PROTESTS DESTROY ANY TRUST BUILT UP DURING COVID-19

IT really is a measure of how well we’ve smashed the coronavirus in Australia that in a matter of weeks we’ve gone from police accosting breastfeeding mothers in the park for being Typhoid Mary to having an actual debate about whether a radical leftist protest march attracting up to 10,000 people can go ahead in the Sydney CBD.

And for all the justified outrage by people horrified that they may have had to miss funerals or cancel weddings only to be gazumped by activists attempting to bring US-style street politics to Australia, the last 24 hours’ debate has done us a favour.

It has raised questions that, in our quest to crush the curve, we have let fester.

Questions like, just how much of our restrictions are driven by science, and how much by politics?

Who are the police willing, and not willing, to confront?

And perhaps most importantly, is it really that dangerous to get out after all?

Look, it’s easy to call out the organisers of marches that were planned for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for being boneheaded.

After all, we’re supposed to be in the middle of a pandemic and having steamrolled our curve the last thing anyone needs is demonstrators blowing it all up again.

But after witnessing the events the US, where the message went in the space of days from “stay home, save lives” to “hit the streets and show your anger about George Floyd”, it’s hard to blame them.

Happily – and I write these words as a holder of passports from both countries – ordinary Australians seem to have been a bit more sensible than their US counterparts.

There, more than 1000 doctors and other health professionals have signed an open letter essentially giving the protesters a pass, excusing them from social distancing requirements and stating that racism is “the paramount public health problem” and that, therefore, “protests against systemic racism, which fosters the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on black communities and also perpetuates police violence, must be supported.”

And this is where things get really bizarre.

To repeat, in both the US and Australia we have been told – particularly by the left – that a funeral or a ballgame or a concert are all death traps that will trigger a tsunami of new cases.

But at the same time these same people are saying that minority groups can and should engage in an activity that might expose them to a disease that affects them disproportionately.

We will know in a few weeks from the data from the US whether or not the last week’s civil unrest has caused a spike in virus cases.

There is reason for hope; a number of US states, which were criticised for opening early, have not seen any big jumps in cases.

That may wind up providing another data point to suggest it’s safe to open up more of the life of the country.

And yes, that will one day have to include protest marches – even if you disagree with them.