Here is a proposition that’s akin to asking Daniel Andrews to stop breathing: we must take politics out of public health.
We must put people ahead of politics. We must focus on holding together a crippled hospital system rather than finding excuses. We must explore new strategies around this pandemic and we must demand some basic honesty, something else that may challenge the premier’s breathing.
Premier Daniel Andrews has ignored advice from health experts.Credit:Joe Armao
But perhaps it’s too late. Yesterday the world changed.
After being told for two years that all the ugly decisions like locking toddlers out of playgrounds –and sending people scurrying home by 8pm lest they be stopped by police after curfew –were simply following health advice, the government decided to reject it.
The politicians are making the decisions, not doctors. Under this government that means decisions with an eye on the ballot box, not necessarily the protection of the people.
There have long been rumours of divisions between the government and its health advisers. Now they are public.
Acting Chief Health Officer Ben Cowie recommended Victoria mandate masks in early childhood centres, schools, and some retail and hospitality settings.
The government said no. Instead it issued a vague recommendation about wearing masks outdoors and a meaningless observation about the need to work from home.
Whose advice was this? The pollsters? Did the economists trump the epidemiologists?
The Australian Medical Association was onto it. Victorian president Dr Roderick McRae said too much weight had been given to the business lobby. He said sarcastically that it was “courageous” of the government to ignore accurate and precise medical advice in the middle of a pandemic.
Cases are climbing. COVID is now the leading cause of death in the country. Hospitals are staggering. Elective surgery is to be reduced. And it is quicker to get to hospital by Uber than ambulance.
But still Victoria is governed through a fog of spin, evasion and social media manipulation designed to dodge the need for detail or questioning.
Common sense could not penetrate the fog on Tuesday. Acting Premier Jacinta Allan and Health Minister Mary-Ann Thomas were carefully using words without saying anything.
This from their press release:
“The minister is also requesting that employers consider working from home arrangements that are most appropriate for their workplace and employees based on individual requirements.”
What? Do you want us to work from home or not?
At least the wearing of masks indoors was “strongly recommended”, but it was weeks late.
Perhaps the premier thinks there has been such heavy-handed brutality in Victoria through this pandemic that people will no longer be told what to do.
Perhaps the government is too focused on political danger to run the risk of making a decision.
If mandates are behind us, we must take responsibility for ourselves and those around us.
In return the government must be honest and clear.
They must explain why masks are needed and unequivocally advocate their use. The same with working from home. There is a balance between keeping the country ticking and protecting the vulnerable. Explain it and endorse it. Enough weasel words.
And stop the evasion. On Tuesday the minister refused to release case modelling figures for winter. Why? She said they were speculation. True, yes, but many serious decisions have been made in the past two years on such speculation.
The state opposition is not much help. They shout about return to lockdowns when nobody is suggesting it.
A crisis needs strong leadership. It demands determination and ideas.
So, let’s try this:
One, take the politics out. Put people first.
Two, trust us. No more spin.
Three, let’s talk about ideas. What works?
Yes, encourage vaccination and sensible social caution.
But think laterally. In the US there has been a long debate about targeted protection. It’s a new wave and a new era. Could it work here?
Doctors say those most at risk are over 70. Target them. Give them free N95 masks. Teach them how to use them properly.
Ask the supermarkets to deliver free to anybody over 70 to help avoid exposure. Send messages explaining the anti-virals. Deliver boosters to their doorstep.
None of this need be compulsory. But it could allow those at lowest risk to go about their lives in relative freedom and safety, while those at greatest risk get targeted help and protection.
There should have been a winter plan months ago. There wasn’t because we wanted to pretend the pandemic had gone, and governments at both levels were too politically spineless to remind the voters otherwise.
Daniel Andrews in particular, with his rush to hide the past, has threatened the future.
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