So, what do we have so far?
Sophia's (and aquascoot's) "it’s gone all mild now" SARS virus that's still killing about 80 Australians a week
according the ABS figures from January 1st to July 31st this year.
Including
1,070 Aged Care deaths this year so far (another 10 last week).
And making countless people "sick all the time".
Now we have "flesh eating infections" on the loose.
To top it all off - H5N1 "bird flu" is about to make the jump to full blown human to human transmission... and it doesn't look like it's going to be good, especially for the young this time (I'm betting aquascoot will be upset about that).
A single mutation in bovine influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin switches specificity to human receptorsAmerica’s Bird-Flu Luck Has Officially Run OutScientists detect rare H5N1 avian flu strain in Australian child after travel to IndiaAnd... most concerning of all (if not, it should be):
Most pregnant women and unborn babies who contract bird flu will die, study finds Quote:Most pregnant women who contract bird flu will die, according to an Australian review of infections that found most unborn babies with the virus also die.
Caused by influenza A viruses, a severe strain of bird flu known as highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) is spreading globally.
Quote:Older populations might be more protected than younger ones because of exposure to ‘matched’ strains during childhood, but an H5N1 pandemic is likely to take a major toll all the same.
Quote:‘it’s really important to think about vulnerable populations’, Melbourne researcher says
Yeah, right. Governments and big business didn't think about protecting the elderly and vulnerable when they let Covid rip (they lied when they said they would) so why would they think about protecting the vulnerable from H5N1?
Oh, wait... they may have to think about it at least a bit when it turns out the the young are more at risk of dying from H5N1 than the elderly.
But, for the moment, as far as our governments are concerned it's "nothing to see here, just keep shopping and spending and taking those interstate and overseas holidays for Christmas and the New Year".
"Shop until you drop" could take on a whole new meaning very soon.