Australia, or rather, its component states, has been too conservative in its emergence out
Why ?
What do you think should have happened and what level of infectivity do you personally support ?
If you assume the the bug must become endemic a la USA .. the whole shebang was a waste of time.
If you hold hope for "practical elimination".. the conservatism you criticise seems entirely sensible.. AND.. appears to be a view supported by the majority.
I can't see any little bit pregnant option.. so perhaps you can elucidate me
Happy to. And others can read along too
What level of infectivity to personally support?
Well,
personally, I don't 'support'
any level of infectivity,
but I realise that while the thing is swirling around the world, including in places maintaining daily passenger air services to Australia, sending ships here etc, it is unlikely that it will be eliminated from our shores for a long time. Even with incomers going into quarantine, the Rydges outbreak shows that our quarantine is permeable, which shouldn't be a surprise. Righto, so unless we want to have the economy shut down for another year (do you think JobKeeper will last that long?) we have to get used to the idea that there will be outbreaks here and there from time to time. That's exactly what 'flatten the curve', devised by all these high powered medicos, meant. A level of infection that won't overwhelm the medical system. NOT elimination, practical or otherwise.
What do you think should have happened?
I think the de-lockdowns should have come a week or two earlier, and continue to be lifted earlier than originally planned, reflecting the overwhelming success of the 'curve flattening'. Why on earth should we keep to a plan devised when things looked grim, when they didn't turn out nearly so grim?
If you assume the the bug must become endemic a la USA .. the whole shebang was a waste of time.
Maybe it will become endemic, maybe it won't. But I don't think saving countless lives here was a waste of time. I think Sweden has been wasting its time, and lives, and the chief medico there has all but admitted such today.
Oh, and here is the graph for the USA. In spite of their disastrous handling of it (if 'handling is an appropriate word), if they can head down, there's hope for us all.
Source.
If you hold hope for "practical elimination".. the conservatism you criticise seems entirely sensible.. AND.. appears to be a view supported by the majority.
I don't hold for 'practical elimination'. I think there will be outbreaks here and there in Australia for a while, and we'll just have to adjust to them - as we do for many infectious diseases and other causes of death. Sounds a bit callous, but its a fact and just about every accepts it, consciously or unconsciously.
I can't see any little bit pregnant option.. so perhaps you can elucidate me
Well, think of the current flu situation. A highly contagious, fatal disease that kills hundreds or more every yer in Australia. Yet we 'live' with it. Isn't that a little bit pregnant?