Covid Tasmania: Cassy O’Connor calls for greater protections for people with disability

With the number of Tasmanians who have died with Covid reaching 301, the Greens say greater protections for people with disability are urgently needed.

With the number of Tasmanians who have died with Covid reaching 301, the Tasmanian Greens say protections for people with disability are inadequate.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor says, at a bare minimum, masks should be mandatory in all care settings including hospitals, aged care facilities, community and in-home disability supports.

“Apart from vaccination, which doesn’t prevent infection, there are no real protections for disabled people and it is heartless and irresponsible to continue to expose already vulnerable people to further risk,” she said.

“Let-it-rip Covid is causing sickness, increased disability and, in some cases, inevitably death in this cohort of our fellow Tasmanians.”

Ms O’Connor said people with disability were being forced to “shield themselves at home to avoid Covid” because public indoor spaces were unsafe.

“We know support workers are turning up to people’s homes unmasked and, because mandatory isolation has been removed, some will be infectious then work in close contact with disabled people.

“Living with a disability can make people extremely vulnerable. In a deadly pandemic, even more so.

“Many rely on in-home and community supports. They need others, governments, service providers and individual workers, to be responsible in not exposing them to danger.”

Greens leader Cassy O'Connor.

Ms O’Connor took Disability Affairs Minister Jo Palmer to task during recent budget estimates for expecting people with an intellectual or cognitive disability to make “personal choices” to keep themselves safe.

“Minister Palmer had no answer other than to restate the personal choice mantra and say that they can wear a mask if they want to,” she said.

“Her answers took my breath away.”

However, Ms Palmer said the government had put in place “numerous strategies to offer choice and protection for all Tasmanians, including people with disability, and at all times following public health advice”.

“I recognise that some Tasmanians living with disability are unable to make that decision for themselves, which is why it’s important that care providers/guardians act on their behalf,” she said.

“However, it is also important to recognise that there are some Tasmanians living with a disability who are capable of making an individual choice when it comes to wearing masks, or if they wish for care providers to wear masks.”

The Department of Health lists the current risk of Covid as moderate.

The latest Covid statistics show there were 440 new Covid cases last week, 14 people were in hospital and four were in ICU.

The number of deaths rose from 299 to 301.

Healthy ‘ignore’ those at risk

Advocate James Newton says “no one” cares that Covid is killing people with disability and those who are medically vulnerable.

“Here in Australia, when they started saying only people with ‘underlying conditions’ are at risk, the rest of the country stopped caring,” he said.

Disability advocate James Newton. Photo: Patrick Gee

“Just like not caring about AIDS as it was primarily killing gay men at the time, no one cares that Covid is killing medically vulnerable or disabled people.

“The wealthy who consistently pressured government throughout the pandemic to stop lockdowns and remove mask mandates don’t care about our physical and mental health.”

Dr Newton, who has a PhD in economics and works in the vocational training sector, is blind and has chronic health issues.

He says people like himself who are immune-compromised being asked to take “personal responsibility” for avoiding Covid comes at a huge personal cost.

“We are restricted to our homes for work and socialisation if we wish to avoid death or further disablement – and the personal and financial impacts that leads to – which is the consequence of this still rapidly-spreading virus.

“Removal of mask mandates and lack of air filtration systems in indoor settings means we cannot safely access public transport, which is critical for many of us who cannot drive to travel to medical appointments or to our places of education or work.”

Dr Newton knows of people who have had their employment suspended because they could not return to their workplaces and been told “remote work hurts business”.