ARE we victims of our own success in fighting COVID-19?
The global tally of cases is now past 183 million - an impossibly large number when viewed from a year ago - with new infections still running at 400,000 or so a day. Global deaths, while falling, are still at 8000 or more a day.
Alongside these numbers, more than 3.1 billion doses of vaccine have been administered, and the curve is rising rapidly, meaning that many countries are starting to loosen restrictions on mask-wearing and movement, as the narrative progresses towards learning to live with the virus.
Down Under, by contrast, we've been so successful at eradicating the virus when it appears in the community, that our case total of just over 30,700 (with some 900 attributed deaths) puts us in 125th position, as a nation, in the global case count.
On a per capita basis, our COVID infections are running at a rate of 1.2 per 1000 people. By comparison, the US rate is 101 per thousand, or just over 10 per cent of the population.
We've had none of the hospital crises that we've witnessed in hard-hit countries, and opinion polls seem to show the population in general approves of the way our governments have handled the pandemic.
But with so few cases in the community, and with the federal government having turned off the stimulus taps that were JobKeeper and JobSeeker, it appears there's a growing feeling within those sectors of the economy most impacted by coronavirus restrictions that the pain has gone on long enough, and that the lockdowns are as much about political protection as they are about public health.
As tourist operators told the Newcastle Herald yesterday, the Sydney and Central Coast lockdown has a flow-on effect into this region, which then suffers financially through a loss of visitor spending.
Perhaps it will take time for the four-phase COVID exit plan the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, announced on Friday, to take hold in the public mind.
But until a majority of people are vaccinated, the idea of a life without lockdowns remains in the distant future.
This means our local tourism operators are doing it tough at the moment, and with capacity to spare.
There is a hesitance, among many, to get out and about.
But we are virus-free in the Hunter, and the opportunity is there to enjoy the beauty of our our region.
And to have it almost all to ourselves!
ISSUE: 39,609
