6 July

Multiple people have said to me that there wouldn't be backing for stronger Covid measures, because the experience of too many has been 'mild'. A few things I'd say about that: 1) most obviously, as I've posted about here before, the fact the acute illness you might get is mild means almost nothing at all. HIV is overwhelmingly mild for people who catch it. It's the chronic phase 8-10 years later that can kill them. 2) since when was 'I'm fine' an argument for not fixing emergencies? When we have a bushfire or flood, the people not impacted in Australia still fall over themselves to help the people who were. The whole foundation of public health is to all act, together, to stop disease impacting others. 3) look at the current flood response, how the community rallies instantly and hugely to help. Even those who have no connection to the floods at all. Why don't we do that for Covid? 4) I know why we don't do it for Covid. Politicians of a particular belief system have spent the past 2 years priming the public with a constant barrage of messages about how the real danger here is disrupting the 'Economy', and that all public health measures take away peoples' freedoms. They did this deliberately to head-off strong public health action. They lost that battle initially, but then when NSW deliberately opened up to Delta and then Omicron, the floodgates burst. NSW was the Trojan Horse of the 'let it rip'/anti-elimination group.