April 30, 2020
This from James Doogue, a friend from Oz:
The Swine Flu Was Worse
By the end of 2009, more than 37,000 Australians had been diagnosed with swine flu. More than 190 people were dead.
Worldwide, the US Centres for Disease Control estimates swine flu killed as many as 575,000 people. Eighty per cent of them were under 65.
In hind sight nobody said gee, I wish we had shut down our borders, our businesses and our schools, and told everyone to stay at home except for essential activities.
Australia didn't end up in a major recession. We didn't have an extra million unemployed. We were still dealing with the GFC, but even that didn't put us into recession. The Rudd government splashed a couple of hundred $billion up against the wall with nothing to show for it today.
We hadn't even paid that off and now the Morrison government looks like spending at least $300 billion on the Covid measures, again, with no infrastructure or any long lasting legacy to show for it.
At this stage by comparison we have fewer than 7,000 Covid-19 cases, most mild not requiring hospitalisation
The government is busy praising the Australian people for doing a great job, and by extension, praising themselves. Yet there are plenty of countries who didn't go into the lock down measures Australia did, yet they have 'performed' similarly well. Conversely, there are countries which had even more strict lock-downs, which haven't performed as well.
It seems the weather might have been a huge factor in the spread and severity of Covid-19.
I have little doubt Australia jumped the shark, and reacted emotionally to the threat rather than logically. I doubt that anyone will look back at this period and say the government did the right thing. The damage of the ruined businesses, lost jobs and wrecked personal finances will be with many for a long time.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:11 AM
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Post contains 339 words, total size 2 kb.
Posted by: Karli Feeney at January 02, 2021 01:32 AM (D31Iw)
At any rate, thanks for the comment!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at January 02, 2021 08:17 AM (r3rcQ)
Posted by: parul sharma at September 21, 2021 06:05 AM (XewtU)
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