The second option to deal with COVID-19
There were always going to be casualties from the Coronavirus pandemic. One way or another people would die. No one and no strategy would prevent deaths. So the question was how best to protect our society. The task was to formulate a plan to ensure the fewest deaths and the least damage to society and, in particular, to the economy.
There were basically two options. The first was to shut down society, and thus great chunks of the economy, to prevent infections. If no one became infected, nobody would die. One must keep one’s fingers crossed about the economy.
The state of Victoria, as of mid-August, is one gigantic prison, overseen by a police force of unswerving loyalty to the dictates of Premier Daniel Andrews.
The second was to keep the economy running and focus on the most vulnerable groups. That would reduce the damage to the economy on which everyone is dependent for their well-being and welfare.
Most countries, including Australia, chose the first.
There is a host of people, including highly qualified epidemiologists, holding grave doubts about the efficacy of this first option. The cure is likely to be far more devastating than the disease.
The defence of the first option is all over the leftist media. It was no surprise to see Australia’s billion-dollar-funded ABC swing in behind their dear leader.
But a defence of the second option is hardly to be heard in the mainstream media. The reason is the usual. The left shut down any dialogue that does not fit the view they have prescribed.
I propose, therefore, to do my (small) part for the second option to which I am inclined to give support. I will propagate as best I can links to comments and videos supporting the second option which I find compelling. The first is an excellent piece by Augusto Zimmerman in Quadrant.
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Australia, How Have You Let it Come to This?
By Augusto Zimmermann
On August 2, Victorians began living under a “state of disaster” that has seen some of the world’s most severe restrictions imposed on its citizens and their fundamental freedoms. Leaving home after 8pm is banned with hefty fines imposed on those pulled over by police, who now represent the only cars on the road after dark. There are roadblocks to prevent citizens from moving interstate or, much closer to home, more than the permitted 5km from their their listed addresses.
The Victorian government has effectively become an elected dictatorship. It is August 9 as I write and the latest 19 COVID deaths have brought the state’s death toll to 247. These 19 deaths were of one man and a woman in their 50s, two men in their 70s, one man and six women in their 80s, and one man and seven women in their 90s.[1] (editor’s note: today, August 12, the daily death toll is 21, the overwhelming majority in aged-care homes.)
Approximately 99 per cent of all infections for coronavirus have been mild. Of the 515 people in hospitals across Australia with coronavirus, 496 are in Victoria. Most of those who have died were in their 80s and living in aged-care facilities.[2]
Unfortunately, none of these relevant considerations has prevented the Victorian government imposing what is by far the greatest violation of fundamental rights in Australia’s history. Victorians have now been forced into stage 4 lockdown; almost 5 million people have been informed that the police can and will enter their homes for any reason and without a warrant. Police can also stop anyone anywhere at any time and demand to see their papers and determine if they have a valid reason to be away of their homes.
