Coronavirus Qld: Why large-scale lockdowns ‘aren’t the answer’

Queensland travel baron Graham “Skroo” Turner, whose empire has been decimated by coronavirus lockdowns, has a plan to reopen Australia’s borders while protecting the most vulnerable. VOTE IN OUR POLL

One of Queensland’s most prominent business leaders has called for an Australia-wide plan to reopen state borders as soon as Victoria has a level of control over its COVID-19 outbreak.

Writing exclusively for The Sunday Mail, Flight Centre Travel Group boss Graham “Skroo” Turner stressed the virus could not be let “run amok” but he feared governments had been basing their COVID-19 response on narrow medical advice and were doing economic damage for only tenuous health protection.

Opinion: COVID-19 questions that are not being answered

7 must-visit Queensland places to disconnect

TravelSIM company collapses into administration as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions

In a wide-ranging plea for governments for a road map to deal with COVID medium and long-term, Mr Turner argues much smaller hot zone lockdowns – similar to those used to contain animal disease outbreaks – could be a viable alternative that keeps the vulnerable safe but allows the economy to reopen.

Pre-COVID-19, Flight Centre had annual sales of about $24 billion and more than 2200 shops and office locations, a workforce of 22,000 and profits of between $300 million and $380 million a year, Mr Turner said.

Now it had only 6000 people working worldwide, in fewer than 1000 locations doing around 10 per cent of previous sales and losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year, he said.

“Of course we are no different to hundreds of thousands of other Queensland and Australian businesses,” Mr Turner said..

“I think governments everywhere are taking too much advice from health officials who are often not experts in epidemiology let alone in economic outcomes of their advice.

“It appears most governments take little advice from business and community leaders.

“Many billions of dollars have been spent on fixing the issues government restrictions have caused – compensation to business and workers – rather than on preventing the virus spread and protecting the vulnerable older people.

“If large-scale lockdowns are expensive and ineffective, we obviously need to look for other answers as we work to get this virus under some control and flatten the curve.

“This solution should be about using evidence based science and data from here and abroad, and getting buy-in from the public.

“Business and community input into our political leaders’ strategies is badly needed, rather than the very narrow current approach that appears to focus solely on health officials’ conventional wisdom approach.

“Various experts, including some health officials, immunologists and epidemiologists, are now advocating that we learn to live with the virus. As a business leader, this is the approach we support.

“It should not be confused with letting the virus run amok.

“On the contrary, it requires carefully thought out strategies to protect the vulnerable, widespread testing and then effective tracing. In other words spending the money on prevention of spread rather than consequences of restrictions and lockdowns that often don’t work.”