On coronavirus
Joanne, (CP, 18/03). The government is following and acting on all states and federal chief doctors, whom I would like to think know more about virus handling than you. It has nothing to do with what Howard did or didn’t do years ago.
Bill, Mooroobool
On all this panic buying in supermarkets, do you think the only way it could be stopped is if you try and purchase more than a sensible amount of a certain product you get charged the right amount. But if you try to buy a lot more then you might be charged double or triple. That way everybody then gets a chance to get what they want.
Scottie, Bayview Heights
The official COVID-19 figures from the WHO via John Hopkins University say 196,106 infected and 7869 dead. That’s 3858 dead per 100,000 infected. Common flu kills two per 100,000. But our immigration intake continues unabated.
Clever country? No. Not in 40 years, at least.
Joanne, Manunda
Is it time to isolate Far North Queensland? Parents can then continue to work, kids can stay at school and grand parents/carers can stay isolated and well. Not a big cost to have the roads into Cairns blocked off. It happens most wet seasons and we deal with it. Currently our airports can be shutdown without much impact. People should be well stocked by now for a pending lockdown so now is a good time to take some initiative and isolate the Far North. IG, Edge Hill
The PM live from Canberra saying “best advice” is to keep schools open. “Best advice” trusts WHO figures. WHO trusts Chinese figures. China was reluctant to even admit they had a problem. What we need right now is decent leadership. We’re not getting it.
Ric, Brinsmead
So much for social distancing. Bob Manning and his team are all over people at the early voting. Not a great look Bob with a virus around. Mick, Edmonton
As per your story , there is no confirmed case of coronavirus in Cairns, so all the stockpiling here is totally unnecessary. Absolutely, make sure you have extra hygiene items but that’s about it.
Beth, Kanimbla
Taiwan moved quickly to fight COVID-19, taking measures even before the West’s media had heard of it. If we’d done that, too, we could still have full domestic economic activity, including tourism (CP, 18/03). Doing too little too late because we trusted a UN agency too much is going to do us immense economic damage. Thanks for nothing, Sco-Mo. Higgs, Tolga
Re: coronavirus and flights. It’s unfair that the airlines aren’t reimbursing entire airfares if where you are travelling to has a ban on people arriving from overseas. What gives them the right to take a certain amount of the money you pay in good faith for the air tickets and due to a problem beyond the passenger’s control; they are ripping people off. My son paid flight cancellation insurance and they are telling him he has to use that to re-book his flights and pay the extra if needs be.
Di, White Rock