For Victorians Only

If you thought you were safe from Covid-19 because you live in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, or out bush somewhere, think again. DHHS publishes a table of case numbers by local government area, but the table is waaaaay down the very bottom of the daily report. I’m ashamed to say I only found it today myself, so I thought it might help if everyone could check their own area.

[Note: On the DHHS website, the table is sorted by number of cases. I copied the DHHS table and sorted it by locality to make it easier to find your own area]

New cases of Covid-19 by locality name

LGA	Confirmed cases (ever)	Active cases (current)
ALPINE	1	0
ARARAT	5	0
BALLARAT	24	11
BANYULE	288	147
BASS COAST	6	1
BAW BAW	9	3
BAYSIDE	63	26
BENALLA	3	0
BOROONDARA	151	52
BRIMBANK	730	481
BULOKE	0	0
CAMPASPE	5	0
CARDINIA	53	24
CASEY	296	149
CENTRAL GOLDFIELDS	1	0
COLAC OTWAY	46	46
CORANGAMITE	1	0
DAREBIN	193	91
EAST GIPPSLAND	2	1
FRANKSTON	62	18
GANNAWARRA	2	0
GLEN EIRA	90	28
GLENELG	6	5
GOLDEN PLAINS	9	6
GREATER BENDIGO	14	4
GREATER DANDENONG	118	84
GREATER GEELONG	104	29
GREATER SHEPPARTON	17	1
HEPBURN	2	0
HINDMARSH	0	0
HOBSONS BAY	133	73
HORSHAM	10	7
HUME	728	338
INDIGO	0	0
INTERSTATE	85	7
KINGSTON	82	42
KNOX	55	26
LATROBE	13	4
LODDON	4	1
MACEDON RANGES	18	8
MANNINGHAM	93	40
MANSFIELD	4	1
MARIBYRNONG	205	117
MAROONDAH	40	20
MELBOURNE	542	281
MELTON	318	195
MILDURA	5	0
MITCHELL	34	9
MOIRA	11	0
MONASH	118	49
MOONEE VALLEY	473	227
MOORABOOL	12	9
MORELAND	429	238
MORNINGTON PENINSULA	80	14
MOUNT ALEXANDER	7	1
MOYNE	1	0
MURRINDINDI	2	0
NILLUMBIK	55	24
NORTHERN GRAMPIANS	3	0
OVERSEAS	5	0
PORT PHILLIP	111	42
PYRENEES	0	0
QUEENSCLIFFE	0	0
SOUTH GIPPSLAND	9	4
SOUTHERN GRAMPIANS	2	0
STONNINGTON	155	39
STRATHBOGIE	2	0
SURF COAST	14	4
SWAN HILL	6	2
TOTAL	7744	3995
TOWONG	0	0
UNKNOWN	49	46
WANGARATTA	2	0
WARRNAMBOOL	5	0
WELLINGTON	13	0
WEST WIMMERA	1	0
WHITEHORSE	97	49
WHITTLESEA	379	245
WODONGA	1	0
WYNDHAM	756	474
YARRA	218	126
YARRA RANGES	57	26
YARRIAMBIACK	1	0

I live in the Shire of Nillumbik, and guess what? Yup, we have 24 active cases. I was shocked. This virus is spreading like a grass fire.

And now a basic little chart of how the new cases have been rising since May 1, 2020 [that’s when I started recording daily cases on my spreadsheet].

This is a link to the Daniel Andrews update posted 2 hours ago. In that update he confirms that one of the men who succumbed to Covid-19 overnight was in his 40s. Bear that in mind as you read the rest of this post.

And finally a plea : if you won’t wear a mask to protect others, please wear one to protect yourself.

Quite apart from the threat of fines, evidence is growing of long term health problems in many of those who get Covid-19 and recover. According to data from Italy, 87% of recovered patients in the study had some symptoms/health problems for up to 2 months afterwards. Only 13% reported no symptoms/problems at all.

The following graphic is a screenshot taken from the Med Cram video on ‘Long Haulers’ – i.e. those who continue to have symptoms after the virus is gone:

The next graphic is from the same Med Cram video:

Breakdown of data regarding Covid-19 ‘Long Haulers’

What the graphic shows is the breakdown of the data. These are the important bits:

• 143 recovered patients were studied
• all of the patients were sick enough to be admitted to hospital
• the median age of the patients in the study was 56 [median means that there were just as many patients younger than 56 as there were older than 56. So it’s not an ‘average’]
• 13% of patients studied had no symptoms/health problems after recovering from the virus
• 32% had 1-2 symptoms/health problems for up to 2 months after recovering from the virus
• 55% had 3 or more symptoms/health problems for up to 2 months after recovering from the virus.

So, if you get sick enough to be hospitalised, you’re going to feel pretty awful for quite some time afterwards. But who is this ‘you’?

To find out, I searched for ‘long haulers’ and ‘covid-19’ on Youtube. I found so much more than I ever expected. This video is about a 38 year old woman who’s been battling the after effects of Covid-19 for months:

This next video gives some info about how many ‘long haulers’ there are:

We have to rethink our response to Covid-19. It is not just a danger to ‘oldies’. It is not just a danger to people with co-morbidities. It is a danger to all of us, of any age.

Next time you go out, ask yourself if you want to become one of the ‘long haulers’. If the answer is no, wear a mask and stay away from those who don’t.

cheers
Meeks