As a NSW high school teacher, this is not welcome news to me. Anyone got a spare hazmat suit?
I hear you. It is so frustrating when the leadership team in NSW Government fails to understand the maths on a pandemic and does not appreciate that Delta is essentially a mutated monster that destroys the best prepared plans. The science behind these recommendations is crystal clear based on data from Singapore and Israel.
Unvaccinated people are more likely to be seriously ill or die, when compared to the vaccination. Often the vaccine protects from hospitalization and death, except for people with underlying conditions. Data from the US shows that the infection fatality rate before vaccines was 1 in 200, it could be less than 1 in 500, or as low as 1 in 1,000, in the coming months because of vaccine protection—even if there are many breakthrough infections.
The plus is that vaccinated people are however infectious for a shorter period (9 days, instead of a longer period) and often their symptoms are mild. Very rarely do they get seriously sick like the unvaccinated.
Doctors have always known breakthrough infections are contagious in symptomatic. The problem is, there is too much virus spreading because there are too many unvaccinated in NSW spreading the Delta variant.
The masking by the infected and the healthy limit the chance of spread to 1.5%. If NSW does not get it right Delta will kill many there.
This is a doctor sharing on her breakthrough Corvid-19 infection. She is vaccinated but this is not good at all as Delta has the slight potential to kill even the vaccinated, especially if they have underlying medical conditions.
The only plus I can see from this is: 80% of the most vulnerable Americans, Australians and Singaporeans—people over 65—are fully vaccinated. Fewer vulnerable people means fewer deaths.