Project COVID Skies - Part 17

August 30, 2020 Geoffrey O'Hearn

17 weeks down, this project has covered almost a third of a year. This means that in Melbourne we have had stage 3 restrictions or higher for more than a third of a year. You can understand why many people are tired, especially with uncertainty with employment and not being able to be close to loved ones.

This week in Melbourne has been better and the trend is heading in the right direction. The new cases finally dipped below 100 for one day and have hovered around totals not far over 100 for multiple days. The new case numbers from Monday 24th August to Sunday 30th August were; 104, 134, 144, 106, 108, 81 and 114.

The deaths have been high and is to be expected based on the new case numbers a couple of weeks ago. The deaths for the week were 109 in Victoria.

The other states have things in control with NSW and Queensland keeping close watch on a couple of outbreaks. For a comparison of interest, in the last week Victoria had 306 (784) new cases with an unknown source (new cases), New South Wales had 6 (55) and Queensland 0 (16). The cases with an unknown source, otherwise known as community transmission, will be revised down for Victoria as the authorities get on top of their contract tracing. There would still be a very high number of community transmissions and this is a number that will have to reduce to virtually 0 before we can return to a COVID-safe sense of freedom in daily activities.

After four weeks of stage 4 restrictions including a nightly curfew and restrictions on proximity from home, there is civil unrest growing. The state premier Daniel Andrews has sought to extend the state of emergency in Victoria by 12 months as the maximum period of 6 months is about to expire. This has been considered a step to far by most. There are people looking to organise a protest about these lock downs, the premise being if it was OK for 10,000 people to protest BLM then we can have 10,000 people protest these restrictions. There have also been protests within the rules. In Dandenong, it was organised that everyone take their one hour permitted walk at the same time so as to flood the streets with people.

Winter hasn’t let go of us yet and there has been some wild weather in Melbourne during the week. Sadly 3 people died including a 5 year old child from storms that came through Melbourne on Thursday night. The storms also caused water supply to be contaminated for initially 88 suburbs and has now increased to 104 suburbs. Who had water contamination on their bingo card for 2020?

Who knows what next week will bring, the way 2020 is going, maybe alien invasion? Although they might take a quick look at Earth right now and go, “No Thanks!”

Project COVID Skies - Part 16

August 23, 2020 Geoffrey O'Hearn

Yet another week has passed by, one week blurring into another of continual monotony. Don’t ask me what I have been doing because nothing has changed for a while. Still the time goes quick. The weather has been particularly wet and cold, winter is giving us one last blast (hopefully) with colder than average temperatures heading all the way up into NSW.

The new case numbers have been better this week and for the first time since mid July we have had consecutive days with under 200. The numbers for the week are; 263, 211, 208, 237, 169, 177 and 202. On the deaths, Monday was the worst day with 25. The other days have been around the teens. These numbers were to be expected following on from the new cases in the last couple of weeks. Aged care has been hit particularly hard as has medical staff. There has also been a large outbreak linked to Frankston hospital.

NSW remains in control and New Zealand is working through resolving their cases. Life goes on in those areas under modest restrictions.

Project COVID Skies - Part 15

August 16, 2020 Geoffrey O'Hearn

Another week has passed under stage 4 restrictions. Melbourne has had its highest death count due to the corona virus, which is to be expected as the follow on from previous infection counts. The new cases count has started to see a decline, however the numbers are still high and there is still a large amount of community infection. The new case numbers from 10th August 2020 to 16th August 2020 are; 298, 294, 395, 217, 371, 283 and 279. The death in the same period are; 18, 19, 21, 8, 14, 4 and 16.

Meanwhile over the ditch in New Zealand, on 11th August, after 102 days with no new infections, a family of 4 in Auckland had been diagnosed with COVID-19. These cases were not from hotel quarantine or close contact with a returned traveller. As the source was unknown, Auckland was placed under stage 3 restrictions for 3 days from 12th August, whilst the rest of New Zealand returned to stage 2 restrictions. These restrictions have been extended for 12 further days to 11:59pm on the 26th of August to give health authorities the best chance to get on top of any community transmission.

NSW has also been keeping its new case numbers low and the authorities have been working hard at keeping on top of contact tracing. The continued low numbers in NSW is encouraging for that state and the rest of Australia.

The weather this week has been typical Melbourne providing a bit of everything. Winter is giving us one last blast and there are signs that spring will be with us shortly.

Project COVID Skies - Part 14

August 9, 2020 Geoffrey O'Hearn

Since my last update we have been under what is known as stage 4 restrictions. This was applied immediately from the time of my last post in part and other parts came into effect on Wednesday and Friday. Those parts were mostly employment related. The immediate new restrictions from last Sunday was a ban on travelling more than 5 km from home and the placement of a curfew from 8 pm to 5 am. We were also limited to only being able to exercise for an hour, once per day and to go shopping just once per day.

This caught me out a little when I did my shopping on Wednesday. I had forgotten an item and since I had already been to the shops I couldn’t go back for that item or for takeaway really. The solution was to have dinner delivered that night.

Cases have remained high which was still to be expected through the week. Hopefully this coming week we start to see a downward trend. The amounts of new cases from Monday 3rd August to Sunday 9th August were; 380, 398, 700, 434, 398, 416, 376. At least the case numbers have not grown exponentially which means the implementation of mandatory mask wearing has slowed the rate of increase of cases.

NSW keeps having new cases pop up, most are associated to known outbreaks. There has been some spread with cases been found in the Newcastle area. The track and trace in NSW is solid, but scarily it shows how much someone can get out and about and spread the virus. NSW had been able to issue alerts for multiple locations based on someone having a few days out. QLD in response has now closed their border to residents of NSW and ACT, joining those from Victoria already excluded.

Project COVID Skies - Part 13

August 2, 2020 Geoffrey O'Hearn

We are now what could have been the half way point of our return to stage 3 restrictions in Victoria. The premise of this round being just 6 weeks seems incredibly unlikely now and after a horror week with rising case numbers it is very likely that further restrictions will be placed and the 6 week period will be extended.

The cases numbers for this week are 515, 353, 255, 694, 579, 354, 671. Further restrictions now apply for regional Victoria with masks mandatory across the whole state and also restrictions on guests in your home now applying to the municipalities surrounding and including Geelong.

The points of discussion for the week have been the “Karens of Bunnings,” the talk her way past a checkpoint girl and the 3 girls who lied their way back into Queensland and creating havoc after testing positive to the virus. The Karen’s of Bunnings were women who deliberately walked into Bunnings, not wearing a mask, and seeking out confrontations with the staff. This was repeated at other retail locations all citing some human rights law which they were incorrect about. The checkpoint girl had her window smashed in by police when they caught up with her as she refused to comply with directions, spouting the same human rights stuff. YouTube uni does not make you a constitutional lawyer. The worst was these girls who travelled from Melbourne to Brisbane but used Sydney as a stop over, so they could say they came from Sydney, and then lied on entry to Queensland to avoid quarantine. As one of them became very sick from corona virus their deceit had been discovered and they have created a world of havoc for people in the Brisbane area. Thousands have had to go for testing, many have had to isolate and some businesses have had to close. Time will tell if they manage to see any jail time for what is essentially a criminal act involving fraud.

NSW has remained steady picking up a dozen or so new cases each day and the authorities are still tracking the numerous outbreaks across the Sydney area.

BREAKING: As I complete this blog there has been a big announcement. The state of Victoria is now moving to a state of disaster and stage 4 restrictions for metro Melbourne from a state of emergency and stage 3 restrictions. The new restrictions that will now apply including a curfew from 8pm to 5am and a restriction of being able to travel no more than 5 KM from home.

Not much in the way to weather so only a few pictures this week. It has been quite warm for the middle of winter with lots of clear skies and sun.

31st July 2020 9:58 pm 22° Halo of the moon

Project COVID Skies - Part 9

May 31, 2020 Geoffrey O'Hearn

After nine weeks this is the final instalment of “Project COVID Skies” in its current format. From 11:59 pm tonight restrictions will be relaxed enough to the point that we are no longer bound to our homes and have freedom of movement. There are still a number of restrictions in place for the handling of the pandemic, mostly to do with numbers of people in a location with guidance on proximity, and it is far from over.

Over the last nine weeks I have published over 300 images and I have processed over 700 images. Whilst I now have the ability to leave my house for photography, it is not an option I will be looking at taking great advantage of. It is time dedicate my efforts to different projects and learning in the world of photography.

Habits break hard so there will be photos still taken of the sky and they will be published in future blogs under the “Project COVID Skies” banner, just not at the same frequency as has been through the project. I also intend on putting together a behind the scenes post on this blog.

Thank you to anyone who has followed this project and I look forward to continue to share my passion for photography with you.

25th May 2020 9:32 am Not a cloud in the sky

25th May 2020 11:35 am OK, I turned around and found one, but that was it for the day.

26th May 2020 8:48 am Morning fog burning off.

26th May 2020 2:55 pm Flying nice and low.

Project COVID Skies - Part 8

May 24, 2020 Geoffrey O'Hearn

Here we are another week down and another week closer to the easing of more restrictions. Social (or physical, really!) distancing is still imperative as restrictions get eased with more announced. In Victoria from the 1st June, we will be able to have gatherings of up to 20 people and pubs and cafe’s can open with limits of up to 20 people. The serving of alcohol will only be available to seated patrons.

The number of new cased as ticked along at a steady slow rate with most coming from known sources. High levels of testing will need to remain and the public really needs to take the advice to not go out if displaying even the mildest of symptoms of a cold or flu. The simple message is if not 100% well then stay home.

The easing of restrictions and the return of workers to office buildings will be one the biggest challenges in terms of keeping transmission low. There will be much higher risk as people travel more, spend more time in close proximity to others and use more shared touch points. The increase in people travelling to work and the return of students to school will pose many difficulties as capacity on public transport is reduced which will put greater strain on the road networks. As such, if you can work from home then you should still work from home.

The weather is cooling down more. We had a few nice days with a chill in the air and a few days with some rain including one 2:00 am storm that did some serious damage in the Melbourne area and hitting Geelong the hardest.