Here to stay: Australia records 10-fold increase in COVID deaths in 12 months – but do people care?

As Australia and the world enters the fourth year of the global pandemic, COVID shows no signs of going away – and the aged care sector will continue to bear the brunt. Is it time for a new strategy?  That was the argument made on the ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night where host Laura Tingle interviewed three experts on Australia’s current COVID health strategy: Professor Brendan Crabb of Burnet Institute, doctor and long COVID sufferer Nada Hamad, and economist Richard Denniss from The Australia Institute. The conclusion: the latest approach of letting COVID run through the wider population while trying to protect the vulnerable is not working. COVID is now the third biggest killer in Australia, the number of skilled migrants arriving is being outstripped by the number of people off sick with COVID, and the full impact of long COVID is yet to be known.  The message: there needs to be an “attitude change from the top” with an increased focus on mask-wearing, improved vaccines, and higher booster rates. It’s a strategy that is needed if we want to do more to protect our most vulnerable as a nation. As you will read further down, the Christmas period saw around 100 aged care resident deaths a week. Speaking to providers this week, staff are tired and burnt out after yet another holiday period dealing with outbreaks and lockdowns – but are continuing to do the best job that they can to support their residents and clients.  The public should carry on respecting the hard work of providers and aged care workers to protect older Australians and ask what we can do as individuals to prevent COVID transmission – instead of just accepting it as the ‘new norm’.