directly behind the man whose positive result was reported by the ministry on September 19 on the chartered flight back to Auckland. It is likely that this is where that transmission occurred.

Both of the people who returned to the community while harbouring the virus infected two household members but no others. They sought testing when needed and made able use of the NZ Covid Tracer app, the ministry says.

“It’s pleasing to note the extensive use of the NZ Covid Tracer app by one of these cases has significantly assisted contact tracing efforts," the September 23 Ministry of Health statement read.

Joep de Ligt, the head of bioinformatics and genomics at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), told Newsroom that this might be the first confirmed case of fomite (surface) transmission of Covid-19.

“Internationally, there's still not been an official case of what they call fomite transmission. We might have the first one in Christchurch, where it is that real particular and not the aerosolised version of the virus,” he said.
However, the virus lingering in the air around the bin as an aerosol couldn't be fully excluded.
Article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health ... 9-outbreak