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https://theconversation.com/how-do-economists-judge-australias-response-to-the-covid-pandemic-236403>
"
Review: Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we Crushed the Curve But
Lost the Race by Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden (NewSouth)
It was only a matter of time before someone wrote a book about Australia’s
response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was expecting it to come from an eminent
epidemiologist or public health expert, but it has been written by two
economists. As an epidemiologist who covered the pandemic closely for
The
Conversation, I read it with interest.
The authors are Steven Hamilton, assistant professor of economics at George
Washington University, and Richard Holden, a business academic and regular
columnist for the
Australian Financial Review.
The book covers Australia’s response to the pandemic in roughly chronological
order, starting with Australia’s first case on January 25 2020. Although the
authors praise the quick border closures, they have some issues with
Australia’s early response. For example, they point out that incoming
travellers from Italy, where COVID-19 was running rife, were not screened well
enough.
They describe the formation of a National Cabinet, which included all state and
territory leaders, and first met on March 13. I must admit, at the time, I was
surprised the Labor opposition leader was not invited, which would have made it
a truly bipartisan approach.
The National Cabinet immediately restricted gatherings of over 500 people and
all international arrivals were required to quarantine. Social distancing
measures were encouraged. Cruise ship arrivals from foreign ports were banned.
Then, finally, on March 20, the Australian border was closed to all
non-residents and non-citizens.
The authors argue the response was all a bit too gradual and indecisive."
And the final chapter has not yet been written.
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
