A person’s selfishness led to this mess
PAMELA Lovell (Letters, October 18) believes the coverage of the person who brought the Delta variant of Covid to be ‘disturbing’ and complains that the person has been ‘dehumanised’, telling us that ‘there are issues here’. Yes indeed, there are issues here, such as: half of Tasmania being shut down because of one person’s selfishness; people throughout southern Tasmania losing their freedom of movement because one person wouldn’t follow the rules; thousands of people losing wages because of the lockdown and hundreds of business suffering heavy financial losses for the same reason, all because one person absconded from quarantine [from the Hobart Travelodge]. And yes we are all angry, and for good reason.
To make it worse this person and his associates have been persistently lying and refusing to co-operate with the health authorities.
Pamela Lovell’s attempt to conflate this person’s behaviour with Mental Health Month falls flat, because it has nothing to do with mental illness, it is just pure selfishness and irresponsibility. Her closing comment ‘we can do better than this’, is more aptly directed at the person who has caused all this trouble along with those who were supposedly responsible for putting this ‘covidiot’ into quarantine and making sure he stayed there!
Barney Campbell Chigwell
GET HIM OUT OF HERE
PAMELA Lovell suggests we show compassion to the covidiot as he may have some mental issues (Letters, October 18). The only issues he has concern himself and no one else. I can imagine him sitting back in quarantine smiling to himself at all the trouble he has caused and lapping up all the publicity. Taking him to court and adding extra fines is useless. Sending him to jail
in Tasmania will only cost more money. Once his quarantine is finished send him back to NSW with a do not return message. Would be good riddance to bad rubbish.
Alan Leitch Austins Ferry
RIGHT TO BE NAMED
I 100 per cent agree with the Mercury’s David Killick’s article “Journalism before spin doctoring” (Mercury, October 19). Naming and shaming in this particular case of the NSW Covid-19 man responsible for creating such mayhem in southern Tasmania over a three-day period is very responsible and appropriate journalism under these circumstances and is to be commended.
Chris Davey
Lindisfarne
HOW DID HE GET INTO STATE?
IN your opinion the government could have done more to prevent Tim Gunn from absconding (Editorial, October 18). Would you be more forgiving if Premier Peter Gutwein was standing guard out side the door, himself? This was merely momentary human error, by someone not diligently performing his duty. I think what is more of an issue is how he was allowed to board the last
Jetstar flight, at all. Before a boarding pass was issued, did anyone check his G2G Pass? Again, if that did not happen, then human error created this situation, not the Premier. Personally, I believe this recalcitrant Tim Gunn would have found a way to get around even Mr Gutwein. Look at the history of his criminal past and uncooperative behaviour. What do you suppose he was up to in the park at 11 o’clock at night, gazing at the moon?
Robert Cassidy
Bothwell
BALD-FACED BANDIT
WEIRD isn’t it? Once upon a time the baddies wore masks and the goodies were mask-less. Today, in this time of Covid-breaches, it’s the goodies who have to wear masks while the baddies get about mask-less. The law unto-himself individual who refused to co-operate with contact tracers and the police, having entered Tasmania with bad faith written all over him, should be fined each and every day he refuses to wear a mask – as instructed – and he should subsequently have his future wages garnisheed on the basis that it will be the only way he’ll be made to account for his actions. As for those who aided and abetted the miscreant, they should be fined. (Jail time being a real alternative).
In the meantime, it would be nice if I didn’t have to cringe every time a plane on the flight-path over my roof arrived, noisily announcing the possibility of another bad-faith visitor flying into town with a Covid-loaded shooter in his (or her) pistol-packing holster. (This town just ain’t big enough for the both of us, Covid Kid; and I’m not kidding.)
Michael McCall Primrose Sands
RAPID TESTING A MUST
A Covid-19 carrier arrived in Hobart on
Monday, and tested positive all of two days later after leaving quarantine to move around at will with the potential of spreading infection at every breath he took or touch he made.
Any Hobartian inconvenienced to even the slightest degree by Premier Gutwein’s three-day weekend lockdown is entitled to address this question to the top man.
What sort of a security system – one vital to the health and wellbeing of all Tasmanians – totally ignores Rapid Antigen Testing enabling the instant identification of the virus, despite it having a proven track record of success worldwide for longer than 12 months now?
Think of the entirety of the disruption to the economy and suspension of mass personal liberties over the entire spread of the capital over the past three days when a rapid antigen (RAT) test returning a positive result within 15 minutes would have changed the game completely on the state’s doorstep.
As of 1 November, Chemist Warehouse says it intends selling the RAT kits at a cost of $9.99 each.
The hot air out of Parliament House is alarming and shows both sides have no idea about RAT otherwise they would not continue discussing adding bio security checks at Sydney and Melbourne airports to the one existing at Melbourne’s ferry dock.
Taxpayers would be slugged an enormous fortune to finance formcheckers to staff scan points for up to 16 hours a day to examine a piece of paper proffered by a person who may, or may not, carry infection.
Tasmanians are entitled to be fearful of those in charge of our destinies stuffing it up further if their action over this regrettable affair is any indication. A $10 test should have been the first step. Noel Christensen
Punchbowl