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https://theconversation.com/imagining-covid-is-like-the-flu-is-cutting-thousands-of-lives-short-its-time-to-wake-up-190545>
"It is difficult to understand the ease with which we have accepted a major
proportion of the Australian population getting infected with COVID in just a
matter of months. Many have been infected multiple times, potentially exposing
them to long COVID and other problems we are only beginning to understand. In
the past 75 years, only the second world war has had a greater demographic
impact on Australia than COVID in 2022.
As of September 12, Australia had reported more than 10 million cases of COVID.
Of those, 96% were reported in 2022, coinciding with a succession of various
Omicron sub-variants and the removal of most protective measures. What’s more,
the number of reported cases is probably an underestimate.
While the midsummer wave of Omicron led to the highest number of reported cases
since the pandemic began, the subsequent winter waves have killed thousands
more people.
Between January 5 and March 16 this year, 3,341 Australians died with COVID,
compared with 8,034 between April 4 and September 16, with August being the
most deadly month of the pandemic for Australia. One often forgotten impact of
these deaths is that an estimated 2,000 Australian children have lost at least
one parent as a result of the COVID pandemic.
Rather than national cabinet looking at pandemic leave and under pressure to
cut isolation periods, what’s needed is a shared vision and a strategic COVID
plan that acknowledges it is not “just like the flu”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
