Are you experiencing a Wednesday hump? Well frankly, the news just doesn’t care. It’ll keep churning and churning in continuum way past the point that the ABC has a Mars correspondent or we’re all Alibaba cyborgs. But let’s not sit in a hot tub of existential dread and instead cover today’s headlines:
Are We Still in a Pandemic?
Despite the fact that picnics, going outside, and experiencing joy are all having a moment again, COVID is unfortunately still around. “The counter-narratives that are flying around, ‘Let’s get back to normal, take off your masks’, it’s denial,” said Professor Raina MacIntyre, from the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute, in an interview with the AAP.
MacIntyre moreover noted, “We haven’t come to that stage of just accepting it and saying, Okay, this is here to stay and if we want to have a reasonable quality of life and not end up debilitated with chronic diseases, we’ve actually got to change the way we live’.”
But how do we do such a task? MacIntyre has recommended that we change our building designs, stockpile vaccines, and increase how much medical supplies we manufacture.
It’s Somehow Snowing in August
NSW has gotten the memo that winter is almost over. This can be demonstrated by the fact that it has just snowed in the Blue Mountains, Lithgow, Orange, and Bathurst. “This is the most we’ve had this season,” an Orange farmer, Graeme Eastwood, told the ABC. He additionally said, “There’s about an inch of cover everywhere and the dog looks happy enough keeping out of it.”
However, while this weather is great for making snowmen and whimsical angles, it’s also more dangerous for our drivers. “The main concern for road users is that black ice this morning specifically around the Blue Mountains area, so between Katoomba and Mount Victoria,” asserted Joshua Clarke, the State Emergency Service’s acting superintendent.
Black ice is a transparent layer of ice on the road that’s often invisible while driving a vehicle. So, if you’re around the aforementioned areas, stay safe and drive carefully.
John Farnham’s Out of Surgery and Is Stable
Yesterday, it was reported that John Farnham, the iconic Aussie Musician, was going into surgery to get cancer removed from his body. Fortunately, his wife, Jill Farnham, has outlined that this surgery was a success. In a statement obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald, she wrote, “John has been through an eleven-and-a-half-hour surgery in Melbourne yesterday and is now in a stable condition in ICU. The cancerous tumour was located in his mouth and it has been successfully removed.”
In the same statement, she also said, “There is still a long road of recovery and healing ahead of us, but we know John is up for that task.” Let’s all wish him and his fam the best of luck in this still difficult time.
Queensland Teachers Are Getting Paid Less If They’re Unvaccinated
If you’re a Queensland teacher that believes that COVID vaccines cause you to grow extra toes, you might be punished for holding such an uneducated opinion. This is because the Queensland Government is cutting the pay of its school staff members that refuse to get vaccinated.
In a statement that Seven News scored, the state education department argued that these school staff members were getting a pay cut because they are being “non-compliant with the lawful direction from their employer.” What’s more, this statement declared, “School staff were given ample opportunity to follow the lawful direction or provide evidence as to why they should be exempt from the direction since the vaccination requirements were announced in November 2021.”
The amount of money that these workers will lose is between $25.00 and $90.00 per week, before tax. Which, all in all, is a rather light punishment. These individuals are putting their communities at risk while refusing to have a safe, life-saving vaccine. Seriously, what if one of these teachers has an immunocompromised student? The hill that such educators are dying on is sad, dangerous, and makes no rational sense.
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