Fear of COVID, economy among reasons for border shutdown

Widespread fear of a COVID-19 outbreak is one of the factors which prompted Premier Peter Gutwein to lock down the state’s borders until December 1. See all the reasons behind the extended closure >>

• Tasmanian borders locked down until December
• Corona blues is on the rise

WIDESPREAD fear of a COVID-19 outbreak is one of the factors which prompted Premier Peter Gutwein to lock down the state’s borders for the next three months.

After originally saying the announcement of a December 1 reopening of state borders had been made to provide certainty, Mr Gutwein said yesterday that the date could be sooner or later, depending on health advice.

He added community anxiety and economic reasons to the reasons for the extended lockdown.

“It is fair to say that we have an anxious community, a community that is concerned about opening our borders,” he said.

“It would be I think reasonable to say that in many cases a lot of our older community are quite distressed at the thought of opening up to even safe jurisdictions.

“It’s important that we provide sufficient information to make comfortable as we go through this journey.”

Premier Peter Gutwein at a coronavirus press conference on the 19th August 2020. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

And he said the state’s economy could not afford a second wave of infections.

“The initial shutdown in March, April and May this year wiped out around $100 million a week in economic activity in Tasmania,” Mr Gutwein told parliament.

“Treasury advised that a further shutdown, like that which has occurred in Victoria, would wipe out an additional $500 million to $600 million in economic activity from our economy.

And he said the additional lockdown would buy time for the health and aged care systems to improve their readiness.

Opposition leader Rebecca White said that if My Gutwein’s intention was to provide certainty, then he had failed.

“The premier made a statement yesterday, which was unexpected, that the borders would be closed until the first of December and today he’s indicating that they might open sooner than that.

“I think that causes more concern for people because they’re not really sure what the plan is for this government and its restrictions around borders.

“They want a government that’s got a clear plan for what Tasmania’s economy, and community can rely on.”

Director of Public Health Dr. Mark Veitch speaks at a coronavirus press conference on the 19th August 2020. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Director of Public Health Mark Veitch said his advice to government case based on a cautious approach and had changed as a better understanding was gained of how the virus had spread through community transmission in Victoria.

But addressing fear would be one of the priorities for coming months, he said.

“I think, public concern and fear is a tremendously important thing to get under of control,” he said.

“I think we actually have to do a bit more work on making sure that the public really understands what the situation currently is, what the actual level of risk is and the measures that we had in place to manage that risk.”

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