In this writer’s view, such a headline fairly describes how Australian governments, plural, have now “dropped the ball” on COVID-19.
Don’t take my word for it, but please do pay attention to the words and views of actual experts on epidemic management:
The number of deaths from COVID in Australia in the first nine months of 2022 is more than ten times the annual national road toll of just over 1,000 – but we are not rushing to remove seat belts or drink-driving laws so people can have more freedom…
While it was hoped hybrid immunity from vaccines and prior infection would reduce subsequent infections, this has not been the reality. Reinfection is becoming more common….
The long-term complications of COVID are substantial, and can include effects on the lungs, heart, brain and immune system. At 12 months after infection, the risk of heart attacks, strokes, blood clots and other complications including sudden death are about double compared to people who were never infected. Chronic complications can occur even after mild infection…
The italicised quotations above and below are all from an article published in The Conversation on 30 September 2022.
Its three co-authors are internationally renowned, highly experienced, expert.
None is a holder or seeker of a seat in any parliament or government.
To maximise productivity, health and social success, instead of ignoring COVID, we should tackle it with a layered approach to mitigation of transmission. This includes raising rates of boosters, widening access to antivirals and other treatments, masks, safe indoor air, and widely accessible testing.
Making isolation a rule, and supporting people financially to do so, has been a key pillar of our defences. This is still needed as viral evolution continues to outpace immunity.…
Click here to read the full text.
Personal view:
Because so many millions of wilfully ignorant, self-indulgent citizens are “over it”, it certainly makes short-term political “sense” for governments to allow them/us to act like the immature, spoilt idiots that they/we are – pampered “First World” humans who cannot “bear” even minor inconvenience, and who prefer to believe/ pretend that the pandemic is “over”.
Alas, life-and-death reality is not governed by short-term political “sense”, nor by humans’ impatience, ignorance, ennui, sense of self-entitlement, or “combat fatigue”.
(I took the photo at Perth’s Subiaco railway station on 1 July 2022, when masks were still mandatory on public transport. Compliance was not at all effectively enforced/policed. However, as a very frequent traveller on Perth’s trains and buses, I’d guesstimate that more than 85% of Perth’s public transport users did don “mandatory” masks)