<
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/covid-exploits-our-year-of-living-dangerously-20221228-p5c95j.html>
"The arrival just over a year ago of the new and different-looking Omicron
variant of COVID-19 brought much hope that this would usher in the end of the
pandemic.
That hope was based on two assumptions: that Omicron led to milder disease than
earlier variants, and that its extraordinary capacity to spread fast would mean
that the wider population would rapidly be exposed to this “milder” virus and
further boost the immunity that 95 per cent of Australian adults already had
through two doses of the vaccine.
And so the “hybrid-immunity” strategy was born. The idea was that we could ease
off public health measures that were perceived as restricting so much of
society, and let widespread infection do most of the work. The prime minister
at the time, Scott Morrison, encouraged us to “push through” the first Omicron
wave, and Queensland’s chief health officer went as far as to say it was
probably “necessary” for us to be infected. What followed was by far the worst
public health disaster in Australia since World War II.
There are no flags at half-mast, however, for the approximately 15,000 lives
lost in 2022 (compared with just over 2000 in the previous two years), no
national day of mourning, little empathising at the deep daily impact COVID-19
has had on millions of more “vulnerable” Australians, little concern over what
chronic COVID-19 disease might do and is doing to the wider population.
Since the election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his advisers have
simply said COVID-19 is no longer exceptional and should be treated like other
respiratory infections. But a conservative estimate is that 500,000 Australians
will suffer from long COVID, for which there is no specific treatment. A still
uncertain yet clearly major chronic disease burden will cause severe hospital
and healthcare disruption and have an impact on the workforce and school
attendance. The gulf between COVID reality and the narrative from our leaders
could hardly be wider."
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: January 5, 2023
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-76808802
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
