Andrew Bolt: Record day proves crude bans on freedom don’t work
Victoria’s new record of 725 infections is more evidence that the government’s hard line policies on masks and lockdowns aren’t working as planned, writes Andrew Bolt.
Andrew Bolt
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Victoria’s new record of 725 new infections on Wednesday is more evidence that forcing people to wear masks and stay home doesn’t work for long.
It is two weeks since all Melburnians were forced to wear face masks, even outside, where the risk of transmission is close to zero.
It is nearly a month since the city’s restaurants were closed and its five million people were ordered to stay in their homes if not working or going for essentials.
If these were magic bullets, they missed.
Clearly, the government’s policies aren’t working as planned.
The masks may be one problem. Many studies warned they give only partial protection but give wearers a false sense of security.
Another failure is home quarantine. As I’ve said for months, it has been disastrously slack.
On Monday, we learned one in three infected people weren’t at home when health teams checked.
Yet another problem is that people get sick of crude bans on their freedom. Many now break those rules, forcing the government to increase fines. And now it’s shut thousands of shops, too.
A fourth problem: the virus tests. The sick are most infectious in the first three days of feeling ill, but it takes from one of three days officially, but often longer, to get results once they go to a testing centre.
There are at-home tests that could give results between 10 minutes and two hours.
If only the government did the basics — but did them well. Tougher quarantine, more effective testing and better protection of those most likely to die.
Yes, one of the 15 to die was in their 30s — Australia’s youngest victim.
But the Premier refuses to say if they had other medical conditions to explain such an atypically young death.
In fact, the median age of Australia’s dead so far is 82. At least 137 of the 162 Victorians who’ve died were in aged care homes, and 1400 more residents are sick. Many will die.
Those homes should have been sealed tight months ago. This wasn’t rocket science. I’ve called for this since April.
We could have stopped most of the deaths by protecting the aged care homes, and helping old people at home to stay safe there by doing their errands.
A government weak on what works, tough on what doesn’t. A catastrophe.
Originally published as Andrew Bolt: Record day proves crude bans on freedom don’t work