City of Melbourne in turmoil

[Warrigal]

Melbourne has always seemed to Sydney siders to be a staid, stuffy place. Melbournians see themselves as urbane and artistic, their city to be the Athens of the Southern Hemisphere.

Because of Covid restrictions the city is in turmoil. Health orders are being defied and the police are out in force attempting to keep a lid of the protests. The scenes are amazing with thousands of protestors in hi vis clothing taking over the streets. The police look like storm troopers in black. Very disconcerting.

This article on the ABC describes what is going on with some excellent footage, including overhead shots. There are links to other articles about this situation.

Two police officers injured as protesters pelt authorities with projectiles, police respond with rubber pellets - ABC News

As if this wasn't enough, there was an earthquake across SE Australia this morning. We have no active volcanoes and earthquakes are very rare occurrences. The epicentre was in Victoria to the NE of Melbourne. It was a 5.8 quake at depth of 10 km. We are still the lucky country because the main damage seems to have been to just one pub in Melbourne where bricks from the front wall fell onto the street and hurt no-one because the streets are deserted during lockdown and the protestors hadn't arrived yet.

 

[Shero]

Melbourne has always seemed to Sydney siders to be a staid, stuffy place. Melbournians see themselves as urbane and artistic, their city to be the Athens of the Southern Hemisphere.

Because of Covid restrictions the city is in turmoil. Health orders are being defied and the police are out in force attempting to keep a lid of the protests. The scenes are amazing with thousands of protestors in hi vis clothing taking over the streets. The police look like storm troopers in black. Very disconcerting.

This article on the ABC describes what is going on with some excellent footage, including overhead shots. There are links to other articles about this situation.

Two police officers injured as protesters pelt authorities with projectiles, police respond with rubber pellets - ABC News

As if this wasn't enough, there was an earthquake across SE Australia this morning. We have no active volcanoes and earthquakes are very rare occurrences. The epicentre was in Victoria to the NE of Melbourne. It was a 5.8 quake at depth of 10 km. We are still the lucky country because the main damage seems to have been to just one pub in Melbourne where bricks from the front wall fell onto the street and hurt no-one because the streets are deserted during lockdown and the protestors hadn't arrived yet.

Saw the scene on TV, very disturbing.

 

[Alligatorob]

Because of Covid restrictions the city is in turmoil.

Australia and the US have taken very different paths with respect to the virus. While we have had some restrictions here, they have been much less than yours, and our infection rate shows it. Australia has a confirmed infection rate of 386 per 100,000 people (0.4%) and a death rate of 5.1 per 100,000. Rates in the US are much higher, infection 13,299 (13%) and death 214 per 100,000 ( https://georank.org/covid/australia/united-states ).

I suspect your approach has had more impact on your economy than ours, but I am not sure, could not find statistics on that.

I am making no judgement on this, just observations. Over time I suspect we will better understand the consequences of our different decisions.

One thing these statistics do point our is our relative view of risk. In the US the annual risk of dying from Covid is 214 per 100,000, this compares to about 0.009 of dying in a plane crash and 20 per 100,000 of dying in an automobile accident. Drug overdosing kills about 21 per 100,000. Covid is killing a whole lot more people than drug overdose and accidents in the US. ( https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/planecrash/risky.html and https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/deaths/index.html )

 

[oldpop]

> Warrigal
There is a lot of negative stuff going on in the world at this moment and a lot of people are on edge. I do not condone or condemn these actions for obvious reasons but history has shown that when people get pushed to far they rebel. Good luck to all of you in Australia.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

For whatever reason, people aren't buying the need forCovid 19 restrictions. It could be that governments have lost credibility, with all the scandals, misinformation programs, and political maneuvering. In shot- governmental dishonesty. Plus social media promoting fly by night "experts' with questionable credentials, spouting complete fabrication. I think this stems from a large portion of the population, which does not yet believe there is a genuine pandemic.

 

[Oris Borloff]

Melbourne has always seemed to Sydney siders to be a staid, stuffy place. Melbournians see themselves as urbane and artistic, their city to be the Athens of the Southern Hemisphere.

Does Brisbane have an urban identity? I only ask as we have a friend who is from there, but he's now a US citizen and lived here for 50 years.

 

[Bellbird]

It amazes me that there are so many demonstations. The stats, remain unvaccinated and the virus spreads like wild fire through all age groups, Melbourne can attest to that. So it doesn't matter that the country could be brought to its knees,! for this would surely happen if it was left unchecked. The police have a job to do, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

 

[Warrigal]

Does Brisbane have an urban identity? I only ask as we have a friend who is from there, but he's now a US citizen and lived here for 50 years.

Yes Brisbane is a city built around a river. Melbourne is too. Sydney is blessed with a glorious harbour. Each city has its own ambiance and because of the differences in latitude, different and pursuits and dress styles.

 

[MarciKS]

makes a person wonder if this is what we all will face eventually.

 

[Tish]

Unfortunatly there will be a huge spike in Covid cases in both Melbourne and Sydney.
Not that NSW needs another spike as it is we have been in 4 figure digits daily for the last 3 weeks.

 

[oldpop]

For whatever reason, people aren't buying the need forCovid 19 restrictions. It could be that governments have lost credibility, with all the scandals, misinformation programs, and political maneuvering. In shot- governmental dishonesty. Plus social media promoting fly by night "experts' with questionable credentials, spouting complete fabrication. I think this stems from a large portion of the population, which does not yet believe there is a genuine pandemic.

The info going around about the vaccine causes some confusion. I think fear of the vaccine is one reason. For me anyway. Another thing is people generally do not like to be told what they have to do something. Also a lot of our freedoms have been trampled on in the last decade or so and that is another form of fear. I am at a very low risk as I rarely go out into the public domain. Maybe once a month for a pickup order. IMO my biggest risk is pickup order packaging, mail and online packages. I order a lot of things online. I do have health issues that make me at risk also.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

The info going around about the vaccine causes some confusion. I think fear of the vaccine is one reason. For me anyway. Another thing is people generally do not like to be told what they have to do something. Also a lot of our freedoms have been trampled on in the last decade or so and that is another form of fear. I am at a very low risk as I rarely go out into the public domain. Maybe once a month for a pickup order. IMO my biggest risk is pickup order packaging, mail and online packages. I order a lot of things online. I do have health issues that make me at risk also.

As far as the medical repercussion's of getting the vaccine are extremely low. There have been about 14,000+ deaths related to Covid 19 vaccinations. But when you consider there have been 58.6 billion doses administered, your odds of a reaction are extremely low. There is nothing in medicine that does not have risk involved. Blowing your nose can cause death, but everyday people risk death to blow their noses. Is there an extremely small chance the vaccine could cause your death? Yes. But it's way, way more likely that the virus will cause your death.