Gold standard is a flexible approach to lockdowns

The new national Covid-19 emergency financial support package should be no excuse for governments to extend the range or duration of lockdowns beyond what is absolutely necessary. The Berejiklian government in NSW has won praise for its “gold standard” approach to managing Covid-19 outbreaks through contact tracing without repeated lockdowns. Where blanket lockdowns have been favoured by other states, the default position in NSW has been to keep things open and limit restrictions geographically.

With the current outbreak in Greater Sydney continuing to record high numbers of cases, it is tempting for some to argue the Berejiklian government should have acted sooner or in a more determined way. But state leaders are required to make difficult decisions and balance all of the risks, including in shutting down trade and movement. The robust economic performance of NSW in helping to boost the national recovery is evidence the right decisions have been made.

In this instance, a lockdown in NSW has been necessary but – as the geographic spread of the Delta variant of the virus becomes more clearly defined – all efforts should be applied to making sure that restrictions are as limited as possible. The northern peninsula lockdown demonstrated that rather than blanket city or statewide restrictions, a more tightly targeted approach is possible. The current outbreak started in Sydney’s eastern suburbs but the focus of attention is now firmly on the city’s southwest. Claims that concentrating restrictions in the worst-affected regions would be seen as ethnic or racially based should be quickly rejected as nonsense. In coming weeks, as the dynamics of the outbreak become more clear, the right balance might be to focus restrictions more tightly in some areas and let other areas of the city return to greater freedoms.

With Victoria considering its own measures in the wake of a spate of infections, things quickly could get worse economically. And, as public hostilities between Victoria and the federal government demonstrate, the heat is rising in the politics of pandemic control. A cool head is needed to deal with the intemperate attitude of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to the latest support package.

Mr Andrews has accused the Morrison government of giving NSW favourable treatment after being slow to act in Victoria’s most recent lockdown. A history of playing politics with lockdowns has worked against Victoria. The federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, says that during the most recent lockdown last month Victoria declined to enter a joint business support program with the federal government, as NSW has done. The lockdown in Victoria ended after two weeks, before the new measures now available for NSW would have kicked in. The new program of joint federal-state funding is available to all states and territories. With case numbers on the rise in Victoria, the worst outcome of the new support measures would be for leaders elsewhere to be quick to lock down and slow to ease restrictions.

This is why the Berejiklian government has a responsibility to continue with what has been its more pragmatic approach. It must continue to balance the risks and impositions against the overall public benefit. With the vaccination program gathering pace, it is valid to ask whether eradication is a feasible long-term objective.