When COVID-19 hit Australia, it took a while for our federal government to wake up and shut down public gatherings and close our borders. In fact, while state leaders closed down their jurisdictions, the Prime Minister was still encouraging people to go to the footy, carry on as normal, nothing to see here.
When he finally caught up, he told the nation we could be in lock down for six months. What followed was a shutdown of the nation’s economy and string of stimulus measures to allow the economy to “hibernate” to allow businesses and workers to maintain an income stream during this period of isolation and social distancing. Ideologies were put aside as the Federal and State governments and Oppositions worked together to implement social stimulus packages costing billions of dollars. By and large these measures have been welcomed by most Australians.
At the time of writing, the curve is beginning to show promising signs of flattening but despite that, we’re being told not to be complacent with nation’s chief medical officer we indicating no large public gatherings until 2021. We’ve gone from six months to a year despite the curve beginning to flatten.
We could, according to Scott Morrison, get out of isolation sooner if we download an app like the one being used in Singapore as a means to trace potential virus contacts?
Where did this come from?
Why now?
Why, after three months, is there such a push to have this downloaded on our phones?
The Prime Minister used threatening language as he attempted to “sell” the app to us.
“If ya wanna get out sooner, download the app”. Which is “ScoMo” speak for “volunteer or suffer the cost”.
Australians have always been cynical when a government tries to impose a new way of “keeping Australians safe”. This goes back to when Bob Hawke wanted to introduce the Australia Card.
The Commonwealth Government are not exactly reliable when it comes to online security. After all, the Minister charged with rolling out this app, Stuart Robert, is the man who oversaw the infamous Robodebt algorithm, and blamed a hacker for the crash of the My Gov website when in fact it was 1.5 million people who lost their jobs overnight that overwhelmed it.
I did say earlier, that the stimulus was welcomed by most Australians; Most but not all.
There has been concern raised within the community, mainly by right wing commentators that the economy is going to collapse and cause generational damage unless we return to normal soon. After being told we could be in for the long haul, momentum is growing to push for a return to normality despite the curve only just starting to flatten. This app is the tool to get things moving.
Morrison has been applauded for “balancing act” he’s having to perform to keep the nation safe during this pandemic. The tightrope he’s walking is becoming more precarious because the power brokers who got him into office are now coming to collect the rent. They’ve seen the billions spent on social stimulus. They don’t like it. They want to reopen the economy and are willing to pay a human cost.
There are good intentions from medical professionals behind the push to download this app. It can help trace sick people and help control the spread of the virus. However, the intentions of some economists, business and some media commentators are not about public health. To them, this app is part of a concerted campaign aimed at coaxing the public out of isolation and back to work and school as part of a herd immunity experiment.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory. The campaign is out there in the public domain and right out of the IPA play book and being promoted by Fairfax/Nine and Murdoch journalists and commentators.
What exactly is herd immunity?
The Oxford definition is the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease, especially through vaccination. The level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity varies by disease.
The keyword in the definition is “vaccination”. There is no vaccination for COVID-19 and yet people are advocating herd immunity to reopen the economy.
What they and others really mean by “reopening” the economy is that they want to avoid having the government fund your protection from COVID-19.
No one will argue that these stimulus programs are going to cost us down the track with increased taxes and austerity measures but these guys face losing their tax cuts, their franking credits and other tax lurks. They risk losing negative gearing on their multiple properties and other tax loopholes that we can no longer afford as we rebuild our economy. They want the public back at work and back in schools and are willing to accept the deaths of thousands until “herd immunity” is achieved.
This is a form of eugenics and it’s not an idea many epidemiologists recommend.
In a recent interview with the ABC, Diego Silva, a lecturer in bioethics at the University of Sydney, says we still don’t know everything about this virus and the body’s response to it.
“Allowing a virus to spread in your country when you don’t know whether, or how long it takes for, people to become susceptible a second time to the COVID-19 virus is a risk,” he said.
Herd immunity also accepts that people will die and in countries such as the Netherlands, when discussing its implementation, the Prime Minister said vulnerable people would need to be protected.
“This assumes you can actually shield those at risk in the first place, and it’s not clear to me that you can,” Dr Silva warns.
Scientists have pointed out that if COVID-19 is allowed to spread, there will be fewer younger people to look after the vulnerable.
“Intentionally allowing the virus to spread requires accepting that people will die in the short term, in part due to hospitals and the health system being overwhelmed,” Dr Silva says.
British virologist Professor John Oxford from Queen Mary University of London said letting the virus spread also takes governments into murky ethical waters.
“As a virologist, I’m totally unnerved by it. I don’t like it, I say it’s got a touch of eugenics, which I’m frightened about,” he says.
“I feel nerve-wracked about it, I think it’s kind of a huge experiment when you’re indulging letting the virus go like this, rip through the community. People will die. What will their relatives say?
“The whole thing is a bit of a farce — and a dangerous farce.”
The UK has abandoned its more relaxed approach to coronavirus after researchers warned that 250,000 people would die as a result.
So why then is there a push by some in Australia to carry out a human experiment with a disease that has no cure or vaccine?
Let’s cut to the chase. This is a “Kill Grandma” cult. They have publicly stated that this virus effects older, more vulnerable people anyway, so we should just accept it because keeping the economy shut will affect our children for years to come. As if the tax lurks these people receive aren’t hurting young people already.
These people don’t give a stuff about your health or that of your parents or your kids. They’re more than willing to accept thousands of deaths and that the weak and vulnerable were going to die anyway. It doesn’t matter, or it hasn’t occurred to them that they are advocating their willingness to see someone’s loved one choking to death on blood and lung tissue a makeshift ICU set up in a donger in a hospital car park.
Many of these advocates for herd immunity are right wing Christian conservatives; many of whom campaigned on a Right To Life ticket against abortion. They now say its OK to let people die for the sake of keeping their economy open. So much for “the sanctity of life”. Their hypocrisy is as breathtaking as the virus.
It’s the perfect end game. Less burden on welfare. Keeps the numbers down. Cull the weak by allowing the virus to spread with no treatment, and no vaccine. Let the fit survive. There’s a book written about this kind of stuff written in the 1930’s; In German.
They don’t care about public health. They don’t give a shit about you. They have proven it time and again. They’ll sell your grandmother if they had the chance now they’re willing to kill her off. They’re part of an exclusive club and you ain’t in it. Their only concern is protecting their own wealth and they’re more than happy to sacrifice you to do so.
If you think this is over reach, check out the anti-lockdown protests in the USA being egged on by Donald Trump. They are playing right into his hands.
