Coronavirus Australia: Scott Morrison says don’t travel abroad, puts limit on crowds at 100, but lockdown not on in Australia. By Elias Visontay.
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says a short term lock down of Australians would “not achieve anything” as he stresses any measures introduced would have to be maintained for six months.
Professor Murphy also said most cases of COVID-19 in Australia are still imported cases or direct contacts of imported cases.
“A short-term two to four week shutdown of society is not recommended by any of our experts. It does not achieve anything. We have to be in this for the long haul,” Professor Murphy said.
“It could be six months or more that we have to practice these new ways of interacting. So therefore, our measures have to be sustainable. There is no way that we can lock down society and make everyone stay home and then in a month’s time, undo that, because the virus will just flare up again without any real long-term benefit.”
On the source of transmission, Professor Murphy said community transmission existed but that it was “low level at the moment”.
“The way to control community transmission is social distancing.”
So the Aussie Government is going to wait until community transmission is burgeoning before locking down. Always behind. Always too slow. To think closing the borders a month earlier (we did it eventually anyway, so foreseeable) could have headed all this off entirely…
The remaining airline mostly closes shop:
Virgin Australia is to cancel all international flights as it responds to plummeting travel as a result of the coronavirus.
The airline will also cut domestic services by 50 per cent, with 53 of Virgin’s fleet grounded.
Could have had a virus-free Australia with healthy domestic tourism and airlines. No, the Australian Government was too slow to close the borders. As was foreseen, in writing, here and elsewhere by free-thinking Australians who were paying attention.
Oddly enough, nearly anyone with medical expertise except Brendan-do-nothing-Murphy says the same thing.
Social distancing, retro:
