Learn a COVID lesson from Oxford
Her move to England’s Oxford University this year highlighted a stark contrast in Australia’s approach to COVID for Ollie Gales
OUT OF MY UNI COHORT OF 36, SIX OF US RECEIVED THE SAME MESSAGE FROM PEOPLE WHO HAD TESTED POSITIVE. THE SAME WEEK THE UNIVERSITY HAD ABOUT A QUARTER OF 800 TESTS RETURN A POSITIVE RESULT. THIS IS THE REALITY IN OXFORD
DEAR Tasmania, I arrived in the UK from my home in Tasmania a few weeks ago and I just got tested for COVID- 19.
This is how my Thursday started after being messaged by someone I had been in contact with and had since tested positive for COVID- 19.
Out of my uni cohort of 36 postgraduate students, six of us received the same message from different people who had tested positive that morning. The same week the university had about a quarter of the 800 tests return a positive result. This is the reality in Oxford.
Arriving to such alarming COVID numbers compared to the more sober statistics from Australia and, in my case, Tasmania, as a group of recently arrived Australian students, we prepared ourselves for a change in lockdown restrictions.
Expecting a Victoria- style lockdown, we all listened in to the address that would chart our way of life for the following few months. They came, and they were clear and concise. Pubs would shut at 10pm and to enter a pub you would have to wear a mask. This was the response from the Prime Minister Alexander Boris Johnson, himself a graduate of Oxford University. In the town and university that millions are hoping will deliver a vaccine for the world, the local pubs would be full again tonight.
I write this not to make the mistake so many people have before, and that is to tell Tasmanians what to do or how good they have it, but rather to thank Tasmania. To avoid all cliches and words that have lost their meaning this year, Tasmania has shone a light on constructive public policy that is widely supported across the island population for the greater good of everyone.
Yes, as a sometimes disillusioned 23- year- old, I feel this is the first time I have seen Australian and especially Tasmanian politics band together for the greater good in recent times.
With all the trees having turned hues of gold and orange and with a long dark winter approaching the UK, the number of positive cases is increasing dramatically every hour, every day.
Those concerned for the public health are just beginning to realise the extent of this second wave, and those concerned for businesses and the economy have no idea what to expect this winter. Everyone is missing the previously and very much taken for granted feeling of certainty. But I feel that is not lost back home.
After receiving the great gift of the nose swab and a slight tickle of the brain, I was fortunate to receive a negative result. But this does not change what the next few months have in store.
Sitting alone in my room writing this with hail pelting onto my window, reading the latest lockdown restrictions being imposed in Ireland and Wales and realising the very real possibility of spending the majority of the next few months in household isolation, I have three key messages.
The negative impacts of COVID are still very real and complacency must be avoided — trust me, would you rather be picnicking in the park and surfing the waves or staring down the next few months in isolation. This form of multidisciplinary evidencebased policy we have seen being implemented in Tasmania over the past year should stay. Just compare Tasmania to the UK to see the benefits it has.
And lastly as my Dad would always tell me, celebrate successes and learn from others, in a COVID- 19 safe way.
I have one request. As we travel deeper into the Anthropocene, can we learn and remember the principles that made the Tasmanian response to COVID- 19 so successful and apply them to the other pressing issues facing our earth.
As you open your borders to family and friends, good luck, stay safe and keep well.
Yours in spirit.