no no no no, please don't misunderstand. What I am saying is that we must not just say and behave like it has gone away because that way, madness lies.
We must look at he reality of this insidious disease and put in place measures that will protect our citizens as well as allow us to live a life. It is a balancing act which needs intelligence and foresight, not spin and "hope".
We are now slowly getting the population vaccinated although we still have not completely vaccinated those who look after the frail and elderly and neither all the nurses and other health staff who work in our hospitals. Unfortunately, even vaccinations are being used politically by all manner of people to progress their agendas and the Prime Minister, instead of intervening and being over-the-top scathing at the "freedom" morons and the conspiracy dick heads, he has just gone AWOL!
We need to use the advantages living in this country affords us to their maximum. We are an Island nation and to paraphrase an ex Prime Minister, "We decide who comes into this country and in what circumstance.". What this means is that you just don't open international borders, you just don't let people wander about the country if they are carriers, it means that you just don't let things rip and "hope", everything will be fine.
Yesterday, we had 1,683 new cases and 11 deaths: that brings the number of deaths to 1,653 deaths thus far. This is what's happenning in Australia and these charts should set alarm bells ringing but unfortunately, it seems that we have become desensitised to the deaths and the ilnesses. We will get hit fair and square in the face with all of this when our hospitals are overflowing and medical professionals will have to decide who lives and who dies due to the lack of ICU places and resources and not just for covid patients.
We have now reached the death levels when we took all of this very seriously in August of last year and now that we are getting ready for full blown let 'er rip, we are going to surpass those levels easily - the number of daily cases are already dwarfing those of that period.
These are real people and we just can't pretend that nothing untoward is happening and that everything's going to be alright. If we are to let people into Australia, then we need to quarantine them for 21 days at specially built quarantine centers but before that, we need to get this rampaging disease under control in this country first before we lose total control.
We have now had over a year's experience of this disease and we have learnt many things about it's behaviour and most importantly, the behaviours that work and don't work in controlling the disease. The two we know definitely don't work is let 'er rip and leaky, backyard quarantine. The things we know that definitely do work, is social distancing and the wearing of masks in public and most importantly, Identification (through testing), Separation (through check ins) and Isolation in appropriate facilities - not in backyard quarantine sites.
The advent of vaccines were critical in alleviating the worst of the symptoms of Covid and reducing the number of deaths due to the easier management and treatment of those who contracted the disease. The vaccines are not and should never have been marketed as a magic bullet to get us back to normality - they are not.
What we need is clear and precise information of how we should and should not behave, on what we should and should not do. Not the cycle of spin, unclear and confusing messaging which has now all been supplanted by, "we're free!", a most negligent and dangerous espousal. The negligence and half baked measures of the past are going to impact us horrifically within the next two to three months so it is with great urgency, that all the s**t of the past is now swept away and strong forceful leadership and measures are put in place.
The absolute and utter condemnation of those who think that Covid is bullshit, who reckon that vacinnes are dangerous, who think that Government intervention in times of crisis is taking away ones freedom, they need to be shamed and condemned and marginalised by the Prime Minister. Those who refuse to be vaccinated whilst employed in the hospital and caring sector, those who are in public contact everyday whether they are shop assistants, delivery drivers, couriers, truck drivers etc etc all of these people MUST be fully vaccinated and prove that they have been or they cannot work in those fields and they will be given the dole immediately.
The right vaccines should be rolled out to all High Schools around Australia and be made mandatory just as the triple antigen and Salk vaccines were in primary schools years ago. People who refuse to have their children vaccinated, those children will not be allowed to attend school.
Mandatory covid testing should be carried out systematically throughout every suburb and township to ascertain if anyone is "carrying" and these people should be confined to their premises until the results are known and those refusing to be tested should be fined and if they refuse the fine, then they should be given suspended sentences and a criminal conviction recorded against their name. This exercise will be very expensive and a great deal of co-ordination will be required but because of the completely useless and inept response by the Federal Government in the past, this is now imperative to get us back into a position where we are in control and not the pathogen. Expensive? Morrison has splurged a trillion dollars thus far and when the s**t really hits the fan when this thing runs rampant again, it will cost us massive amounts once again.
Once we have Identified, Separated and Isolated those who are infected, every human being in Australia will be free to go about their business but within the confines of appropriate behaviour, that is, mandatory wearing of masks in public places, social distancing including public transport, mandatory sign in at restaurants, bars, food outlets, supermarkets etc etc.
When we have got on top of it again and remember, we were within a month or so of eradicating this thing until the bullshit quarantine system failed and then the failure of NSW to move quickly plunged us back into lockdowns and misery, illness and deaths.
Once we have got on top of it and we are moving freely within our own country with all the appropriate measures in place and followed diligently, then we worry about bringing in people from overseas. If prospective visitors/students wish to enter the country, then they must have isolated for 14 days in an accredited facility in an accredited country and test negative at the end of their isolation prior to boarding a plane and upon arrival, they must be taken to a secure facility to be tested again and when they test negative, then they can get on with their visiting/study whilst observing the rule and regulations. Those who cannot or do not wish to isolate before they come to Australia, must be quarantined at specific quarantine centers out of built up areas for twenty on days and they must subsidise their stay.
Sounds draconian, sounds way out and heavy; expensive even?, well this is the world we now live in and if we want freedom of movement, freedom to conduct business and make as sure as possible that our elderly, our friends and loved ones, our children don't suffer and/or die needlessly and not just from covid but from other medical issues, then we must adapt and adopt things that preserves life first and foremost and provides a stable and sure environment with in which to pursue these ideals. The expense should be seen as an investment, not as money thrown away. We will recoup this amount no fear, and our businesses, our hospitals and the health of our nation will prosper and live in a world with covid.
Our hospitals will NOT cope with what will happen within six months if we continue on this path. If we want to live in a covid world, than this is the only way to do so. When Morrison and the money men say "living with covid" to start living again, what they are actually saying, whether intentionally or not, is "dying with Covid" to start living again as if death and suffering is collateral damage in the pursuit of money and being re-elected. I really don't think that most intelligent, compassionate human beings want this scenario, that is, "dying with covid so we can live".
Apologies for the long winded answer but to do justice to your question, "How do you avoid having to live with covid ?", the answer had to be detailed.
