The chief health officer of New South Wales, Australia, now has some pointed things to say regarding the COVID-19. In a nutshell, she thinks that citizens should avoid talking to each other. How she expects all of the citizens of Australia to pull this off remains to be seen, however.
What Did The Doctor Say?
“Whilst it’s human nature to engage in conversation with others — to be friendly — unfortunately this is not the time to do that,” Dr. Kerry Chant said.
“So even if you run into your next-door neighbor in the shopping center … don’t start up a conversation,” Chant continued. “Now is the time for minimizing your interactions with others. Even if you’ve got a mask, do not think that affords total protection. We want to be absolutely sure that as we go about our daily lives we do not come into contact with anyone else that would pose a risk.”
The Background
The Sydney Morning Herald reported last Sunday that there was a serious COVID-19 outbreak underway in New South Wales, which is a state in the Southern portion of Australia. Sydney is the capital of that state.
More from the paper:
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced last Saturday that she was administering a major tightening of Sydney’s lockdown restrictions as the state had recorded 111 new cases. The construction industry is also going to be shut down for two weeks starting on Monday, with all non-critical retail stores being forced to close and tough new restrictions being placed on all Sydney residents in order to halt movement and hopefully the spread of COVID.
Moreover, the Australian government is even considering whether they want to reduce the public transport services, simply because the new restrictions are going to force workers to stay home.
“I can’t remember a time when our state has been challenged to such an extent,” Berejiklian said, according to the Morning Herald. “I can’t remember a time when the government had to make these difficult decisions.”
Enormous Harm
Sky News-a prominent Australian news network-has a host named Chris Kenny and he didn’t like what he was seeing in regards to these new decrees. He declared that the “state premiers are inflicting enormous harm on their citizens, communities, and economies because of the political obsession with zero COVID because they think it’s the lesser of two evils.”
Kenny also took some time to fully analyze Chants’ comments regarding her requirement that citizens no longer speak to each other, and he said in a mocking tone: “Eyes on the ground, no chatting with friends or neighbors.”
He added,”It’s all a bit much, isn’t it? It’s about infantilizing the population, it’s about the Nanny State, it’s about control — ‘government knows best, and to hell with personal responsibility.'”