Learning to accept the realities of living with Covid

Adam Creighton goes to the heart of the Covid lockdown mess when he says that no government, federal or state, has issued a cost-benefit analysis (“ ‘Zero Covid’ experts put grandkids at risk”, 27/7). Independent, objective thinking has indeed taken a back seat to a pandemic of fear whipped up by politicians with the help of a sensationalist media eager for daily statistic headlines.

John Spooner’s portrayal of the premiers of our two biggest state populations as fear-making royalty who are far above the madding crowd is spot on (Commentary, 27/7).

If our federal and state leaders keep refusing to do a realistic cost-benefit analysis of this lockdown mentality madness to properly assess the inevitability of living with a recurring Covid fact of life, history promises to repeat itself.

The ordinary people are fed up with the constant obfuscation, the bulldust and the atmosphere of fear being generated by our leaders. The best interests of future generations of Aussies are at stake. The peasants are stirring. The cries of “off with their heads” are getting louder.

John Bell, Heidelberg Heights, Vic

Adam Creighton cogently demonstrates how the burden of the nation’s looming $1 trillion Covid-related debt will be passed on to our children and grandchildren, reflected in significantly diminished resources available for health, social services and general infrastructure. And as Creighton points out, we did have a choice not to go down the draconian, soul-destroying tactic of widespread lockdown.

From Britain to Indonesia, governments are easing restrictions as the pandemic continues in their communities because they know lockdowns simply are not sustainable and their costs continue to climb. The blunt instrument of the lockdown reflects a lack of sophisticated thinking in governments that seem more intent on using fear tactics to justify their policies and to enhance popular appeal.

But considering the same unsophisticated fear tactics, in this case climate Armageddon, are being used by governments to justify “sun and wind worshipping” and other green schemes as a means of taming the Earth’s climate, what chance do we have?

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic

Judith Sloan has lifted the lid on the motives behind the dubious decisions that have put us into this lockdown pickle (“Politicians flout Tinbergen rule, to the nation’s peril”, 27/7).

Quarantine has long preserved Australian wildlife from the scourge of rabies. With efficient quarantine we could sit back and view with schaden­freude the struggles of the rest of the world – with the exception of New Zealand and China. But we still see no rush to build secure facilities.

Lateral flow rapid testing kits are manufactured in Queensland but they are all exported because their use has been banned here. Could some political or economic self-interest be behind that ban? Those kits are probably what is keeping Britain from the explosion of cases predicted to follow its “Freedom Day”.

John Billingsley, Toowoomba, Qld

The human biosecurity emergency period invoked by the Prime Minister in March last year was initially for a six-month period, but with extensions applied it now runs through to September 17, 2021. This has meant that the commonwealth could take any measures to prevent and control Covid-19, and all measure were exempt from regulatory review. Indeed, while many are totally sick of the nanny-state premiers and their unelected health dictatorships, the feds (who have also imposed Freedom of Information bans on documents involving border closures, lockdowns and restrictions) are no better.

Yet Scott Morrison could use September 17 as the date at which the commonwealth will take back the Covid reins, declaring that no longer will unelected health advice rule but our elected federal government will.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW

Well said, Jennifer Oriel (“Freedom’s a long shot thanks to sick sense of entitlement”, 26/7). I’m truly grateful for my two jabs of AstraZeneca and disappointed by the selfish demands for the less readily available Pfizer vaccine by some of the over-60s.

The foolish anti-lockdown protesters who defied government health regulations last weekend are not the only danger to the wellbeing of the community and the easing of lockdowns.

Helen Jackson, Higgins, ACT