Short thread on some bits of National Cabinet yesterday. Note the graphic first, from the PM’s own webpage.…

Short thread on some bits of National Cabinet yesterday. Note the graphic first, from the PM’s own webpage. Our safety comes second to the Economy. But we already knew that. /1 #auspol #covid19aus https://t.co/V3RHWbIRAV

Doherty provided their final report to National Cabinet, the full details of which will be released in coming days. Summary findings here: https://t.co/4S4LNORMaC The clear framing from Cabinet to Doherty remains ‘live with the virus’. Nowhere is this defined, it seemingly…/2

…remains mostly a feel-good political slogan. Defining that is THE critical task at this point in the pandemic, but it won’t be done or allowed, because then the politics it really represents would be seen. Some other key findings: /3

1. Apparently 80% of 16+ vaccinated will be sufficient to protect us from outbreaks from cases introduced by international travel. (How this can be true I have no idea, 80% of 16+ hasn’t been enough to prevent big outbreaks even domestically, anyway where in the world). /4

2. Public health measures such as test, trace, isolate, quarantine, and restrictions more generally, are being devolved to a case-by-case triage type process. As we saw with ring-fencing LGAs, there seems a false belief that this is somehow easier, cheaper and less disruptive…/5

…than centralised processes. This hasn’t been empirically true at any point of this pandemic. In fact it usually just means everybody gives up, rather than try to coordinate the vastly more complex localised responses. You need extensive public health resources…/6

…out on the ground, to pull this off. Most towns don’t have them. 3. Schools. Multiple permutations of ‘infect the kids’ modelled (‘don’t infect the kids’ not modelled, we are after all ‘living with the virus’, which mostly means we’re infecting our children.) Anybody…/7 https://t.co/QVDvCIBJgm

…who’s worked in a school will know the suggested way forward, rapid testing of ‘close contacts’, bears little connection to how a school actually operates. Everybody is a ‘close contact’, in a school. ‘Minimise disruptions to face-to face learning’ gets another guernsey. /8

If you believe that’s an actual concern for the federal government, I have a used car you can buy right now. ‘Increasing caseloads’ is taken as a given, more live with the virus. Now caseloads are plummeting, you’d think would be the time to step UP the public health work…/9

…to grind Covid into total submission. Instead we’re retrofitting society to allow it to spread and give it a comfy place right at the heart of everything we do. Finally “National Cabinet received advice from the Chief Medical Officer on emerging scientific evidence of…/10

…the benefits of vaccinating for 5-11 year olds.“ This puts the CMO significantly at odds with a former Deputy CMO, whose ‘let’s infect the kids, it’s better for them’ think tank of key experts have been relentlessly hammering the danger of vaccinating the under-12s. /end