Just when you thought we had reached peak stupid, along comes the chief health officer from the Australian province of New South Wales, Dr. Kerry Chant.
For having imposed the most draconian restrictions on the citizens of her province, she has been lauded as a leader in the war against Covid-19.
The restriction that Dr. Chant proposed yesterday falls especially well, considering the topic of my last post. You see, as much as we know that small talk, human conversation and normal interactions are seriously beneficial to human well, the absurdist Dr. Chant-- or should it be Dr. Cant-- has recommended that people stop talking with each other, stop conversing-- even if they are wearing masks.
It feels like self-satire. It feels like something straight out of the Onion or the Babylon Bee. Alas, it is real. We did not just read it but we saw in a Zero Hedge post, the televised interview where Dr. Cant uttered those words.
Has she or any of those who work with her ever considered the psychological damage you inflict on people by actively shunning them? Or the damage inflicted by such overt rudeness? Apparently not.
Of course, by the same absurd reasoning, one might also conclude that the best way to protect yourself against the virus is to stop breathing. I guarantee you that if you do so you will never inhale the least particle of Covid-19.
7 comments:
And that way, you can’t spread “misinformation.”
Anyone who has ever run a large/complex organization knows that experts often focus on only their own area and ignore important factors outside of it. This is fine as long as the higher-level individual has a broader perspective and integrates multiple issues and types of expertise.
One might excuse an epidemiologist or a virologist for such narrowly-specialized focus, while realizing the need to supplement it. But this individual is a 'chief health officer', and should be capable of a broader perspective in her own right. Evidently not.
Hi Stuart...I love following you blog but must admit to being a "lurker". Dear Lord, don't tell the "cancel culture"! Just want to drop in with my opinion amid all this Covid junk out there in the airways. I'm old, well, by number..I'm 77, in good health and am quite active. I was a working RN for 40 yrs. so have an idea about science's workings. I have always gotten all reasonable, necessary vaccines...so I got the 2 Moderna Covids, took my mask off a week later. Just want to say this now: I am DONE ever masking again! I am done with any further "Delta variants, blah, blah variants booster! I will die when my Lord decides it's my turn. I am an American who is free and will live as MY CONSTITUTION and my Lord give me the right to live.
As insane as Dr. Chant's "stop speaking" recommendation is, my understanding is that it's consistent with Australia's insane approach to Covid 19 generally: Namely, they're still maintaining a strict quarantine of the entire continent, in order (a) to keep the virus out, and (b) eventually to eradicate all those traces of the virus that have already leaked in. As a result of this policy, my understanding is that to this day:
--it's still very difficult for anyone to get in or out of Australia;
--virtually no one is vaccinated;
--businesses and cultural activities are still shut down everywhere; and
--there's no end in sight.
As I said to the retired American M.D. friend who lives in Australia, and who described the situation there to me, "You know what this means? Lockdown, forever." He sighed and said, "I know".
It doesn't get much more insane than that.
Talk to no one...and don't talk in your sleep!
As an Australian who has never bought into the Covid-19 panic, I would like to add to JPL17's comment. My comments in brackets
--it's still very difficult for anyone to get in or out of Australia;
(Correct)
--virtually no one is vaccinated;
(About 10,000,000 people have been vaccinated, out of a total population of around 26,000,000)
--businesses and cultural activities are still shut down everywhere; and
(Currently 13,000,000 people are under lockdown, that's about 50%of the population. Most businesses and public institutions are closed, but most of the large chain stores are still open.)
--there's no end in sight.
(Every politician is a carbon copy of each other it seems, all of them are enjoying this way too much. Mind you the public seems to lap it up, to be honest it's all quite disgusting how much people like being lied too.)
Thank you for the clarifications + insight, Mark Moncrieff, very helpful. By my rough calculation, that would put Australia's vaccination rate for people age 12 and up at about 46%. And although that's a lot more than "virtually no one", it's still significantly short of the U.S. rate (which stood at 56% a few days ago).
I wonder if it's an issue of getting more vaccine into the country, into people's arms, or both. And whatever the problem, I have to wonder why the Australian politicians and public aren't clamoring for more of both. Perhaps, as you suggest, both groups are enjoying it too much.
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