Thread by @DarylTractor

Can I just say how utterly refreshing it is to hear somebody talk honestly about the pandemic, and the fact that ignoring it won’t make it go away?

@Mon4Kooyong talking so much sense on #afternoonbriefing today.

Some highlights: Importance of financial support for people infected. “The last thing we want to do is to force people back into the workplace when they are still actively infected with Covid-19. That is not in anyone's best interests.”

“We know that they decreased the mandatory isolation requirement from seven days to five days recently without telling us on what basis that decision was made. We have reason for concern that they might remove isolation requirements altogether in the near future.”

On her call for a Covid summit: “We need to rejig our approach to this condition. It is not going away. It remains a significant challenge for our healthcare workers and our economy and I think there is a lack of clarity about forward planning from [both] governments.”

On the removal of mitigation strategies: “We are shutting up shop and packing up the chairs and heading home, pretending that Covid is no longer here. The reality is that we have the highest mortality per capita from Covid in Australia of any country in the world at the moment.”

“More than 3,000 Australians have died of Covid in aged care this year. That is more than the previous two years combined. Even though we would love it to go away - we would all love it to be gone - it hasn't and it’s not going away.”

“We all remember how awful our summer was, the summer of Omicron. If a new variant emerges from the northern winter, as is likely, we don't have a plan at this point for how we are going to deal with it.”

“What … I hope a summit would achieve is to rejig things. Get everyone into the same room: the economists, the people from industry, the healthcare workers, people from secondary and tertiary education, childcare, disability care, aged care …

“… and say we can't get rid of this, it is with us. We have to deal with it and we will do it together. How are we going to do that?”

“This is what happens if we get something moderately nasty coming towards us and this is the plan if it all goes to hell over summer. Everyone understands what the future looks like then and on what basis those decisions are being made. That we are doing it to protect ourselves.”

Response via DM from a medico re @Mon4Kooyong’s interview:

“Great thread. Thank fuck at least one person there has a brain. I think we are saturated with absolute fucking nonsense and many people can now see straight through it.”