Health leaders and businesses across Western Australia have slammed Premier Mark McGowan for backflipping on his plan to open the state’s border on February 5, urging the government to set a new date.
The state’s peak medical body has warned keeping the border closed for too long could have dangerous ramifications and push WA’s peak Omicron surge to coincide with winter’s high hospital activity.
Learn about Australia’s best COVID rapid antigen tests in the video above
Australian Medical Association National President Omar Khorshid issued a scathing response to Thursday’s border announcement, slamming Mr McGowan and his government for “failing” to prepare for the spread of COVID and breaking a promise to the country.
“Seems WA Premier Mark McGowan is a one trick pony when it comes to COVID-19,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Many of us are both shocked/disappointed and relieved at the same time.
“No doubt public hospitals and general practice in WA do not feel ready for Omicron but also little confidence that anything will change in coming weeks and months.
“This decision should be acknowledged as a failure by the WA government to prepare and a broken promise.”
Mr McGowan on Friday stood by his decision to indefinitely delay the border opening to allow for more people to get their third dose and more children to get vaccinated.
He called a late-night snap press conference on Thursday to announce the change, saying he would like the third dose rate to get “above at least 80 per cent, perhaps 90 per cent”.
“It would be reckless and irresponsible to open up now and I will not do it,” he said.
On Friday, Mr McGowan said 27.2 per cent of West Australians 16 and older had received their third dose.
The premier again would not set a new opening date, maintaining the government would review the rules “over the course of the next month”.
‘Real blow’ to businesses
Fallout from the border delay has already begun to hurt industries, with events and flights among the early victims.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA CEO Chris Rodwell said the move puts WA businesses back in a holding pattern as they scramble to work out when and how to prepare for a reopening.
“We should not underestimate how difficult this news is to digest for thousands of WA businesses that rely deeply on markets outside of their home state,” he said.
“While we recognise the WA economy has performed comparatively well over the pandemic period, businesses in the international education, tourism, events and other sectors will be deeply disappointed with the announcement, as will those businesses looking forward to seeing some relief to acute skill shortages and supply chain pressures.”
The Qantas Group on Friday announced thousands of flights would be cancelled and the planned March restart of its Perth-London flight would be reviewed.
Group CEO Alan Joyce said the backflip was “deeply concerning” and February 5 was supposedly “locked in” to give certainty.
“Tens of thousands of people booked travel on that basis and we brought a lot of our people back to work on that basis,” he said in a statement.
“Removing that certainty with no new timeline for when the border will reopen is a real blow not just for travel but for Australia as a whole.”
Mr McGowan said opening the border would “floor many industries”.
“It would absolutely devastate them particularly bc of the huge influx of cases that would occur on the first day and every day afterwards,” he said.
Four new mystery cases
The premier on Friday issued a plea for West Australians to get tested as a potentially “missing link” could be among the community, after four mystery cases were recorded.
Mr McGowan said seven local infections had been detected, three of whom were contacts of previously reported cases and had been infectious in the community.
Investigations are continuing into where the four mystery cases contracted the virus, with health authorities yet to find a link to the Delta or Omicron clusters.
“Public health are now potentially managing multiple different clusters in addition to the Cockburn cluster,” Mr McGowan said.
“There is potentially a missing link out there.
“Please come forward and get tested if you feel unwell, if you have symptoms, if you have been to exposure sites.”
With the growing Omicron threat, Mr McGowan announced stricter mask restrictions for Australia Day events.
Three travel-related cases were also recorded to 8pm Thursday night.
Dangers of a winter Omicron peak
AMA WA state president Mark Duncan-Smith on Friday urged the government to set a new date for the border to open, warning staying closed for “too long” could have dangerous ramifications.
He said that keeping the state locked up for too long could push WA’s Omicron peak to coincide with winter’s flu season - a period of already high hospital activity.
“The peak in Omicron may coincide with our peak winter activity and occupancy of hospitals, which would not be a good way to handle this outbreak,” Dr Duncan-Smith said.
He said an indefinite delay could also have “psychological ramifications” for society if kept in place for too long.
AMA members have voiced mixed responses, with many relieved there would be more time to prepare while others were “bitterly disappointed” by being kept away from people interstate.
The AMA called on the government to set a date to give a degree of certainty and ensure it is prepared by recruiting more healthcare workers, properly preparing schools, developing robust protocols for rapid antigen test use and introducing modest restrictions to deal with the current Omicron outbreak.
“It’s not a question of if you will get Omicron, it’s a question of when you will get Omicron,” Dr Duncan-Smith said.
Shadow Health minister Libby Mettam said the border change was an admission that WA’s health system was not ready for an influx of COVID.
However, Mr McGowan was adamant the hospital system was prepared for a surge.
“Our hospitals are as ready as they can be,” Mr McGowan said.
He said overseas recruitment was underway to address staffing issues and 520 additional hospital beds were being rolled out, 300 of which have already been implemented.
“We’re having all the arrangements ready so that at a certain point in time we can start to wind down elective surgery to cater for the growth in COVID cases in hospitals,” Mr McGowan said.
“We don’t have hospitals sitting there with no patients just waiting.
“What we will have, is a system that is prepared.”
Industries and the community have been calling for clarification on planned public health restrictions or close contact definitions as the threat of an Omicron looms.
The premier on Friday finally confirmed the planning would be released in the “next week or so”.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMihwFodHRwczovLzduZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9uZXdzL3dhL3ByZW1pZXItbWFyay1tY2dvd2FuLXNsYW1tZWQtYXMtY292aWQtb25lLXRyaWNrLXBvbnktYXMtZmFsbG91dC1mcm9tLXdhLWJvcmRlci1iYWNrZmxpcC1lbWVyZ2VzLS1jLTUzOTQyOTXSAQA?oc=5
2022-01-21 08:38:00Z
1257846098
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Premier Mark McGowan slammed as COVID ‘one trick pony’ as fallout from WA border backflip emerges - 7NEWS"
Post a Comment