Norman Swan says people in NSW not as ‘respectful’ of Covid-19 as Victorians

ABC health expert Dr Norman Swan has claimed people in NSW are not as “respectful” of Covid-19 as those in Victoria.

ABC health expert Dr Norman Swan has claimed people in NSW are not as “respectful” of Covid-19 as those in Victoria.

The host of The Health Report and Coronacast podcast made the comments while speaking to ABC Radio National’s Fran Kelly on Wednesday.

Kelly asked Dr Swan whether masks were “a strong enough barrier” against the Delta variant, which is driving the state’s latest outbreak.

“No – social distancing, and really quite significant social distancing, has got to occur,” Dr Swan replied.

“We’ve been lulled into a false sense of security. NSW has not experienced a second wave like Victoria, so we’re not respectful of this virus, or NSW people are not as respectful of this virus to the same extent that Victorians are.”

He said people “have got to distance regardless of what the rules are”.

“Masks will reduce the risk by maybe 60-70 per cent if you’re carrying it, and will reduce the risk a little bit of you catching it, but people have just got to stop, think twice whether they go out to a restaurant, whether they go to a bar even though things are open, because that’s where you can really catch it,” he said.

Reaction on social media to Dr Swan’s comments was largely negative.

Bizarre stuff. The only fundamental difference between Vic and NSW is that the latter has had a historically much better resourced and well set up public health system, while Vic's is privatised and gutted. It's not even about Gladys vs. Dan, it predates both. https://t.co/58PlvNIK38

— Osman Faruqi (@oz_f) June 23, 2021

i do not respect the coronavirus. kind of weird if you do? https://t.co/Uk3n7OjDwY

— james hennessy (@jrhennessy) June 23, 2021

A different balance of risk/conclusion about where to draw the line between freedom and suppressing the virus IS NOT a failure to "respect" the virus. What does respect even mean in this context?https://t.co/fO19P9RBMX

— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) June 23, 2021

“If there’s something more ridiculous than hearing Norman talking about Covid-19 particularly how NSW is doing a bad job, I’d love to hear it,” one person commented on Twitter.

Another said, “We have a functioning economy in NSW. Victoria is a basket case all because of your kneejerk lockdowns for very minor cases. Don’t lecture NSW about what is right and wrong.”

One user joked, “Here in Sydney we say ‘hi’ when we meet the novel coronavirus, whereas in Melbourne they say ‘good morning’.”

Another wrote, “Any chance of getting a real expert on? If Norman said it was raining outside I’d have to go out and check.”

One person posted a photo of a deserted QVB shopping centre in the Sydney CBD to refute the claim that “Sydney’s not taking Covid seriously”.

‘Sydney’s not taking Covid seriously’. This is the QVB at 9am pic.twitter.com/wuTcOvbWAP

— Amber Robinson (@missrobinson) June 22, 2021

The conversation came hours before Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced sweeping new restrictions, including a ban on travelling outside of metropolitan Sydney and mandatory masks everywhere, including workplaces.

Dr Swan had been responding to comments by NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard on Tuesday urging Sydneysiders to use QR code check-ins, saying he had noticed “a degree of apathy”.

“The Delta variant of the Covid virus is actually a gold medallist when it comes to jumping from one person to another – it is a long-jumper,” Mr Hazzard told reporters.

“We’re all in this together, but if we want to get out of it together safe and sound we need to take very seriously using QR codes and making sure we maintain our distance wherever possible.”

ABC health expert Dr Norman Swan. Picture: Janie Barrett

Speaking to Kelly on Wednesday, Dr Swan warned NSW could face a “disastrous scenario” if it did not take drastic action should infections spiral out of control.

“NSW recorded 10 new cases in one day on Tuesday, yet no lockdown – is that the appropriate response?” Kelly asked.

“Well a lot of this is not about numbers, it’s about the nature of the epidemic and the spread and the chains of transmission,” Dr Swan said.

“People are going to inevitably compare NSW to Victoria. Victoria was a very different situation where there was a gap between the Wollert man and case number five in the Epping outbreak. So they knew that they had a problem on their hands in terms of spread, and they really had to pin that down. When you don’t know where the virus is in the community, then you’ve really got to lock down for safety.”

Dr Swan said NSW faced a similar situation last month when so-called “BBQ man” visited an extensive list of BBQ stores around Sydney while infectious.

“There was also a broken chain of transmission, but NSW dodged a bullet then because obviously the person in that chain of transmission didn’t spread it to very many people,” he said.

“Now you’ve got a situation where you’ve got a lot of spreading going on but you know the chains of transmission. If you know the chains of transmission the numbers are less important, but they can get quite spooky quite quickly. You’re on a knife edge, because politicians are saying isn’t this great, we’re not locking down, this is fantastic, business is booming. Well let me tell you, business won’t boom if we get significant spread and it’ll be a disastrous scenario if it really gets out of control.”

[e-mail]