Caleb Bond: Good contact tracing, not lockdowns, key to keeping covid out of SA
SA has new cases of coronavirus – but we shouldn’t panic yet, writes Caleb Bond. Strong contact tracing and harsh penalties for covidiots will do more than harmful lockdowns.
Opinion
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Now the panic has set in that South Australia is on the precipice of a second coronavirus wave.
It’s despite only a handful of cases. And we seem to be on top of them.
The new restrictions – no standing in the pub and gatherings of only 10 people at home – will do little to stop the re-emergence of COVID-19 in our state. It’s simply Premier Steven Marshall waving a big stick, telling us to get back into line. But nearly all of us have been in line.
We must accept that there will be small outbreaks here and in other states where the response has been successful. Until we have a vaccine, there will still be instances of the virus in Australia.
We have, rightly, taken a hard line stance on Victoria. But, despite our best efforts, people have and will slip through the cracks.
When you can’t eliminate the risk, you minimise it. SA has done so with broad success.
Those who disobey our border rules should feel the law come down on them like a tonne of bricks. All Australians have a responsibility not to spread coronavirus.
As unpleasant as it may be, staying in your state isn’t that difficult. And if you must cross the border for whatever reason, getting tested and staying in quarantine isn’t that hard, either.
I spent two weeks in quarantine after returning from Sydney. I was tested twice. People carried on like the coronavirus test was akin to a brain biopsy.
It doesn’t hurt. You get an uncomfortable tickle at the back of your nostril and your eyes water, but it takes all of three seconds.
If you’re too scared to get that done to potentially save your family and hordes of others from dying of coronavirus, you ought to be locked up.
At home, we should be alert, not alarmed. Yes – the re-emergence of coronavirus is worrying. But everything points to SA having excellent contact tracing and a generally sensible, independent team at the helm of our response.
The last thing we need now is to go into strict, draconian, lockdown-style measures again.
Businesses are already hurting beyond measure from the first round of COVID. Lockdowns and restrictions should be our last line of defence – not our first.
Despite the irony of the statement, we have to learn to live with coronavirus unless we want to get stuck on a merry-go-round of restrictions and lockdowns, inflicting more wounds to business and hurting mental health along the way.
We have the blueprint in how not to handle outbreaks in Victoria.
By the time they worked out there was an issue, the virus was already rampant. Restrictions have done little to stop the spread, but they have stunted it.
And dare we mention the security staff bonking the people they were meant to be keeping locked in hotel rooms.
NSW, on the other hand, has had an outbreak – caused, of course, by an irresponsible person who’d come back from Melbourne. But, thanks to a quick response and good contact tracing, it has managed to keep numbers to a minimum.
They are consistently posting 15 to 20 cases a day. It does mean there is one-to-one transmission, so the virus isn’t disappearing. But it also means it is well and truly under control.
It’s not the 600-a-day numbers Victoria has to deal with. And as long as NSW doesn’t drop the ball, that won’t change.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said her state will resist going into lockdown no matter what happens because the economic cost would be too high.
That is the challenge for SA now. Accept that the virus is here, but deal with it without going overboard.
We had great success the first time around without ever going past stage two restrictions. Victoria, meanwhile, went harder than any other state. Look what that did for them.
As long as our contact tracing remains as strong as it has – and we don’t tolerate misbehaviour by morons who wilfully seek to work against us – we have no cause to panic.
