Neil Mitchell: 10 points that should guide how Australia prepares for ‘the next war with COVID’
With Australia currently free of a community outbreak of COVID-19, Neil Mitchell says our attention must turn to preparing for another wave of the virus as winter sets in.
He says Victorians know, better than anyone else in the country, what must done.
“The rest of Australia should listen to us here in Victoria. We know how the virus can escape. We know how it can suddenly devastate the state.
“We know how you can get 700 cases a day, 30 deaths a day.
“We’ve got this lapse at the moment, in the COVID assault. We should be using this lapse, this breathing space, to prepare for the next year, the next war with COVID, and part of it is that quarantine facility. It is urgent!”
The 3AW Mornings host says there are 10 points that should guide Australia’s COVID-19 strategy from here.
Press PLAY below to hear the 10 things Neil Mitchell thinks should shape how we deal with the pandemic in Australia
The 10 points Neil says should shape how Australia prepares for another wave of COVID-19:
- Take the politics out of it — “The Prime Minister is being pressured politically. This should be above politics.”
- The starting point has to be that one death is too many
- COVID is here to stay
- It can devastate a population that isn’t ready — “Look at India, look at Taiwan.”
- Vaccines are working — “The UK death rate … yesterday only five people died. That’s awful, but down massively.”
- Another outbreak is inevitable in this country — “All the expers say that.”
- The best way to get through an outbreak is lockdown or try and avoid it with vaccination
- We can’t live indefinitely in lockdown
- Vaccination is part of the answer but it’s moving too slowly in this country — “People are understandably wary.”
- We must have purpose built quarantine centres — “it’s got to be done and we’re still just talking about it!”