The Ruby Princess left Port Kembla this afternoon with 500 crew members. 10% of all Australian COVID-19 cases were passengers on this ship. Along with this welcome departure inquiry season has begun: federal government response to the virus, the Ruby Princess saga, WHO capability to investigate disease outbreaks. These inquiries take the form of what was done, by whom, when and what was not done that should have been. The government has kindly developed an app for detections and tracing, but many have privacy concerns about it, with little trust concerning government surveillance.
Teasers abound for an easing of restrictions forecast for the near future if we continue to behave ourselves. Big business is lobbying for snapback initiatives to be neoliberal policies, flogging corporate tax cuts, deregulation and lower wages, but with little thought for where economic growth will come from. We are likely to rely heavily on the services sector, particularly health and social care, providing one in seven jobs. The Reserve Bank’s Philip Lowe predicts the economy to contract 6% and bounce 6-7% next year, with unemployment peaking at 10%.
Meanwhile, I remain in isolation but for pup walks and occasional groceries. I’m reading lots and today posted a blog message in support of my sister Julie’s countdown approach to mortality and timely expression. The Illawarra Socratic Society continues to feed me topical philosophical opinion pieces which I devour. I have surprised myself that I have not taken on those big projects of exercise and decluttering I thought I would with so much time ostensibly available.
Today we have only 12 more cases in Australia (total 6,661) and 75 deaths. A total of 466,000 tests have now been conducted. NSW acquired 5 of these new cases for a total now just creeping to 2,976 with 34 deaths. World totals are now over 2.6 million cases and 184,268 deaths.
Awesomely Astute 