Rita Panahi: Victoria an international laughing stock thanks to Dan’s shortsighted plan
While the rest of the world is opening up, Daniel Andrews is persevering with a shortsighted plan that not only ignores the mountain of overseas evidence, but does irreparable damage to Victoria’s economy, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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Victoria has gone from a national to an international laughing stock.
It’s one thing to be mercilessly mocked by Queenslanders and smug New South Welshmen but now we are the butt of jokes, and worse, the subject of pity, around the world.
People in first-world countries that have adapted to l iving with COVID-19 are marvelling at the lunacy that sees millions of Victorians condemned to at least seven more weeks of crushing, illogical restrictions, including mandatory curfews for metropolitan Melbourne.
Those who mindlessly parrot Dan Andrews’ claims that he is putting lives before the economy are ignoring the reality that Victoria is responsible for nine in 10 coronavirus deaths in the country. Indeed, Victoria’s coronavirus death rate per capita is worse than that of Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovenia and Costa Rica.
With 107 per million of population, Victoria’s death rate is more than twice that of Egypt, Finland, Poland, Croatia, Greece and many other nations that have not condemned their citizens to virtual house arrest 23 hours a day.
Japan’s deaths per million stand at just 11, South Korea is seven and Taiwan is 0.3, even though they never implemented harsh lockdowns.
Instead of experiencing catastrophic health outcomes, those countries have recorded far fewer deaths per capita than Australia and significantly less than Victoria.
It’s the height of hubris for Premier Andrews who has consistently stuffed up key decisions to declare his plan is the “only way” out of the mess he created. It’s akin to copping a lecture about bushfire management from the world’s most arrogant arsonist.
Instead of emulating the likes of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea in having a targeted, nuanced response to the pandemic, we are prolonging a simplistic lockdown strategy that will cause more harm in the long run than COVID-19.
The modelling, and one fears the advice, Victoria has relied on has been wrong from the start. The latest modelling report released to justify the extension of restrictions is full of hysterical language, scaremongering and falsehoods such as claims about countries that didn’t lock down experiencing “stratospheric levels of demand for intensive care” that “could not be met”. The document also refers to “a catastrophic outcome that would have happened” in Victoria according to modelling published in April.
In April we were told modelling relied on by the Department of Health and Human Services predicted 36,000 Victorians would die from coronavirus without lockdowns. Based on that ludicrous modelling, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan should have deaths of 635,000, 256,000 and 137,000, given they never imposed lockdowns. The actual number of deaths in those countries stand at 1363 for Japan, 341 for South Korea and seven for Taiwan.
But if you listen to Dear Leader, only his approach is medically sound and any other path to recovery will see many more die. The benchmarks set by Dan’s doomsday roadmap will all but guarantee that thousands of businesses will be needlessly destroyed and with them the jobs, assets and dreams of those who stand to lose their life’s work.
As the Prime Minister noted this week, if NSW was using our roadmap, Sydney would currently be locked down with a curfew. Instead it is open for business and cafes, restaurants and pubs are full with the 50-person limit for indoor venues lifted in July, though social distancing guidelines remain. While Victoria’s contact tracing has been woefully inadequate, NSW has been successful in tracing outbreaks.
Leading scientists and physicians including infectious diseases experts have warned that Victoria’s lockdown approach is not only destructive but likely to fail without a vaccine. As it stands there is no date for a vaccine and we may never have one that is effective.
Premier Andrews and his cult of devoted followers, many of them in the media, would have you believe that the only experts worth listening to are those advising the Victorian government. These preposterous fools would have Victorians ignore the evidence from around the world and the advice of local surgeons, professors and epidemiologists and blindly trust the bureaucracy advising the premier.
On every measure, from protecting the elderly to limiting damage to the economy, the Andrews government has failed abysmally and its roadmap is confirmation that the Premier has no idea how to fix the mess he’s created.
Around Europe, Asia and much of North America life is returning to a new normal; people are even taking holidays, kids are back at school and businesses are open.
There is a better, smarter way out of this mess and one only needs to look at countries that have managed to protect the vulnerable without decimating their economy.
IN SHORT
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton confirmed what many suspected; there is no medical basis for curfews, it’s a measure to make policing easier. If anything, curfews add to the risk as they make supermarkets more crowded.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist