Unless we keep the shutters up forever, Covid is coming.
With six million Sydneysiders in lockdown and state borders again closed, leadership is needed to chart our way out of living in perpetual crisis mode.
Yes, the virus is deadly to the elderly and vulnerable.
But with most in these cohorts now vaccinated and better protocols in place governing frontline workers who care for them in nursing homes and hospitals, it’s time to come up with a plan for getting back to normal.
The risk to the rest of the population is now minimal but the cost of lockdowns and border closures is intolerable.
And that’s a cost that is not just economic. Mental health and neglect of other health measures must also be factored in.
There is growing concern in the community that liberty is being eroded, a concern the Christian Democratic Party shares.
Once obtained, politicians rarely give up power willingly.
Only the very naïve would say Premiers, Gladys Berejiklian aside, have not overreacted and milked Covid for political advantage.
With virtually no cases of Covid in hospitals and none in intensive care, questions must be asked as to whether anyone has done a cost-benefit analysis of Sydney’s latest lockdown.
Last year we were told lockdowns were needed to flatten the curve and make sure the hospital system did not become overwhelmed.
That has been achieved and people dying in the corridors of hospitals never happened and is no longer a threat – a status not remotely threatened by the latest outbreak in Sydney.
No one has given a rationale as to why Australia seems to be pursuing a zero Covid case goal.
Because unless we keep the shutters up forever, Covid is coming.
People will either mitigate their risk of catching and transmitting it by taking a vaccine, all of which have been fast-tracked, or they will catch Covid, a virus likely engineered as part of a Chinse Communist Party bio-weapons program.
Side effects of the vaccines are not fully known but neither are the long-term side effects of having Covid.
For most people, particularly the young and healthy, Covid seems relatively harmless.
But it is not harmless enough that we can just ignore it and hope it will go away.
Thanks to the CCP, we have two undesirable choices before us – take a rushed vaccine or catch Covid.
No vaccine, including the Flu shot, is 100pc effective so some people will end up with a vaccine and with Covid, albeit most likely with lesser symptoms.
The good news is Prime Minister Scott Morrison reiterated that no one would be forced to take the vaccine.
“The vaccine will not be compulsory, and we will not make it compulsory,” the PM said in an interview with Sky News host Paul Murray on Friday night.
That’s as it should be. Vaccination is a matter of individual conscience and choice.
What is unknown is whether vaccinated Australians will be offered exceptions from restrictions.
The PM said earlier comments of his were misinterpreted.
“It got written up as a sort of vaccine passport. That’s not what it is. It was just simply saying that if you’ve been vaccinated the state governments would recognise that and you’d be able to move around in times like this (lockdowns and border closures).
“The States aren’t ready to accept that,” Morrison said.
“I know there are real concerns in Australia that the vaccine entitles you to do something and doesn’t allow others to do it. There is a concern about that in the community and I acknowledge that.”
The CDP is opposed to vaccine passports, as is Gladys Berejiklian.
Part of the problem is that countries with high vaccination rates are still employing lockdowns and restrictions.
No one has adequately explained why this is so and it is contributing to confusion.
Many mistakes have been made, the first of which was the CCP, with US funding, engaging in “gain of function” research with bat coronaviruses.
Xi Jinping and Tony Fauci have much to answer for.
Like other nations Australia has also made mistakes in the handling of the pandemic, many of which are forgivable given we’ve been in uncharted waters.
What has been unforgiveable is the suppression of information by tech tyrants like Facebook and our media elites, particularly regarding treatments such as Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine.
Lessons obviously need to be learned and people held to account.
But for now, the people of Australia need to know a road map out.
Last week Singapore announced a plan to open and live with the virus.
Singaporeans can see the end goal and it is not zero cases.
The virus is coming. We need not fear it. We just need a plan.
Lyle Shelton is Director of Campaigns and Communications for the Christian Democratic Party. The Reverend Honourable Fred Nile MLC has nominated Lyle to succeed him in the NSW Parliament when he retires in November. To keep in touch with Lyle and the CDP, sign up here.