@cochise said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1440865) said:@tigger said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1440863) said:@cochise said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1440841) said:@tigger said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1440838) said:@tilllindemann said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1440828) said:@willow said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1440814) said:@tilllindemann said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1440786) said:I disagree with living with it, that is defeatism. We should aim for zero, and we should defend that with a hard international border, in addition to vaccinations.
Several months go there had been a suggestion to block travellers from India at the height of their delta outbreak. If the government had stuck with this we would likely still be at zero cases, and there would be no need for a lockdown. But unfortunately they caved and put the rights of international travellers ahead of Australia's health and economy, and those travellers brought delta to a country that wasn't prepared for it.
It's impossible at this point I'm afraid - you can't rely on the community to do the right thing during this pandemic - some don't believe in it, others think they are bullet proof, others want to visit their family regardless of the circumstances, others don't trust the government and thumb their nose at them at every opportunity...and the virus does not care - it will continue to spread regardless.
Then unfortunately I think we are screwed, because no country on earth has shown vaccination on its own to be enough, especially countries where there is a certain percentage of the population who refuse to get vaccinated (which looks to be the case in Australia). The US is heading back to 100,000 cases a day, highly-vaxxed countries like Israel are going back into lockdown. If we are not going to use our one natural advantage - that we are an island and can control our border - then we are going to be enduring these half-ar##ed lockdowns well into next year.
I think we'll get to a stage where there is a relatively high level of voluntary vaccination in this country. I'm still quietly confident that we will get close to the 80% mark once appropriate vaccines are available to all.
I think that because this issue has not become as politicised as it has in other countries (particularly the US), nor do we have the same percentage of population who are whacko conspiracy theorists. In the main, Australians are a fairly level headed bunch. (even including Parra supporters) and I think common sense will ultimately prevail.
When we do get to that stage, restrictions will ease and the unvaccinated will just have to take their chances. One thing that might motivate the recalcitrant is if all covid treatment for the vaccinated (and those with conditions preventing vaccination) was free, but the unvaccinated have to pay full freight for hospitalisation and medical treatment related to Covid.
Some may think that's unfair, but so is holding back the rest of society from moving on with life.
Yeah I couldn't do that.
Yeah. It would be harsh wouldn't it? But we're likely to end up with the tail wagging the dog here.
What frustrates me is that we could have a relatively small percentage of the population simply destroying our economy by their wilful inaction. And by 'economy' I'm not talking about money, I'm talking about our ability as a society to function in a normal way.
Anyway, I don't think that will happen because it probably is too harsh and I reckon lots of people would find it unpalatable.
We still provide health care for people who crash their car drink driving, even if that injures or kills others. It just goes against what our health care system is built on.
Fair call.