Lockdown Is Harsh but Effective Against COVID-19
Lessons from one of the safest places to live during the pandemic
After ten months without community transmission, Perth Western Australia has entered our second lockdown. A large state with a population of around two million, we’ve glided through the pandemic with barely a lifestyle change.
And despite the current lockdown, it is still one of the safest places to live in the world right now.
Here, our government acts quickly. ScoMo shut the Australian borders on March 20th — yes, the Aussie love of shortening slang also extends to our Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He most likely thinks ScoMo is an affectionate term (it’s not).
The Australian border lockdown saw any travelers returning from overseas undergo mandatory fourteen-day quarantine in our city hotels. The next challenge was to prevent locally acquired community transmission.
Fortress Western Australia commenced on April 6th. Premier Mark McGowan effectively turned Western Australia into an island within an island. The hard border prevented visitors from other states.
Of course, this wasn’t without some backlash. Like everywhere else, some people believe the pandemic to be a conspiracy theory, while corporate greed consumed others. An entitled Queensland billionaire threw a tantrum and tried to enter WA using a High Court challenge.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported, “he [Clive Palmer] would be referencing two sections of the constitution which stated trade and travel between states should be free unless lives were in danger.”
As someone who lives with Cystic Fibrosis and is post double-lung transplant, my life and others in the high-risk demographic were in danger if COVID-19 spread within the community. While other countries were making calls about who receives a ventilator and who goes to palliative care, Mark McGowan made his position very clear. Western Australia would not have enough ventilators to cope with a mass outbreak of COVID-19. Forcing our medical staff to make those decisions was not acceptable. The cost of a life is too high a price.
In a world where the disabled and elderly are often perceived as useless or a drain on resources, Mark McGowan valued our lives above all else, including the economy.
In phase one, Premier Mark McGowan also restricted regional travel within Western Australia. Our schools looked as if they were about to morph into remote learning, and all non-essential business stopped trading. It was harsh, necessary, and effective.
With limited travel or entertainment options, most followed the guidelines, and our reward in Western Australia saw low numbers of people contracting COVID-19. Most of the recorded cases came from returning travelers and their close contacts.
Short term pain for long term gain.
By May, our restrictions were easing as we moved to phase two. Travel within the state was permitted, followed by the reopening of small business venues. From there, it was a hop, step, and a jump rather quickly through phase three. On June 27th, many Western Australia lives started to return to life pre-COVID-19 as phase four commenced.
I continued to work in my school library throughout phases two and three — although WA’s border restrictions were a massive protection, they weren’t foolproof — so I wore a mask when I went anywhere else outside of my house.
In early December, nine months after Mark McGowan introduced the hard border, Western Australia allowed travelers from other Australian states to enter Western Australia under strict guidelines.
Now we are again in lockdown in Western Australia — sparked by a single case of COVID-19 in the community — but it only takes one to make a wave. This week our children were supposed to have their first day back at school after the summer holidays. All events are canceled, and wearing a mask outside your home is mandatory. But if we play our cards right, the circuit breaker will end in five days, and we can return to our normal lives.
But even if this lockdown lasts several weeks, it’s still a small price to pay. We’ve learned a lot about COVID-19 since this pandemic began — but one thing hasn’t changed. COVID-19 is a lung-eater. I’ve been through respiratory failure once. It is slow and painful. End-stage respiratory failure strips your dignity and your self-worth. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy — if we can save even one person from that fate, then this lockdown is worth it.
You can manipulate statistics in any way you like to suit your outcomes and prove your point, but the raw data in numbers don’t know how to lie. To date, Western Australia has recorded nine deaths from COVID-19. Nine.
Lockdown is inconvenient, but if you do it right, it works.
