Comment is free, facts are sacred CP Scott 1918

Opinion
Melissa Davey
AMA chief says mask mandates
becoming more likely amid ‘pretty
scary’ Covid hospital numbers.

AUSTRALIA

AMA chief says mask mandates

becoming more likely amid ‘pretty
scary’ Covid hospital numbers.
Sisonke Msimang
 Opinion

W
Back in the US, my friend was relieved that
Trump was gone but it was clear that the chronic
mistrust of the state that has characterised
America since its founding was alive and well and
e were told distancing, vaccines and masks it had real-life implications for how she navigated
the world.
would see us through the worst of the pandemic. That was
true – and still is. Australians were largely spared this sort of
existential anxiety. To be sure, there were some
As Omicron surges again, Australian politicians seem to be bumpy moments under the Morrison government
adopting the American tactic of denial. It’s a foolish strategy. and harsh lockdown measures were unevenly
This week the national chief health officer urged people to applied in parts of NSW and Victoria, with affluent
wear masks indoors, but that’s all he could do – no leaders communities often given a free pass, but at least
have introduced mandates. Earlier this month the Victorian you (mostly) knew what the rules were, and
health minister said she dismissed the recommendation of the ultimately science and common sense have
prevailed.
state’s chief health officer to mandate masks in early
childhood education and some retail settings. Until now.
At this stage most people understand the basic
At the end of 2020, a friend of mine fled the chaos of Trump’s science of this virus, as well as its economic and
US and came back to Western Australia, where she was social effects. So it’s strange that leaders should
raised and where she hadn’t lived for decades. choose this moment to resist mask mandates.
With her young kids in tow, she and her partner spent a year Some may believe people simply want to move on
and they are trying to avoid short-term conflict.
in splendid isolation – camped with her parents in a small
This isn’t wise. In the long term they risk
beach town a few hours’ south of Perth. undermining public confidence in the very
Biden had won the election and work called. We exchanged principles that have helped us through the
emails in the weeks after she returned and she described pandemic this far.
having to make a dizzying array of decisions on a daily basis A year ago, political leaders assured us that a
in order to weigh up her risks of infection, and determine how combination of social distancing, masks and
much she was prepared to expose her kids. She found herself vaccines would see us through the worst of the
pandemic. They were right.
wondering whether she should ask parents if they were
Their sudden prevarication in the face of the latest
vaccinated. Her employer finally mandated mask wearing but surge is worrisome. Delaying the inevitable is
before that clarity was provided, she was petrified. something regular people do all the time – denial
is a normal human instinct. But the job of our
In Australia the rules were clear – masks, vaccines, social leaders is not to bury their heads in the sand and
distancing, caps on public gatherings. You didn’t have to like it hope life returns to normal. We expect them to
but it meant other people’s health wasn’t contingent on face the facts and front up to reality.
If our faith in health institutions is to remain intact
whether you had forgotten your mask in the car or whether
(the police are another matter altogether), it will be
you thought vaccines represented some sort of conspiracy. based on sound political leadership that is
There are all sorts of reasons why people don’t do the right grounded not in populism but in science.
thing when left with the choice. No matter your reasons, if you People may not like it but they will respect it. More
wanted to be a functional member of society you had to follow importantly, reinstating mask mandates across the
the public health orders. country will spare us all the burden of taking other
You didn’t have to like the government of the day but you peoples lives into our hands each time we leave
our homes.
understood that, for the most part, public institutions were
After all, this isn’t the US.
working on the basis of science, not ideology; that they were
there to safeguard your health rather than arbitrarily exercise
authority over you.