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Commentary: Sydney should know by now zero COVID-19 cases is a pipe dream

Australia has to break the psychological hold “zero COVID-19” has had on its pandemic response, say researchers.

Commentary: Sydney should know by now zero COVID-19 cases is a pipe dream

Sydney is tightening its lockdown to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta Covid-19 variant AFP/Bianca De Marchi

SYDNEY: It’s four more weeks of lockdown for Sydneysiders, with no end yet in sight. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is still to outline a roadmap out.

Sydney feels like it is going through COVID Groundhog Day right now. And not just because many are having to cope with being confined to home or struggling to stay on top of homeschooling.

Australia’s public policy approach to COVID also hasn’t significantly shifted from the settings of 2020. Despite the advent of astonishingly powerful vaccines and lessons from across the world, Australia still seems fixated on getting cases down to zero. Leaders are also reliant on lockdowns.

Even Berejiklian, once so resistant to lockdowns, has now fallen into line.

READ: Sydney posts record daily rise in COVID-19 cases, seeks military help

It is vital, of course, that Australia vigorously controls the current outbreak. It can’t afford to let the virus run rampant. Too many remain vulnerable as most Australians have not yet been offered the opportunity to be fully vaccinated.

But Australia has to prepare for a new future. Despite frequent promises, leaders have no focus on the more fundamental question about transitioning to reopening and rebuilding.

How can Australia learn from the examples of other countries that have adapted their public policies in the face of the Delta variant? What plans can it start putting in place now to safely reopen to the rest of the world when vaccination rates eventually catch up?

READ: Commentary: Australia’s high-rise apartment block lockdowns could have been avoided

LESSONS LEARNED IN OTHER COUNTRIES

COVID-19 will be with the world for at least the foreseeable future. Experts tell us it will become endemic. The challenge then is to learn to live with the virus effectively, protecting public health while restoring freedoms and reconnecting with each other.

Countries around the world have taken different approaches to this challenge.

The UK has placed most of its confidence in vaccinations, with almost all pandemic restrictions now lifted and a plan to allow people who were fully vaccinated in the US and the European Union, and arriving from safer countries, to begin travelling to the UK without quarantining.

FILE PHOTO: Arriving passengers queue at UK Border Control at the Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay

While there are many critics of the UK’s overall strategy, the country is also widely deploying rapid antigen home testing, which enables people to ascertain their own risk to others before they step out into crowded streets.

Infection numbers have fallen in recent weeks, with some suggesting the country is perhaps reaching endemic equilibrium.

France is taking another route, with a firmer focus on mandating vaccinations. Parliament this week approved a bill that will require a health pass (proof they are fully vaccinated, recently tested negative or recently recovered from the virus) to enter restaurants, bars, trains and planes.

In the wake of President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of the new policies, more than 2.2 million vaccination appointments were made in under 48 hours.

And in the US, President Joe Biden has unveiled a new door-to-door campaign in which health workers are literally knocking on doors to counter misinformation about vaccines and convince people to get the jabs.

READ: Commentary: In Singapore’s bold plan to reopen, these are the hard-nosed decisions society must make

Meanwhile, many places that have pursued a zero-COVID path have struggled. Taiwan, once a success story in countering the virus, has only just emerged from more than two months of partial lockdown.

Like Australia, it has failed to vaccinate its population quickly enough – just 28 per cent of Taiwanese people have had a single dose and only 1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

(Are on-off curbs on dining in Singapore prompting F&B operators to rethink staying in the business? Find out from Ya Kun Kaya Toast's Jesher Loi and chef-owner Anthony Yeoh on this week's Heart of the Matter podcast.)


STEPS FOR AUSTRALIA

For Australia to plan its next steps, it needs to break the psychological hold that “zero Covid” has had for many months. It needs to shift its attention to a long-term strategy for minimising hospitalisations and death.

Two months ago, a taskforce we convened published a “roadmap to reopening” that called for a staged, controlled and safe re-engagement with the world.

We recommended the creation of travel bubbles prior to the conclusion of the nationwide vaccination programme – namely, piloting programmes for fully vaccinated foreign nationals with negative COVID tests to enter Australia for education or to work in specific industries, such as horticultural agriculture.

READ: Commentary: Vaccine passports are within reach but important details must be worked out first

A healthcare professional prepares a dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Melbourne, Australia, February 22, 2021. REUTERS/Sandra Sanders/File Photo

We also called for improving government messaging on vaccinations to challenge the terrible misinformation that has been spread, particularly about the AstraZeneca vaccine.

And we argued that fully vaccinated people within Australia should be granted specific exemptions from some of the more onerous restrictions as a way of incentivising vaccinations further.

In addition, Australian states should be working to keep schools open – even during outbreaks – by vaccinating teachers, improving ventilation, mandating masks where required and deploying rapid testing.

The New South Wales government’s plan to introduce rapid antigen testing at schools for Year 12 students is a welcome announcement, but more needs to be done.

READ: Commentary: COVID-19 unlikely to become a thing of the past anytime soon

Lastly, we urge the Australian prime minister to make a more concrete plan to reopen the country. There should be a clear target date set for easing domestic border restrictions and reopening international borders.

Australia should also move to home quarantine restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers and those travelling with negative tests from safer countries.

All of these measures should be within grasp. Other forward-looking countries have chosen to work towards a staged, controlled and safe reopening with the rest of the world. Once the immediate crisis has passed, it’s time that became Australia’s choice, too.

Tim Soutphommasane is Professor of Practice (Sociology and Political Theory) at the University of Sydney. Marc Stears is Director of the Sydney Policy Lab at University of Sydney. This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.

Source: CNA/el

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