As the World Moves On From COVID the “Success Story” Australia Locks Down Yet Again

Lord save us from such successes

 

On the window of a vintage shop in the Sydney suburb of Annandale, a sign expresses the frustration of many Australians with their country’s pandemic strategy.

“Dear Customers, We will be closed for the foreseeable future because Scott Morrison is a useless dickhead who only ordered enough vaccine to vaccinate 4% of the population 18 months into a pandemic,” reads the sign, shared on Twitter, in reference to the Australian Prime Minister.

Artist James Powditch put up the testy sign at the Roulette store and art studio he runs on Saturday, as the city of 5 million people, plus towns and cities in its surrounds, went into yet another hard lockdown, this time for two whole weeks. By Sunday, a cluster of coronavirus infections of the Delta variant that began in Sydney’s Bondi neighborhood had grown to 110 cases.

Australia was celebrated for its initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and for getting its economy more or less back on track long ago.

But with that security has come complacency, particularly in the federal government, which failed to secure enough vaccine doses to prevent the regular “circuit breaker” lockdowns that come every time a handful of cases emerge, or even the longer restrictions that Sydney is experiencing now. Australia’s borders, controlled by strict quarantine measures, have been all but shut for more than a year.

Now Australians, who basked in their early successes, are wondering how much longer this can go on.

“We can’t leave the country, people can’t come in, and we end up periodically in lockdowns, which cost a friggin’ fortune,” said Powditch.

“People have been accepting that this is a diabolically difficult situation, but once we start watching the rest of the world open up, we’re going to turn to anger over the way things like vaccines have been rolled out here.”

Already there are signs that Australians are getting weary of these sporadic disruptions to their lives. On Sunday, large crowds were seen on Bondi Beach, despite the stay-at-home orders. While outdoor exercise is allowed, images from Bondi showed people bathing in the winter sun and sitting on benches with drinks.

People visit Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, during a city-wide lockdown on Sunday

A 48-hour lockdown was also imposed in parts of Australia’s Northern Territory, including its capital, Darwin, after four Covid-19 cases were linked to a worker at a gold mine. He is believed to have become infected during an overnight stay at a quarantine hotel in Brisbane. Now painstaking efforts to trace all 900 workers who have left the mine for cities across Australia over recent days are under way, as the country relies heavily on a robust track-and-trace system to keep clusters contained.

Vaccine hesitancy

Australia has recorded just 910 deaths in its population of 25 million, one of the lowest per capita death tolls in the developed world, and cases have remained low as well.

While it beat much of the world in getting its economy back up and running, its tourism sector has taken a massive hit, its universities are struggling without the fees international students usually bring and some Australians, who travel abroad in relatively high numbers, are starting to feel the itch to go on holidays overseas.

Even New Zealand — the only country with which Australians had an open travel corridor — announced a three-day suspension of quarantine-free travel between the nations starting Saturday because of the outbreaks.

Australia has fully vaccinated just over 4% of its population, compared with more than 46% in the US and 47% in the UK, according to Our World in Data. Its rates are more comparable with Indonesia and India, which, like much of the developing world, were left out of the agreements with pharmaceutical companies that secured hundreds of millions of vaccine doses for most of the rich world.

Compounding the problem is hesitancy towards Covid-19 vaccines in Australia. One survey by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, with research firm Resolve Strategic, found 15% of adults surveyed were “not at all likely” and 14% were “not very likely” to take a vaccination in the months ahead. The survey was taken after an April ruling that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was linked to a very rare blood disorder side effect, involving blood clots.

Australian officials have said they hope to reach herd immunity — the point at which about 80% of the population is vaccinated — before reopening its borders. Prime Minister Morrison earlier said that may not be until mid-2022. More recently, he was even unable to commit to a Christmas 2022 reopening.

In a question to the Prime Minister, journalists on Channel 9’s Today program on Thursday suggested that Morrison and his slow vaccine rollout were responsible for the ongoing lockdowns.

Morrison replied by saying an increase in supply “will really kick in next month in July,” and that 600,000 Pfizer doses were due in next week.

“The challenge we’ve had, of course, has been with AstraZeneca. I mean, the medical advice has restricted its availability to those over 60, and prior to that over 50. Now, that was a big shock to the rollout and they are events outside of the government’s control,” he said, adding there were new supply arrangements with AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna.

“So, we’ll keep working towards that goal, by the end of the year, of offering that vaccine to everybody who would want one and there will be an escalating ramp-up as we move through the second half of the year,” he said.

Can’t get in, can’t get out

The government has also been criticized for leaving about 36,000 Australians stranded overseas. Caps on arrivals to the country have made booking seats on flights difficult and expensive, and the cost of quarantine is in the thousands of dollars. It’s the responsibility of the person arriving to foot the bill.

It’s just as hard for some living in Australia to get out. If someone from overseas has Australian citizenship or permanent residence, they need a government exemption to leave the country.

The result is not just holidays lost, but lost time with family and friends.

At the last census in 2016, around half the people living in Australia were either born abroad or had at least one parent born overseas.

One Brisbane resident from Canada, who is working in a hospital in health care, is hoping a speedier vaccine program will mean fewer border controls and, hopefully, a trip back home.

“I’m originally from Canada, and don’t know when I will see my family again. Honestly, I think at least 2 years,” the health care worker wrote in a message to CNN.

“We’re so frustrated! The vaccination process is ridiculous. I’m a health care worker in the top list of people and there was so much confusion. We were told to email and that we’d be contacted when our appointment was … then we’re told just to show up because that program was actually not recording anything,” she said.

“It’s still only open to [people age] 50+ even though spreaders are averaging 20-30 years of age. We’re sick of lockdowns, knowing the vaccine is out there.”

And for some residents with strong ties abroad, there are more serious implications to this global isolation.

Katerina Vavrinec, a 34-year-old from the Czech Republic living in Sydney, said she has sought counseling for mental health issues arising from the separation from her friends and family, and the anxiety that has come with it. She hasn’t been to her home city of Prague for three years.

“Keeping borders shut is going to have a huge impact on people’s mental health,” she said, pointing to the high number of Australians with family ties overseas. “So this is going to have huge impact on the mental health of millions of people.”

Vavrinec is on maternity leave and due to return to work in just over a week, though she’s not sure what that will look like in lockdown. But she’s found a silver lining.

“I’m actually quite happy that we’re in lockdown because I’ve been quite frustrated with the indefinite border closures. So I’m hoping that the lockdown forces people to realize that completely isolating Australia from rest of the world is not going to get us out of this.”

Source: CNN

20 Comments
  1. Voz 0db says

    The FUN part is that those mo ron ignorant slaves think that if they had JABS the jesters and scoundrels in office wouldn’t do the same or worse…

    F U C K THEM ALL!

    1. ken says

      Yeah,,, tired of hearing them whine! The despots are already talking up the ‘delta varient’. These idiots could be 100% inoculated and they’d still be locked down.

      All they have to do is say no more! Some may get injured or even killed but what’s the difference. Their dying right now taking the killer shots. Cowards….

    2. Yale Two says

      You won’t have the protection of a jab, against US weapons when the bio-war starts with China, you won’t be laughing then.

  2. Tubular says

    All 5 eye states are going crazy. The UK, Canada, NZ and Australia, as the pied piper the USA kicks off a party to celebrates the mass extortion their covid scam has brought them.

    1. Dale says

      The US’ federal system is its salvations. Some and perhaps most of its states have pretty much moved on.

      1. Yale Two says

        Trump gave the states the right to coordinate their covid response, he did not need to do that, Initially the response was to lockdown in most states under trump.

        Now the all-clear has been give to open up after enough damage has been done.

        After all, destruction of small business and driving the poor to the wall has been US internal policy for decades. .

        1. Eddy says

          It’s NOT OVER, til the fat lady sings.

      2. Eddy says

        L.O.L. Yes, we thought exactly the same here in Ozz during the summer months.Unfortunately, the cooler months have rammed home such thoughts are simply dreaming. Wait until your summer’s over, before counting your chickens I’d say.

  3. FCKTHEMALL indeed says

    Of course in these vaccine ad-articles the reader still has to figure if the testimonies are genuine or not. They most probably are, cause plenty sheeple out there.

  4. Sally Snyder says

    As shown in this article, the impact of lockdowns and masking (among other NPIs) on the spread of COVID has been negligible:

    https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-impact-of-non-pharmaceutical.html

    Why are governments completely ignoring this research?

    1. loongtip says

      Because they are at the beck and call of Big Pharma who would lose billions if people refuse the risk of the jab and just took Ivermectin or HCQ

    2. Eddy says

      The WHO, right at the start of this epidemic, told us all, masks were a waste of time and ineffective. Yet our NON Medical authorities claim the opposite. W.T.F. Similarly, the manufacturers of these ALLEGED vaccines, advised against giving them to young people, yet again, the authorities want o inject everyone, young and old, contrary to any advice from the manufacturers. W.T.F. is going on here ? We are also told, these ALLEGED vaccines are a TRIAL only, which is not to be completed until 2024. Yet everyone is carrying on as if the TRIAL is already completed and these ALLEGED vaccines are the ants pants for us all, despite the data accumilating and clearly displaying, they may not be the case.

  5. ken says

    CNN pushing the propaganda….as usual. That sign only shows the complete stupidity of the person that wrote it and the people that believe it or It’s probably a photo shop.

    From the CDC (John Hopkins):
    We do not know whether the vaccine will prevent infection and protect against onward transmission. Immunity persists for several months, but the full duration is not yet known. These important questions are being studied.

    If a sane person reads this they can see the bullshit. They say they don’t know if the vaccine will prevent infection or transmission then say immunity persists for several months.

    No,,, you’re locked down because you are yellow. Even if you believe the virus is real their data shows a 99.87% recovery rate. When one reads the propaganda it never mentions the deaths any longer just the damn cases. The PCR is totally useless as it cannot determine infection but these morons won’t believe the inventor,,, Kary Mullis. They only whine and believe the tyrants they obey.

    YOU are allowing these people to ruin your lives and even worse,,, your children’s lives.

    I have no sympathy for any of you. It’s been a year and a half,,, plenty of time to figure it out.

    While you scream conspiracy theory at us truth tellers you are destroying your future, your children’s future, your businesses, your economy, your culture. You,,, not the politicians,,, you!

    If you can’t figure out it’s all bullshit then I suggest you ask God for forgiveness for being sniveling cowards.

    1. loongtip says

      And that “god” stuff is just more propagandised bullshit! Won’t make a jot of difference!

  6. Raptar Driver says

    The great British penal colony has reverted to it’s original form.

    1. Eddy says

      The great British penal colony has never deviated from it’s original form.

  7. Joe_Below says

    These idiots want more vaccines?

    1. Ultrafart the Brave says

      “These idiots want more vaccines?”

      Indeed, the most pertinent and only relevant question.

      You would think from these articles that the Corona Chan “vaccination” dogma is an accepted article of faith amongst the general Australian community.

      In reality, the “vaccination” dogma is the mandatory narrative pumped relentlessly by the controlled Australian media and the subverted government and medical beauracracies, all faithfully carrying out their instructions from creepy Bill and Uncle Klaus and their paymasters in the World Economic Forum.

      A growing number of Australians are wiseing up to the reality that the Corona Chan “vaccines” are disguised bioweapons, and that Corona Chan is a toothless tiger no worse than a regular old influenza virus.

      Australians aren’t fools – the younger generation especially are Internet-literate and can sniff out the truth for themselves. And people can see what the “vaccines” have done to their friends and relatives that have already been injected. And people talk.

      As for all the hype and hysteria being whipped up around the “deadly Delta variant” to drive the current wave of politically mandated lockdowns and “vaccinations” –

      [ https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/follow-the-science-deadly-delta-variant-registers-a-99.9-recovery-rate ]

      The supposedly “deadly Delta variant” is even less “deadly” than the original Corona Chan.

      In a perfect world, people would be held to account, and hundreds of heads would roll (literally, if I had any say in it).

  8. Eddy says

    Quote, “Australia’s borders, controlled by strict quarantine measures, have been all but shut for more than a year.” Unquote. Not true. dunno where the idea comes from, that we have “strict quarantine measures”, L.O.L. as from where I sit, IF we did have such measures, we wouldn’t need to go into lock down all the time. In fact our quarantine measures are a joke. Business people, sports players and a host of hangers on, are all going overseas whenever it suits them, many of them, especially the rich and well off, are not required to quarantine themselves at all. Thus their handlers and baggage handlers don’t either. The last infection we had in Western Australia, was a person who had completed 14 days in quarantine. Before releasing said person into the community, she was tested, ALLEGEDLY, and came up clear. Three days later she felt ill, and reported in, where it was found she was infected with Covid. In the meantime, for three days she was running around the metro area spreading the virus everywhere she went.
    The solution is as clear as day, 14 days in quarantine is insufficient. We need to extend that to 30 days minimum, and to cover everyone, rich, poor, sports players the works.At the same time, our lax Federal Government needs to build proper quarantine facilities, and give using hotels which were never designed for quarantining anyone, the flick.

    1. Ultrafart the Brave says

      “The solution is as clear as day, 14 days in quarantine is insufficient. We need to extend that to 30 days minimum, and to cover everyone, rich, poor, sports players the works.”

      OR we could just admit that Corona Chan is a toothless tiger no worse than a regular old influenza bug, and that the experimental “vaccines” don’t stop anyone from catching or spreading Corona Chan and cause way more injury and mortality than the bug itself, and just start using the medicines and nutritional strategies being used successfully elsewhere around the world to kill the Corona Chan bug and get on with our frigging lives.

      [ https://assets.lifesitenews.com/images/remote/https_www.lifesitenews.com/images/local/pdb1721.png ]

      [ https://assets.lifesitenews.com/images/remote/https_www.lifesitenews.com/images/local/pdc1721.png ]

      Note that the American VAERS reporting system is acknowledged to only catch between 1% and 10% of actual adverse events and deaths, so take those American Corona Chan “vaccine” mortality figures and multiply that by at least 10.

      And Ivermectin, an absolutely safe and inexpensive medicine which has been completely blocked by the Australian medical beauracracy, cures Corona Chan…

      Corona Chan – Ivermectin Studies – [ https://c19ivermectin.com/ ]

      Ivermectin Destroys Corona Chan In Mexico City & India –
      [ https://youtu.be/pQiv8I9Peqk?t=2818 ]

      An honest American doctor talks about how to properly treat Corona Chan – [ https://www.bitchute.com/embed/InH89amCpy7S/ ]

      As for all the latest hype and hysteria over the “deadly Delta variant”, it turns out that it’s not even as “deadly” as the original Corona Chan bug (which is no worse than a regular old influenza bug) –

      [ https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/follow-the-science-deadly-delta-variant-registers-a-99.9-recovery-rate ]

      Unfortunately, even ignoring the fact that the Australian political class is rotten to the core and universally in the pockets of the Davos crowd, politicians never back down, they only ever double down, and even the regulatory agencies are in on the game –

      [ https://anti-empire.com/australias-medicine-regulator-has-never-seen-pfizer-covid-vaccine-study-data-despite-deeming-it-safe-for-australians/ ]
      [ https://doctors4covidethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/FOI-2289-relevant-documents_Redacted.pdf ]
      [ https://doctors4covidethics.org/ ]

      So here in Australia, like it or not, we’re on a road to nowhere…

      [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQiOA7euaYA ]

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