Many people in many countries must be wondering how best to deal with a pandemic but models are available for example in Australia where to date there’ve been only about 900 deaths. New Zealand has also done well but I won’t comment on that case as I don’t know the details.
Australia’s success has nothing to do with having a small population. Even though it’s a continent the same size as the continental USA and even though the population is only 25 million, Sydney and Melbourne are world cities. Sydney has a population of about 5.5 million and Melbourne is almost as large. So people living further apart is not the reason for the low death rate or for the Australian government’s success in containing the virus.
It’s about trust. Back in late March when the government shut down the borders no-one knew what this crisis would look like as there were no models to go by but contingent reality schooled the government, for example when the local stock market took a dive. In response, Scott Morrison, the prime minister, with his federal cabinet established schemes to funnel money into the economy.
One was a supplement to the usual unemployment benefits, which was renamed JobSeeker. With the supplement, JobSeeker now delivered over A$1000 a fortnight to eligible adults, those who were not working and who were looking for work. This was approximately twice the usual allowance. The supplement was paid until the end of December. In addition, for companies whose revenues had declined sharply as a result of the virus, the government instituted JobKeeper, an allowance to be paid to employees. This payment is continuing to the end of March but it might go beyond that, things are still up in the air.
Alongside these measures designed to make it easy for people to stay at home, in Victoria, which had a second wave in July, a lockdown was instituted whereby residents had to stay inside except for gazetted purposes.
Buying groceries and supplies, work or education if it can't be done from home, medical care, or exercise (maximum two people) are permitted.
Exercise was also limited, but allowed. Leaving Melbourne for the purposes of exercise was forbidden. New South Wales shut its border to Victoria in response, a measure that would be repeated the other way around in December when a cluster of cases was found in Sydney’s northern beaches. Other states shut their borders too, but exceptions were sometimes made for people living close to the border. In Victoria at the time of the Sydney northern beaches outbreak, some areas of NSW were named “red”, “orange” and “green” zones.
A red zone means if you have visited this area in the past 14 days you will not be allowed to enter Victoria without an exception or exemption. If you try to enter Victoria at a land border, you will be turned away.
Returned Victorian travellers arriving by plane or by water without a valid reason or exemption will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days and will receive a fine of $4,957. Interstate residents presenting at an airport or seaport without a valid reason or exemption will be fined $4,957 and returned to their destination on the next available flight. If this requires an overnight stay, these individuals will need to stay in hotel quarantine until their departure.
An orange zone means that you will be able to apply for a permit and will need to take a coronavirus test within 72 hours after arriving in Victoria, isolating both before and after your test, until you receive a negative result.
A green zone means that you will be able to apply for a permit and enter Victoria. Once in Victoria, and as always, you should watch for symptoms and get tested should you feel unwell.
Because of the shared pain, people made fun of their own suffering. The lamb industry put out a Covid-themed ad for its annual Australia Day (January) marketing blitz that featured a wall between states. It had a reassuringly patriotic theme but, as usual for their ads, was light-hearted.
Testing for Covid in Australia was emphasised by authorities in all jurisdictions and daily press conferences were held by various premiers (a premier is the government head of a state; territories have a chief minister) to encourage people to queue – often for long periods of time – for tests in the major cities. A common refrain at such times was “We need people to get tested” and the term “testing rates” was heard often. Testing was of course free of charge (this is not the case in all countries).
Masks were worn by government demand or request. In Melbourne when the second wave hit masks were mandatory for people going outside their homes. In Sydney in December masks were made mandatory for people entering shops or other enclosed spaces, but were not mandatory for walking in the street (unlike in Melbourne in July). The consensus changed and governments were quick to change too.
It was a fluid situation but people cooperated. When a person would not wear a mask in a shopping centre for example, police were called in and sometimes an arrest was made. The news media played a part as well in airing press conferences, for which sign-language interpreters were used so that everyone in the community could benefit from the information.
Landlords and employers pitched in as well. Tenants couldn’t be evicted for not paying rent, for a start, so people had a secure home to quarantine in if necessary. Private companies allowed employees to work from home when staying home wasn’t mandatory, and this changed the labour market – probably permanently. Prices of properties in regional areas – outside cities – rose as people relocated to larger homes costing less.
Savings were available from insurance providers and services providers as well. Insurers advertised their new policies in ads on TV, making it easy for people to save money. Electricity and gas providers notified customers in their invoices of ways to reduce the cost of energy. The government allowed people in certain cases to draw down on their retirement savings for the purpose of paying for essentials – previously this had been impossible.
With all the extra money sloshing around the economy, business was booming for some. I went to an art store and the woman there said that business had been quiet before Covid as people had no money, but that once the payments started people were bringing their pictures in to get framed.
Other people I spoke with said similar things and the property markets in the major cities turned upward at the end of 2020, reversing declines that had seen the prices of apartments, especially, heading away from the historical trend: downward. The market collapse that people had predicted in the middle of that year did not eventuate.
The theme for retailers advertising on TV was enjoying the small pleasures. David Jones, a major department store, had an ad featuring its city display windows, with the narrative going back in time to show how the simple things always matter. Coles, a supermarket, also emphasised the simple things: with profits surging as people swapped eating out for eating at home, demonstrating how a load of groceries could bring people together.
When the Australian Open tennis tournament led to players entering hotel quarantine for two weeks of mandatory isolation, news stories of some players’ complaints drew censure. The commentariat was as one with the government: it didn’t matter who you are, the rules are the rules. This position vis-à-vis the virus governed all relations between people, between the people and the authorities, and between people and other organisations, such as employers, schools, and churches.
And it wasn’t just politicians fronting those press conferences, either. Because chief health officers became familiar faces, there was confidence in the community that the rules were mandated by best practice, and were not just an idea thought up by some bureaucrat. Expert opinion mattered and was visible driving policy. The delay in starting vaccination was noticeable but people understood that in order to get a high vaccination rate everyone had to be confident that the drugs were safe. The government took its time and did the job properly.
The government got points also with regard to its stance in relation to China, leading calls for the World Health Organisation to enquire into the roots of the virus. When this finally got underway in January, the government in Australia had already had to face internal criticism on account of the bans China’s government had placed on imports from Down Under, including lobsters, coal, timber, and copper.
The cost of principle was high but people understood that it was necessary. Communication led to consensus. One rule to bind them all. The inexorable logic of mortality – everyone wanted to limit the number of deaths – led to an extraordinary national response to the crisis.
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