IT’S a strange cruelty to see children’s playgrounds closed.
The kids look at them and are immediately deflated. Like all of us, they have learnt to hate the “stupid virus” that is robbing their little worlds of so much.
For parents, the reasons why they can’t climb on the ropes or go down the slide are difficult to explain.
And that is particularly the case in regions like Sunraysia, which have been free of the “stupid virus” for months on end.
The only active coronavirus case attributed to this region since the start of April is linked to an Irymple woman who tested positive while in a hospital in Melbourne, where she isolated.
But as a result of these latest lockdowns, we’re back staring at closed playgrounds and businesses. We are back keeping our kids home from school and shut off from their friends. We are back in limbo.
It’s a sad state of affairs for all Victorians, but does it really have to be this way for every region?
The enormous damage that is being done to the Sunraysia community’s economic and mental health is out of proportion to the minimal impact of the actual disease in these parts.
If the Victorian Government’s goal is to control rather than eradicate coronavirus, then what exactly is the point of keeping regions locked down if their case numbers are extremely low?
In Sunraysia, how do we further reduce zero community transmissions?
Premier Daniel Andrews says these latest lockdowns of remote Victorian regions are all about protection and prevention.
But why, in a time of recession and massive job losses, would he not keep open the parts of your economy that can continue to operate?
Why, in a time when the Victorian Government is dramatically increasing its spending on mental health services for the young, is it shutting schools and junior sport in COVID-free communities? Isn’t that just unnecessarily adding to the problem? Why is it threatening people with fines if they don’t wear a mask while walking at Kings Billabong?
Is all of that not out of whack with the actual situation in regions like this?
Figures released this week showed that job losses in north-west Victoria since March are the second-highest in the country.
This is a tragic statistic that will have a long-term impact on this region.
This economic carnage has been created by draconian government policy, despite having next to no virus cases.
They have crippled an economy that could have helped lead their recovery.
Andrews has maintained throughout that his COVID-related policies are always driven by data.
So wouldn’t the data suggest to let regions like Sunraysia keep operating while the going is good and localise lockdowns if the need arises?
While no one envies the government in a pandemic, right now its obsession with coronavirus is seemingly coming at the expense of everything else.
And it’s not just the economy, it’s the long-term implications for other health-related issues that are not being treated or managed through this crisis.
If we need to learn to live with this virus, as we have been told, then our leaders need to get back to some rational thinking in terms of their strategies.
Here’s a start: if you live in a region which has extremely low case numbers, kids can go and play on the swings.
