Most Australians are returning to work this week after happily ignoring the ongoing COVID news cycle.
While Australians celebrated the holidays and looked forward to a hopefully brighter future, COVID case numbers continued to rise and ScoMo continued to make himself look like a dickhead.
Here is a quick update to keep you current at the water cooler this week.
New South Wales recorded 20,794 new cases from more than 96,000 tests.
No wonder the COVID test queues are unapproachable.
Only get a PCR test if you are a close contact with a positive rapid antigen test result.
Due to the strain on the PCR testing facilities, the guidelines around when to be tested have changed.
While not all states agreed to the new guidelines, the majority have decided that close contacts only need to get a PCR test if they return a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) result. Most states are also only recommending the RAT if the close contact is symptomatic. PCR tests will still be required before any travel.
28 testing clinics were temporarily closed.
Australian Clinical Labs announced the closure of 28 of their 29 sites. The announcement was made yesterday but the company said the sites will progressively reopen from Tuesday, January 4.
Scott Morrison has said he won’t ‘undercut’ businesses by providing free rapid antigen tests.
The hashtag ‘#dickhead’ is trending on Australian Twitter and sadly/hilariously it all has to do with our PM.
84 million rapid tests have already been ordered by state governments and partially funded by the Commonwealth however, these will only be handed out for free to people identified as close contacts.
It’s both funny and tragic when #dickhead is trending on Australian twitter and everyone knows it’s the PM. An absolute dickhead pic.twitter.com/OcIBvvb44R
— Patricia Barraclough (@PMBarraclough) January 1, 2022
The first case of ‘Flurona’ was found in Israel.
Australians are reminded to get booster vaccinations as a leading infectious disease expert confirmed people can catch both COVID-19 and the flu at the same time.
