Australia cannot count on using the same measures it put in place for COVID-19 when the next pandemic hits because people have lost trust in authority, according to research into the country’s response to the crisis.
Quickly establishing a national Center for Disease Control is a priority recommendation of a 670-page report released on Tuesday, which aims to prepare Australia for future pandemics.
The review found Australia fared better than other countries when considering its death rate and economic recovery.
But the response to the pandemic had a serious effect on the nation.
“People worked beyond normal limits, and many of the public health professionals, community services and frontline health workers, political leaders, health experts and public servants we rely on to overcome the pandemic are no longer in their positions,” the report says.
“This poses risks to our resilience to face another crisis.”
Part of the reason Australia was able to respond relatively quickly and successfully was people’s willingness to put the community before their own interests.
But over time, the stress of the pandemic and the lack of clear communication about why unpopular decisions were being made caused that community spirit to wane.
The report highlighted the strict lockdown enforcement tactics used by New South Wales and Victoria. Pictured: Former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews.
“Trust has also been eroded and it is unlikely that the population will again accept many of the measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report notes.
In response, the report recommended that a future response to a public health emergency should consider “equity and proportionality when implementing and enforcing restrictive measures.”
The review was led by former NSW Department of Health director-general Robyn Kruk, Deakin University epidemiology lecturer Catherine Bennett and health economist Angela Jackson.
In addition to a well-funded CDC to centralize future responses and communications, the review recommended taking a holistic approach to managing the pandemic that considers economic, social, and equity impacts, as well as health impacts.
It found that vaccination mandates were effective in controlling the spread of the virus, but have since contributed to some people’s reluctance to get vaccinated.
“The combination of mandatory measures and people’s perception that they could not criticize or question government decisions and policies has contributed to non-mandatory vaccination rates falling to dangerously low levels.”
The report also said states’ different approaches caused distrust.
“At first, the National Cabinet was united in its approach, but this unity waned throughout the pandemic and there were sometimes conflicting explanations for leaders’ decisions, further fueling confusion and mistrust,” says.
‘While different approaches across states and territories might be appropriate where local conditions or different population risk profiles demanded it, some differences were not easily explained and no justification was provided.
“This included the operation of state border closures that states enacted unilaterally and that lacked consistency and compassion in their implementation.”
The report found that frameworks should be put in place in peacetime so that decisions do not need to be made on the fly, for example about how to manage high-risk environments such as schools and aged care.
The report highlighted the strict lockdown enforcement tactics used by New South Wales and Victoria.
“We heard that it eroded trust in police and health authorities, had a disproportionate impact on specific populations, reduced the likelihood of future compliant behavior and, in some circumstances, led to violence, such as the violent anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne and the violent Threats against city councils.
People felt Covid restrictions “became increasingly inappropriate in the long term and were too harsh and controlling, and that there was a lack of compassion and too few exceptions based on need and circumstances”, the report found.
He also highlighted the impact of school closures on young Australians.
‘School closures and remote learning also led to increased engagement on social media, triggering weight management and body checking behaviors among some young people.
“Access to education is essential for the development of children and youth, and is a protective factor to mitigate negative impacts during a crisis,” the report says. “The impacts of disruptions to education on children and young people have been systematically raised in the research.”
School closures, which were not recommended by health experts, caused long-term harm to children, given the inadequacy of replacement measures designed on the fly, and many schools were not prepared to provide distance learning.
“Research also suggests that lifestyle alterations during lockdowns led to changes in the brain biology of children and young people, with a greater impact on the brains of adolescent women than that of adolescent men.”
Health Minister Mark Butler said the report was “thorough and measured” and promised to implement its recommendations.
“We have a responsibility, particularly as a government, we have a responsibility to examine our response to the pandemic, to learn what we did well and, in particular, to know what we could have done better and, most importantly, to build like this” . “The report describes it as a high-level manual for the next pandemic, because we know there will be the next pandemic,” he said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the consequences of economic decisions during the pandemic, such as Jobkeeper, were still being felt.
‘Big decisions were made and big mistakes were made. “Those mistakes were costly and inflationary,” he said.
“JobKeeper’s lack of planning, delayed implementation and design choices exacerbated skills shortages and inflationary pressures in our economy.”