An independent report concludes that the response to the pandemic has failed in the most vulnerable

Shergold said the age And the Sydney Morning Herald The strength of the review is that there are no political constraints associated with any government-mandated investigation. The report, published Thursday, was submitted to state and federal chiefs of public services.

“If we don’t make a conscious effort to look back and assess what we got right, what we changed and what we got wrong, we will end up making similar mistakes in the future,” Shergold said.

The report credits federal and state governments for getting many of the “big calls right”, particularly early in the pandemic, but notes that much of Australia’s success reflects the advantages of starting with the ability to close international borders, relying on a strong economy, and public confidence. in the pandemic response.

As the pandemic has developed, this trust has been eroded by political divisions in the national cabinet over issues such as school closures, inconsistent application of rules in different jurisdictions, the absence of an independent national authority on infectious diseases, and the use of non-disclosure agreements. To hide epidemiological modeling and other evidence that governments rely on.

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This lack of transparency helped to “hide political calculations” in government decisions and made it easier for political leaders to selectively follow advice.

The opaque decision-making process “has seen a large number of outside health experts become famous in the media” and fill the information void.

The report concluded that “Australians hope that the national cabinet will come up with a national approach.”

“Unfortunately, it was not before. In fact, political opportunism – and a lack of transparency and inclusiveness – has broken policy response, leading to hardships and unnecessary consequences for vulnerable people living with deprivation.”

The report lists a series of “consequent” wrong decisions including:

• exclusion of casual workers and temporary migrants from JobKeeper and failure to include a refund mechanism to recover payments from highly profitable businesses;
• mass closure of classrooms without due consideration of the long-term effects on education, social development, mental and physical health, and the economy;
• Reluctance of state health authorities to accept hospital aged care residents who have tested positive for COVID;
• An inadequate response to the ‘triple risk’ faced by people with a disability, who were at higher risk of contracting severe illness from the virus, and who also lost access to routine health care, medication, therapeutic services, and contact with support staff, families and friends.

The use of prolonged lockdowns, particularly in Melbourne and western Sydney, has been the most controversial public health measure used in the fight against COVID-19.

The report’s authors describe the shutdowns as a blunt tool whose range was excessive and its implementation harsh.

The review found that the shutdowns were a reasonable measure to set up Australia’s hospital system at the start of the pandemic, but that they were then “driven by policy failures” and became the dominant public health response.

The report found that “many of the closures could have been avoided”. “Some were the result of failures in our quarantine systems, our contact tracing systems, slow vaccine rollout, and shortcomings in our communication with key parts of our community.

Some decisions were politically motivated. Some responded to the public fear raised by the media. The closures, especially when targeted at a specific location, brought about a deep sense of inequality among those who were most restricted. Overall, the lockdowns have created a global sense that the pandemic is being monitored rather than managed.”

The report attributes the prolonged shutdowns in Melbourne and Sydney for the winter of 2021 to the federal government’s vaccination program “suffering with bad luck, poor communication and bad decisions”.

He warns that the cost of deferred primary health care and preventive treatments during the lockdown has yet to materialize.

It concluded, “It is now clear that we have overestimated the deaths and underestimated the collateral damage of the actions taken to stem the spread of COVID-19.”

The report also criticizes “strict” travel restrictions and interstate border closures.

“As with closures, border closures – especially between states and territories – should be used sparingly and only in extreme cases. They should be applied with greater empathy and flexibility.”

The report cites a series of socioeconomic inequalities in the number of epidemic deaths in Australia, including a mortality rate for people born abroad two and a half times higher than for people born here, and a three times risk of dying from COVID for people in the bottom socioeconomic quintile compared to those in the top quintile. .

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He notes that three out of every four deaths due to coronavirus in 2020 were recorded in elderly care.

The reforms proposed by the review panel are intended to expand advice to governments in future epidemics, so the imperative to control the spread of infection is balanced with broader social, economic and health considerations for already disadvantaged communities.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has pledged to work with state and territory governments to establish a Center for Disease Control.

Other recommendations of the report include creating a team of experts and community representatives to provide additional advice to the national cabinet on pandemic decisions, and for all government models and scientific evidence to be made public.

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Originally published at Melbourne News Vine