South Australia is currently in the midst of a Covid resurgence that is causing havoc for the state’s medical, hospitality and retail services.
Increasing case numbers and new harsh restrictions on the hospitality industry in South Australia have all but ensured that people will be staying in.
Now of course a level of restrictions are necessary to minimise the spread of the virus.
And these restrictions alone are not the root cause of much of the anguish that is plaguing South Australians as we speak.
People are afraid to go out.
Dominant narratives posed by both left and right leaning media outlets and political commentators have given the strong impression of a dichotomy between lockdowns and ‘letting it rip’.
However South Australia was already demonstrating that we could have restrictions protecting people’s health whilst also allowing people to live an almost normal life.
That’s why Scott Morrison’s all or nothing attitude towards opening up the country has made so many people scratch their heads in disbelief.
And why Steven Marshall’s rushed and entirely unprepared opening of the borders before Christmas was so shocking.
We were wearing masks, sanitising our hands, the borders were closed preventing those with Covid from entering the state. The majority of us had received two doses of covid vaccine.
Remember when South Australia had no cases? Or if we did it was maybe one or two in hotel quarantine.
Everything was going so well.
We had done what we were told. In return all we did was expect what we were promised- safety. and freedom
I was constantly grateful for the fact that I live in South Australia. Safe and protected from the Covid storm that was thrashing outside the border.
Why couldn’t we have waited to open up until Covid numbers elsewhere had declined? Not right when we were about to get back on our own feet and begin rebuilding.
Some people might call that isolationist. Indeed that is what Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan was referred to as for keeping their own borders closed.
Ah but he is a Labor Premier, doing an excellent job where the Federal government was failing dismally. Whereas Steven Marshall already had the benefit of being a Liberal leader. It’s all about the ideology see.
Marshall already had the benefit of knowing he would receive minimal opposition from Canberra and the media.
So why on earth did he open the borders a week before Christmas?
Being isolationist during a pandemic seems more like rational precaution to me.
If you know what is inside Pandora’s box, and you don’t want (or indeed aren’t ready) to deal with the consequences, don’t open it.
Some people I have spoken to are afraid they will be put into quarantine or the state will be plunged into lockdown (yes Marshall has has ruled this out, but it wouldn’t be the first time a politician has broken their promise now would it).
Others have expressed their concern that vulnerable loved ones will be exposed to the virus or will face detrimental mental health outcomes if forced into quarantine (particularly in cases of mini lockdowns like we have seen across a number of nursing homes).
There seems to be a big argument about who is right, who is wrong and who is being selfish when it comes to restrictions.
A false narrative of health and business being in conflict is causing havoc.
And I can’t figure out whether that narrative has been propagated by the media or politicians.
Such a black and white frame is problematic on a number of levels.
If people are sick they can’t go to work. If they can’t go to work they can’t pay their bills.
If people can’t afford to pay their bills they are left vulnerable.
If people are vulnerable they become scared.
If people can’t pay their bills, they can’t go out and they fall into a pit of vulnerability and fear they certainly won’t be spending money stimulating the economy.
Once again the pandemic has laid bare the failures in our healthcare, welfare system and the increasing lack of job security in the increasingly casualised workforce.
If businesses are operating well below capacity and making a loss rather than a profit they run the risk of closure. If businesses close their workers are left unemployed.
Workers are already having to take time off to get tested (if they can get access to a test) and then isolate. Business’s are already closing their doors because they can no longer afford to keep their doors open.
If people are left unemployed they are left vulnerable. If people are vulnerable they become desperate.
Not all business is big business. The hospitality industry is an excellent example of this.
The hospitality industry has criticised the government for enforcing density limits and restrictions on seated and standing consumption. I don’t blame them.
Yes these restrictions may help minimise virus transmission but it wouldn’t have been necessary had everything been kept under control.
I think that’s the key here. Steven Marshall has lost control.
Yes, some businesses were urging the state government to reopen the borders. A mistake I am sure they are all regretting now.
But for my local pub, where the staff know the regulars, I think they would just have been happy to be able to open to South Australians.
There’s something to be said about your local pub. You walk in and they welcome you with a smile and ask how you’ve been.
And they remember you.
Yes, I know that can be considered merely good hospitality skills. But when they remember you week after week and know your life it’s a little different.
Ever since the pandemic started numbers have dwindled.
Things were starting to pick up a bit before Christmas. Starting to.
But since the borders reopened, Covid case numbers began to rise and density restrictions were reintroduced numbers have declined once again.
Live music has ceased and my usual Sunday session really is limited to a few regulars now rather than a hive of new customers bustling in to try the South Australian wine and beer.
It used to be thriving.
So I’m not going to blame business for the mess South Australia is currently in.
I’m going to blame Prime Minister Scott Morrison for opening international borders; Health Minister Greg Hunt for his mismanagement of vaccine and testing distribution and Premier Steven Marshall for opening state borders and the small percentage of people who haven’t done the right thing.
Because before those things happened, South Australia was the mecca of the country.
OK, so we couldn’t have kept the borders shut forever. But we really didn’t have to open them right when new Covid variants were beginning to make their mark.
Instead of being patient and biding our time, instead of making a stronger effort to encourage South Australians to help our struggling hospitality and tourism industries (hey, we could have reinvigorated the long forgotten #BookThemOut campaign) we shot ourselves in the foot by opening the borders early.
Today Steven Marshall has told South Australians that Covid case numbers are beginning to stablise but that the “Omnicron peak” is likely to see that increase again in a few weeks time. In a nutshell it doesn’t look like things are going to get better any time soon.
Everything was feeling almost normal. Yes there was mask wearing, social distancing and some density limiting but South Australia was doing pretty well.
We went to the shops; we went to the pub and we celebrated together.
We observed the new normal of social distancing and sanitising.
That’s what I hate about the phrase ‘we’re all in this together’.
Because we were. And now, all of a sudden, it feels like we’re not.