Second largest population state and home to 2nd largest city Melbourne.
New cases update:
- reported on Saturday 190
- reported on Sunday 183
- And reported just now, surge to 246 (so much for weekend dips)
Figures for Australia's largest population state, New South Wales, home of Australia's largest city of Sydney will be reported later.
- reported Saturday 1533
- reported Sunday 1485
The "virus strategy" has changed in both states, no longer aimed at driving cases to zero but rather aiming to vaccinate their way out of the delta crisis.
- NSW is already at 70% of its population with first doses (its hit 75%)
- Victoria is currently on track to hit its 70% first dose target in around 14 days (the rate of vaccinations is accelerating in the state which brings the estimated days to target to 11).
There will be minor easing of restrictions at that 70% target, more substantial easings (and hence a much broader opening of the economy) will be when 80% of the eligible population have been double-vaccinated. Victoria's Premier Andrews has said repeatedly that once all eligible people have been offered vaccinations there will be no further lockdowns. Those who choose to remain unvaccinated and at risk are on their own.
A PR campaign to get younger people vaccinated includes this piece aimed at getting entertainment industry workers back at their jobs. I cannot wait until venues and events reopen, this sector of the economy has been hit very hard. There are some who dismiss the workers in this sector as somehow lesser people than those in other sectors of the economy, I strongly disagree.
The Reserve Bank of Australia meets this week with a decision on whether to backtrack on their taper plan the focus. I posted earlier on the RBA meeting here:
At that post there are further links to RBA previews, analysts are pretty split on whether or not the taper plan will be backtracked.
The data is crystal clear, this via a tweet from @TimDuy, Asante is a US state of Oregon health service:
If you are suckered into conspiracies and misinformation good luck to you. But the fact is in the coming months as Australia is more fully vaccinated the economy will emerge from ongoing lockdowns.
