Our distress fed by politicians using fear in their favour

As Queensland’s vaccination rollout finally ramps up now is the time to consider the wider impacts of the health advice the Premier has been endorsing, writes The Editor.

Of all the statistics coming out of the Covid outbreak in NSW, there is one that stands out; of the 126 people in intensive care with the virus in that state over the weekend, just one had been fully vaccinated.

While that number had risen to five yesterday – with those patients understood to have had underlying health conditions or had only recently been double-jabbed – it is becoming increasingly clear from the real-world petri dish that our nation’s biggest state has sadly become over the past couple of months that vaccinations are indeed what will free us from the currently very real concerns about Covid overwhelming our hospital services.

It remains deeply concerning, then, that Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk seems so determined to not commit to the national cabinet plan that once 80 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated lockdowns become the measure of absolute last resort – and even then that they are localised in their scope.

Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk. Picture: Peter Wallis

If we rewind to the start of this pandemic, the reason for lockdowns was not to stop Covid. They were to slow down the spread to a point at which our hospitals would not be overwhelmed with new admissions.

We must go back to this approach once all Australians have had the chance to be vaccinated, which – considering 17 per cent of Queenslanders say they are simply not willing to get the jab – is not far off that 80 per cent mark.

Today’s exclusive YouGov poll of 3000 Australians explains why. The largest study yet into how people are feeling about lockdowns reveals the deep distress being felt across our community as the uncertainty of this pandemic rolls on – fed in some part by politicians looking to use the fear in their favour.

Despite being shielded so far from the extended lockdowns endured in the two big southern states, 30 per cent of Queenslanders – that is, one in every three – say that in the past three months alone the emotional wellbeing of themselves or their families has suffered.

And these Covid-induced mental health problems are hitting our young people the hardest – with two-thirds of under-25s saying they personally know someone whose mental health has suffered due to lockdowns, or the threat of them.

Queensland in particular has done a stellar job of controlling the virus that has shut down the planet over the past 20 months. Through following the advice of her chief health officer to the letter, Premier Palaszczuk has so far – as she likes to say – “kept Queenslanders safe”.

But with the vaccination rollout now finally ramping up, we are moving into what we can hope is the beginning of the end – or at the very least, the end of the beginning – of Covid and its impact on our lives. Now is the time to consider the wider impacts of the health advice the Premier and her cabinet have been endorsing without question.

The starting point of those considerations must be the impact the constant threat of lockdown is having on mental health, which all physicians agree is usually just as important as the physical.

With increasing numbers of us feeling depressed, anxious and irritable as we perhaps no longer feel like we can look towards the future with optimism, our leaders must learn to respond to those feelings and provide reassurance.

Queenslanders absolutely want to be kept safe, sure. But they also want to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And unlike a year ago when there were no vaccines, Queenslanders are now looking for assurances that getting the jab will lead to a restoration of our lifestyle as we knew it – or as close as possible.

At some stage in the – probably near – future we will have to learn to live with Covid as an endemic virus in our community. Every scientist and public health expert agrees.

What we need from our political leaders is, then, a clear pivot from what has been a successful elimination strategy to an approach better suited to a community where everyone has had a chance to get a jab to protect them from the worst effects of the virus.

The truth from NSW is clear: vaccinations transform Covid from a globe-shutting pandemic to one our health system can cope with. It is time Premier Palaszczuk stopped playing the politics of fear and accepted that scientific fact.

In the meantime, if you are feeling anxious, sad or worried please pick up your phone right now and call Lifeline on 13 11 14. And believe us, even though it perhaps might not feel like it right now … there are brighter days ahead.