PRIME MINISTER HINTS: BANS MAY NOT LAST SIX MONTHS
Good news. We've slowed the spread of the coronavirus to (on Friday) just 4 per cent. That's had the Prime Minister dropping hints that some bans could be eased sooner than six months. But I repeat: we can't ease them before we step up quarantine, protection of the elderly and isolation of Aboriginal communities. My editorial from The Bolt Report.
Good news. We've slowed the spread of the coronavirus to (on Friday) just 4 per cent. That's had the Prime Minister dropping hints yesterday that some bans could be eased sooner than six months. But I repeat: we can't ease them before we step up quarantine, protection of the elderly and isolation of Aboriginal communities. My editorial from The Bolt Report.
But I repeat: while I believe we can and must move to that stage soon, we can't ease these restrictions before we step up quarantining of the potentially infectious, protection of the elderly and vulnerable, and rigorous isolation of Aboriginal communities,which often have underlying health issues that make the virus particularly deadly.
We can't drop bans before doing the rest first.
My editorial from The Bolt Report.
I should also add: while I've said some bans should be lifted soon, provided we first step up the other protections I've listed, I suspect we will need some of the other bans for a very long time - particularly the quarantine rules on incoming passengers.
But let's focus on the good news: for now, it seems we're getting this virus slowly under control.
That said, there is the winter flu season to go.
UPDATE
Kathryn Snow, an epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne, said countries such as South Korea and Japan, which are ahead of Australia in suppression of the virus, had been able to slowly ease social restrictions.
“They haven’t seen a huge resurgence yet,’’ Professor Snow said. “So that’s been encouraging.’’
If we start gradually easing restrictions, it will (and must) be on the basis that we slap them back on each time the virus spread looks like picking up again.