NSW was better prepared to deal with a pandemic in 2020 than now

For nearly three years, the Herald has supported the need for a sweeping inquiry into how our nation responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal should not be to lay blame but to learn lessons by asking uncomfortable questions about whether we should make different decisions when the next pandemic strikes.

There is no doubt it is coming. And this time, we have less than 100 years to prepare with climate change turbocharging factors that create perfect breeding grounds for pandemic-causing viruses – including population increases, bigger cities, better-connected global markets and migration.

A panel of experts convened by The Sydney Morning Herald believes that despite the lessons of COVID-19, NSW is even less prepared and it has called for a pandemic combat agency similar to the armed forces or fire brigades, and for greater transparency to prepare for the next virulent pathogen and the misinformation that occasioned such damage.

NSW has undertaken two inquiries into the pandemic and while a federal government inquiry is examining some national responses to the crisis, key policy measures imposed by states will not be properly scrutinised.

The Herald remains concerned that political leaders have not adequately studied the lessons of the pandemic and this year we have looked at key state decisions that won’t fall directly under the federal inquiry.

Today’s piece by Kate Aubusson and Mary Ward is the latest in a series looking at COVID-19’s impact. A previous panel of education experts convened by the Herald was highly critical of the decision to close schools during the Delta lockdown. A third panel, on border closures, lockdowns and policing, is coming soon.

As Aubusson and Ward report, the experts fear the biggest threat to our pandemic defences will be the absence of our greatest strength during COVID, the population’s solidarity and its willingness to follow public health orders for the common good.

That said, Greg Dore, professor of infectious diseases and epidemiology at the Kirby Institute, said the reluctance to adhere to restrictions again may, in part, be appropriate. “Some of the restrictions on people leaving the country were a bit feudal and too punitive,” he said. “Other restrictions were plain stupid, [for instance], limitations on time exercising outside.”

Internationally, we still seem stuck in 2020. Eddie Holmes, known for asserting SARS-CoV-2 did not come from a lab, said nothing had been done about sharing data or animal surveillance. “The [global] politics has got much, much worse,” Holmes said.

The panel also said the goodwill and sacrifice of healthcare workers had been eroded by workloads, transmission risks, violence and aggression. Many would not be up for it again. The decline in respect for professionals was another pandemic hallmark. But the experts also urged politicians to be more transparent about public health advice before unilaterally enforcing restrictions.

The panel’s call for a specialised agency is a commonsense one. However, their assertion that despite the years of death, social dislocation and continuing trauma NSW is now even less prepared reveals a betrayal of the present and the future.

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