Pandemic upends life in Australia
Australians are slowly coming to terms with the fact that life will never be the same as the country adjusts with the reality of COVID19.
Beaches and parks are empty, towns and cities around the country are deserted, sporting events have been canceled, businesses have shut down and unemployment is skyrocketing. The military is now helping the police ensure that people obey the new social order rules — to self-isolate, keep off the streets unless absolutely necessary and practice “social distancing”.
Australians fear that hundreds if not thousands will die if they do not follow the rules set down by the government and health experts who rely heavily on mathematical modeling for their predictions.
Raina MacIntyre, who heads the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said: “We must do everything to protect our people. … I hope Australia has learned from China that it is possible to control a COVID epidemic.”
One of the main concerns of frontline medical staff in Australia is the lack of basic personal protective equipment, or PPE, such as face masks.
In an open letter to the prime minister, health care workers said: “We need sufficient supplies of adequate PPE and we need it now, before the system collapses.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic is here in Australia, and we are simply ignoring the difficult lessons learned by our colleagues in Italy, China, and elsewhere.”
The state premiers and Prime Minister Scott Morrison are struggling to keep the nation’s economy afloat.
Morrison did establish a national cabinet, including all state and territory leaders, the first in Australian history, and has announced significant support for business, workers and those thrown out of work — all up, worth A$189 billion ($115 billion), or almost 10 percent of GDP.
Stringent measures
On Monday the government announced a A$130 billion “job keeper” program in which workers (full and part-time) will be paid A$1,500 a fortnight for the next six months.
The government on Sunday tightened its social order rules restricting gatherings outside the home to just two people. And people over 70 have been asked to stay at home while the military has been mobilized to back up police throughout the country.
Australians lucky enough to make it home are taken from the airport to hotels where they are put into self-isolation for 14 days.
Bill Bowtell, who led Australia’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1990s, has slammed government responses as far too slow, uncoordinated and timid.
Not just facing a health crisis, the nation is entering an economic crisis as well as Australians lose their jobs and the economy closes.
Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious diseases specialist at Australian National University, said: “If we have learned anything from the China experience, it is that lockdowns work.
“Yes, they may have been severe (the lockdowns), but in doing so, China managed to turn the problem around in two to three weeks.
“That’s probably the main lesson for us and indeed globally,” he said.
Senanayake said the Australian government is doing reasonably well in tackling COVID-19 when compared with other countries.
“The death rate is still less than 1 percent of those with the virus. The hard part is getting people to take the social distancing and self-isolation seriously. But it would appear we may be getting on top of it,” he said.
The number of our people with the virus is increasing dramatically.” Joe Anderson, Liverpool mayor
Liverpool, says Mayor Joe Anderson, is a city in crisis due to the virus, adding: “The number of our people with the virus is increasing dramatically.”
Almost 80 years after World War II ended, coronavirus has brought out a community spirit in Liverpool rarely seen since those dark days of the Blitz.
People’s army
Communities are working day and night to keep people who are trapped in their homes fed as well as providing emotional support. A food parcel is as welcome as a cheerful hello from thousands of friends and neighbors who have formed a “people’s army” to help the needy.
Anderson has organized the so-called “people’s army”, and so far thousands have volunteered to help with tasks ranging from shopping, delivering food, or just to check on people who live alone. The mayor has also arranged for homeless people, many of them sleeping rough in shop doorways, to be moved into hotels to help protect them from the invisible enemy.
“We are continuing to support each other in Liverpool,” said Anderson who has set up a command center in his home, away from the iconic Cunard Building, the waterfront home of City Hall.
Anderson said the city is taking a painful hit to its economy because of the virus.
“Tourism employs 38,000 people in Liverpool and is worth 3.3 billion pounds ($4.1 billion) to the city economy every year. The hospitality section, which includes hotels that provide 10,000 rooms, has so far lost half of its 30 million pounds a week income,” he said.
Hotel rooms in Liverpool are like gold dust when either of the two big Premier League clubs, Liverpool and city rivals Everton, have home matches. With the football season on hold, rooms booked months ago are no longer needed.
Cruise ships that would have sailed up the River Mersey to Liverpool’s famous UNESCO World Heritage Site waterfront will not be calling this year. Each of the floating palaces that ties up at Liverpool Pier Head is worth 1 million pounds to the local economy.