'Throw out September': Expert's depressing lockdown prediction
As Billie Joe Armstrong once sang: “Wake me up when September ends”.
And that’s how Sydneysiders will be feeling with health experts predicting the current lockdown restrictions will not be ending on August 28 and could be needed until November.
August 28 is D-day for the current restrictions, which have now been in place in Greater Sydney and surrounding areas for seven weeks.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is hoping to ease them but this is looking increasingly unlikely given the virulence of the Delta Covid-19 variant which on Tuesday saw 356 new locally-acquired cases emerge.
Ms Berejiklian and Health Minister Brad Hazzard have encouraged residents to get vaccinated in the hopes to get six million jabs done by August 28.
University of Melbourne epidemiologist Antony Blakely told a NSW Parliamentary inquiry into the government’s handling of the current outbreak vaccination will certainly help “flatten the curve” but not as much as health experts would like.
“If it’s relaxed too early the amount of hospitalisations and deaths could be quite something,” Professor Blakely told the inquiry on Tuesday.
He said residents are going to have to live with at least some form of restrictions for the next 100 days.
“There’s no way NSW is going to be able to go back to a stage one any time between now and November at the earliest,” Professor Blakely said.
Easing restrictions in some form would be a “trade-off” and possibly conceding the state cannot reach zero community transmissions, he said.
There is some good news though – Professor Blakely said there probably will not need to be “a hard lockdown” through to Christmas.
Professor Peter Collignon, from the Australian National University Medical School, added he believes there will be some form of restrictions in place until April or May next year, such as how many people can visit a home.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant told the inquiry she has not provided advice yet on what restrictions would be eased if NSW hit its vaccine target.
“It is too premature," she said.
"I am actually optimistic that at the end of August we are going to have a higher than 50 per cent first dose coverage."
'2021 is cancelled'
Professor Blakely's comments sparked reaction on Twitter, with ABC journalist David Taylor tweeting: "Ok throw out September".
In other comments, one person wrote the situation is "bloody tragic", while another said "September and 2021 is cancelled".
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