Well done Australia, the vast majority of you followed the rules and did the right thing over the last eight weeks. You stayed home, let your hair go crazy, watched too much Netflix and cried trying to navigate your child's online learning.
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Now don't go and undo all that hard work by breaking all the rules. The rules haven't changed much (or at all in some states) but things are where we need them to be.
We have heard a lot about flattening the curve over the last eight weeks and to be fair most people are still not sure what it means. The graph below is a perfect example of a curve that has flattened. The yellow line goes up quickly in March and levels off around April 12 (the dates are along the bottom). The yellow line shows the total cases since February, the blue is the new cases each day. Stay with me...we'll talk about pubs soon.
But what does it actually mean? According to Prime Minister Scott Morrison this graph shows we have "earned an early mark" because the total cases has levelled off. Australia can get out from under the doona (the PM's words not mine) earlier that expected. Friday, May 8 is the day to circle on the calendar when we can lift restrictions.
The PM stressed that there will be strict rules on how many people can go to restaurants, pubs and cafes because he doesn't want another spike that would lead to closing things back down. And despite his love of footy he said that the NRL won't get any special treatment and they didn't have authority to restart yet.
Australians will closely follow how things play out in the Northern Territory as it starts to open up over the next few days. Businesses will have to prepare a safety plan before they can start to allow punters in on May 15. Parks, playgrounds and pools opened at lunch time today.
The NSW government has asked people to get tested for coronavirus if they have mild symptoms before they visit their family and friends. Restrictions were eased today but residents were reminded to play it safe, get tested and wait for the results.
The economic pain of the crisis will certainly hang around longer than the current lockdowns. New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows one in three households are worse-off financially since COVID-19 hit our shores. The ABS data also shows that more than half of those who got a $750 stimulus payment have banked it. The Rudd government had success during the GFC with this policy but this time around no one could go out and actually spend the cash.
The government also temporarily doubled Newstart to help respond to the economic crisis and some MPs are calling for that become a permanent move. That move appears unlikely looking at previous history...this was the first increase to Newstart for 25 years.
And a good news story to finish the day. A Dubbo man who had lost his job due to the crisis is now a millionaire after winning Wednesday Lotto. He couldn't sleep on Wednesday night dreaming about how he would spend the money and when it was confirmed on Thursday his dreams came true.
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