The Informer: Grim revelation in aged care report

The report coincides with another two deaths in aged care in Victoria, lifting the number of deaths to 637 in that state alone.

Among its five recommendations, the report calls for the government to publish a national aged care plan for COVID-19 and establish a national aged care advisory body.

"It is now clear that the measures implemented by the Australian Government on advice from the AHPPC were in some respects insufficient to ensure preparedness of the aged care sector," it read.

The AHPPC is the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.

Some statistics will shock. These paragraphs come from page 2:

"As at 2 September 2020, the overall Australian mortality rate from COVID-19 was 2.6%. This case fatality rate, as it is known, is low by international standards. For example, the equivalent rate in France is 13.6%; in the United Kingdom it is 12.8%; and in the United States it is 3.1%.

"However, as at 19 September 2020, the proportion of those Australians who have died and who were living in residential aged care facilities at the time of their deaths is approximately 74%, a high figure by international standards."

You can read the full report here.

Now, are you finding it difficult to get the American political equivalent of those old guys from the Muppets out of your head?

Same.

Trump v Biden was puppetless incarnation of Statler and Waldorf if there ever was one. But, with a tweak to the rules, apparently The Commission on Presidential Debates is confident the next two chat-a-thons will be tidier affairs. A mute button has been mentioned.

But just hours after Statler and Waldorf shouted at invisible clouds and each other, there was a perfect antidote - provided by (where else?) New Zealand.

PM Jacinda Ardern faced off against National leader Judith Collins in the second debate which has been described as a more lively affair than the first one.

Interestingly, it was also "best scored as a tie" by one commentator and "felt more a "pub quiz" at times for Jacinda Ardern" by the Kiwis' public broadcaster, Radio New Zealand.

Either way, the contrasting styles in the two contrasting countries made for a handy juxtaposition in this video.

Did you know you can receive this daily digest by email? Sign up here