"Biosecurity expert Professor Raina MacIntyre said she was still noticing a worrying level of complacency in NSW despite the recent increase in cases."I have noticed it myself that nobody's keeping a physical distance, nobody's wearing a mask, and unless we do things, we may lose the freedoms that we have at the moment in Sydney," she said.
"I think people should think about it as a social contract, that if we want to retain those freedoms to do the things we want to do, then in return we need to also do the right thing, maintain that physical distance of 1.5m, download the COVIDSafe app and wear a mask."
The New South Wales government is doing a precarious balancing act. They are saying that people will react poorly to efforts to tell them what to do (I'm paraphrasing), and that it's best to encourage the right thing.
This explains why mandating and enforcement has been particularly weak. I've seen especially egregious flouting of laws: the Royal Randwick Hotel on the day of the Big Fight last weekend allowed the punters to pack in tightly in the sports bar; staff were equivocal, and said to me they relied on management to enforce - which is fair. Why put it on the workers?
But pubs are the worst things to keep open. As the SMH said, alcohol weakens resolve. And people have to talk louder when it gets noisy and crowded - so spit is more vociferous.
The long goodbye is the big hangover. But so is the economic depression, for years to come.
New Zealand locked down hard. And early enough.
2 comments:
Hi Stephen. I hope that you and your family are all doing well!
I think the NSW situation is being repeated, with varying degrees, all over the world.
It isn't a coincidence that the USA and Brazil are having problems when you consider the examples set by their populist leaders.
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s abnormally antic Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
Populist leaders exacerbate the problem? I absolutely agree, and with better leadership the world would be in a far better shape right now.
NSW similarities? Don't know how true that is.
Populist leadership? Not as bad as some, not as good as others.
Contact tracing? We do well.
Hard borders? We do very well.
But the problem was soft internal borders and weak enforcement.
My mother (in Devon) says your numbers are flattening well because pubs are very restricted, masks are worn often even though not mandated, and people are more reserved. In particular people have had a big shock already, which we have not had. Yet.
Post a Comment