Terry McCrann says the Prime Minister can’t keep these coronavirus bans for long: “The idea that the economy can go into ‘hibernation’ – the word seems to have been marketed first by the prime minister… – for six months is very, very disturbing… [It] would utterly and irreparably destroy Australian economic functionality.” An exit strategy now.
Sick: “Queensland’s 224,000 state public servants are set to receive pay rises totalling more than 3 per cent as others in the workforce endure static income levels, wage cuts, reduced hours, unpaid stand-downs or lose jobs because of the economic impact of the coronavirus.” If this government has spare cash, give it to workers doing it tough.
True, the coronavirus is deadly, and we needed many of these shutdowns – and some of them sooner. But it is now clear that it is far less deadly that we were first told, and that a panicked overreaction may now hurt us far more than help. My editorial from The Bolt Report.
There are now three Australian trials of treatments for the coronavirus. One will start on Monday, and eventually involve 2400 people sick enough to go to hospital. They will get either hydroxychloroquine, an HIV drug or a placebo to see what works. I talked to the Peter Doherty Institute boss, Professor Sharon Lewin. Hopes are high.
China is praised for how it tackled and (it says) beat the coronavirus. But that means forgetting how its dictatorship first reacted, and how it corrupted the World Health Organisation. In fact, the better lessons to from Asian democracies such as South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. I talked to Richard McGregor, former China correspondent. Watch.
Tell us the news here.
March 22, our exit strategy was clear (to me): “Ring-fence the sick and old, but let everyone else get back to work… That could include… certificates of immunity — which we should start issuing soon.” Today: “German researchers plan to introduce coronavirus ‘immunity certificates’ to facilitate a proper transition into post-lockdown life.”
This is the economics editor of a state-funded ABC that will not lose a single job from the shutdowns: “People around the world are dying alone Stop talking about the economy. We live in a community not an economy… And learn a lesson from Italy Choose love over hate.” There are actually two things wrong in that tweet, apart from the punctuation.
The spread of the coronavirus is slowing to a crawl: “As at 6:30am on 31 March 2020, there have been 4,359 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. There have been 266 new cases since 6:30am yesterday.” That is a record low growth rate of just 6.6 per cent, compared to our high of 35 per cent.
A Stanford University study suggests the real death rate from the coronavirus may be no worse than the flu. I talk to Professor Jay Bhattacharya. UPDATE: More reason to question the claimed death rate: “Scientists [said] possibly two thirds of deaths… have been from people who would have died of their underlying conditions.”
Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/journalists/andrew-bolt/page/167