Despite some missteps, mixed messaging, and some seemingly harsh social distancing and lockdown rules intended to control the coronavirus pandemic in Australia, the government has done an acceptable job in flattening the curve based on the number of decreasing cases so far.
The next question now is when will these social distancing and lockdown rules in Australia end since we’re starting to get on top of this coronavirus pandemic, and the answer is once we’ve successfully passed three tests as outlined by the government.
Since we’re in coronavirus lockdown in Australia, the GOAT team talk about how films are getting released early on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Speaking at a press conference (via ABC News), Health Minister Greg Hunt praised everyone in Australia for adhering to the social distancing and lockdown rules during the Easter weekend. But before people get too excited at the prospect of the coronavirus lockdown ending, Hunt warned everyone to not jump the gun as Australia needs to take things nice and slowly before in terms of easing restrictions.
Noting that while there’s hope based on the falling number of confirmed cases, Hunt says “there is still growth and could, at anytime, be outbreaks and spikes,” and it’s still too soon to make any big lockdown and social distancing changes.
Having said that, Hunt says the government has three “tests” in place which Australia needs to pass before the social distancing and lockdown restrictions end so it’s best we start studying up (so to speak).
No.1 – Sustained decrease in coronavirus cases
Taking a leaf out of New Zealand‘s book, confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia have been gradually falling and the infection curve looks to be flattened as fewer than 100 new cases per day have been recorded over the past week.
While this is promising, Australia has had over 6,300 confirmed cases and there still needs to be a bigger fall in the numbers before even thinking about ending social distancing and lockdown restrictions.
No.2 – Rapid response capabilities
Australia has enough ventilators to fight the coronavirus at the moment and is looking to increase the number of intensive care units. However, the test is to make sure hospitals will have enough resources to treat patients should numbers rise again.
Furthermore, Australia needs to be ready in terms of testing and tracing should another outbreaks occur.
No.3 – Gradual exit plan
Now this last “test” is a bit of an open-ended statement but it basically involves the gradual reopening of businesses and slowly ending the lockdown measures in place. At the moment, Australia is looking at how countries like South Korea, Japan, and Singapore are responding in order to properly figure out what to do.
However, this one is further down the road as social distancing rules will be enforced for at least a few more months, and potentially longer depending on how development on a coronavirus vaccine goes.
It must be noted that there is no time frame for when these coronavirus social distancing and lockdown restrictions will end so it’s important that we all remain responsible until things start looking up. Here’s hoping that someone also figures out the potential cannibal super rat problem that’s brewing on the sidelines.
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