Cases consistently down to a few % of the peak, less than 1% on the best days.
Active cases in continuous decline for well over a month.
Test ratios now exceed 10,000 tests to find 1 active case in most jurisdictions.
Canberra now has no active cases at all.
No deaths at all, anywhere in the country on most days recently.
Hospitals on standby with empty beds as a backup.
Still not eliminated but I find it hard to understand why you think "under control" is not correct and reasonable.
What criteria do you think still need to be met to use the phrase?
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We haven't had a "lockdown", we have no curfews, always possible to leave the house for a run, or a walk to the shops for food and other items.
No one checks you in or out of your apartment block or precinct, as in China.
As you concede, less strict than other countries.
And as I already noted, I actually see more people on the streets than prior to the social distance rules.
I even asked some of these passers-by how they felt about it. (n~20).
No one I asked considered the restrictions unreasonable or was particularly stressed by them.
Partly, I expect, because the payoff has been clear, so
most people are prepared to accept the down side, especially for a finite time.
"Relaxed" is a subjective term of course, if you're not relaxed then I can't dispute about that.
I expect we will see a few more clusters so a saw tooth is quite possible,
I think that the authorities believe they can be contained before they spread sufficiently to require that restrictions be reimposed.
That also seems quite possible to me, we will see, don't want to reach a premature conclusion.
But in
either case I expect that our low infection rate and death rate will put us in a position to reopen more quickly and help affected businesses.
It's been the year from hell for the tourism and hospitality around here, first the bushfires and then Covid-19 just as they were about to reopen.
The minister's statement is surely incorrect.
In less than 2 months we have knocked the level down to close to zero.
One more month should do it.
That is also the assessment of a friend who is a senior health policy adviser, PhD in public health, knows epidemics.
So I trust her assessment more than some unnamed minister.
She's unhappy that they have eased up now, just as we are so close.
Personally, I see the conflict between cautious health decisions and the need to help people economically.
So I find myself in the rare position that I think our Aussie politicians have this about correct, for once.
Best wishes
David
