By design or incompetence, the government CoVid-19 involves mass infection & subsequent herd immunity. Here's why:
I live opposite a railway station. For the first time I can remember on a weekday, there were empty spaces at the station car park. I could see that there were many commuters on the passing trains. They weren't crammed in to the gills as usual, but they were sitting side by side on seats. That's not social distancing.
I arrived for work at school and attended a staff meeting at 8:30am. At the meeting we were told that after school professional development (aka meetings) was banned. Around the table no-one used hand sanitiser or practiced social distancing. At the end of the school day we didn't have a meeting, but had a group meditation instead, where someone handed round a box of lollies that almost everyone reached into before passing it on.
My wife Alice texted me at 9:00am to tell me that there was a Prime Minister's press conference on at 9am. Whilst teaching a sports session to the Preps, I covertly listened to our dear leader telling us that schools had to stay open to avoid costing "tens of thousands of jobs".
"The impact on the availability of health workers? A 30 per cent impact on the availability of health workers is our advice. That will put people's lives at risk," Mr Morrison said.
As he was speaking, I was watching my five year old charges practice the opposite of social distancing. Kids this age push, hug, wrestle, jostle and play fight. No adult is going to stop that for more than two minutes.
"So let's keep our heads as parents when it comes to this."
Jobs only matter to the living.
There was a bottle of hand sanitiser at the front desk at school, and I had one in my pocket, but no student had one. At lunchtime, I suggested they wash their hands; about four out of fifteen ran their hands under the cold water of the drinking fountains for about 10 seconds. The rest ignored me.
Many went to the toilet throughout the day. I don't even know if there's any soap or hand towels in there. I try to avoid the kids' school toilets at the best of times, they look & smell like something from the last hours of a particularly loose music festival. Kids don't practice good hygiene; kids don't practice any sort of hygiene.
Throughout the day they were touching not only each other, but the playground equipment, their schoolbooks, desks, door handles etc. The idea that kids can't get CoVid-19 seems bizarre. They might show less symptoms, but who ever heard of a disease that only targets adults? Can you think of a single example of human illnesses that are only suffered by adults? Why would a virus behave like this? A recent small study suggested that it can remain viable in kiddy shit for two weeks, even if the child is symptomless.
Studies also suggest that Co-Vid-19 can survive on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for two to three days. If that's the case schools will soon be hiving with the stuff, if they aren't already
Watching the parents pick up their children at the end of the day I observed no social distancing, between fellow parents or the milling students.
This evening, I took a walk around the streets of my inner-northern Melbourne suburb of Preston. It wasn't as busy as usual, but it was far from a ghost town.
Several massage shops were open - how should one practice social distancing when receiving or giving a massage?
There were four bars and restaurants operating; none of the patrons seemed to be practicing any form of social distancing.
I popped my head into the local pokies joint. The restaurant was fairly busy and there were a few patrons in the gaming room. Given that the virus can live on plastic surfaces for days, one imagines that the play buttons on a machine must harbour the microscopic.
I then went up to Woolies supermarket on Plenty Road. Many shelves were empty, but not enough to deter shoppers from frantic shopping. The checkout staff weren't wearing gloves, or used hand sanitiser between transactions. No-one cleaned the eftpos machines or self-service checkouts. There was no effort at social distancing.
I walked up Plenty Road and stopped for a whiskey at my local. The bartender handled my cash, poured my drink before moving onto the next customer. I met a friend and sat outside in the smoking section, where a large group was crammed into the corner.
I watched people use ATMs and climb aboard trams which could be harbouring the virus. Does that sound alarmist? Science doesn't agree.
If you're practicing social distancing, that's great and I don't want to deter you. However, a large part of the population are not. Schoolkids certainly are not. They won't while they are at school, or anywhere outside the home. Kids don't come straight home from school and leap into bed. They are a part of the community. Keeping the schools open won't isolate them.
"Oh but Singapore kept the schools going...." some may say. Yeah nah but....Singapore's approach is very different to ours. Diametrically opposed. Read about it in this NY Times article. Stereotypically, Singapore is a more conformist society than us freedom-loving Aussies. Or should that be community minded, in contrast to our selfish individualism?
I am resigned to catching CoVid-19. I could quit my teaching job and isolate at home. But that would mean someone else would have to go in and replace me. What if that person has underlying health issues or elderly parents? I'm a reasonably healthy forty-six year old. We're in a quasi-wartime situation, and if the powers that be want the schools open, I consider it my duty to turn up and look after your kids. I hope I can avoid serious complications and avoid a hospital visit.
If you want to avoid catching the illness, stay away from me. I'm not bothering to socially isolate. There seems little point. If the government was really serious about this illness, there would be health officials on the streets monitoring our pathetic hygiene practices. They are leaving it up to individuals to do what they think is best, in true small-government neo-liberal fashion.
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