Medical Experts Urge Caution With Lifting Restrictions

A medical practitioner performs a test on a member of the public on May 5, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

As Australian leaders begin winding back COVID-19 restrictions, medical experts have warned not to ease them too quickly so as to avoid a potential second wave of the CCP virus.

State and federal leaders will decide what rules are to be eased on Friday, April 8 at a national cabinet meeting.

Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone warned the national cabinet not to feel pressured into lifting restrictions and said they should apply medical evidence to any decision, according to a press release on May 6.

“People should not get their hopes up too high at this stage, because rushing to get things back to normal, without caution and safeguards, risks a huge setback for everyone,” Bartone said.

He said in the event of a second wave of infections, implementing isolation measures would be worse for people’s health and the economy.

So far Australia has managed to flatten the curve of infections and discussions have now turned to kickstarting the economy post-virus.

As part of this effort, the federal government introduced on May 1, new rules to make workplaces “virus-safe.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison supported the measure saying to reporters on May 5, “To get Australians back to work, what is essential is they could go back into a COVID-19 safe workplace.”

On the same day, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined Australia’s national cabinet to discuss creating a special travel zone between the two countries. She emphasised the relationship between the nations saying, “I do think that we should both be proud of the efforts that have been made and the ANZAC bond.”

States Have Been Easing Restrictions

In New South Wales, the state lifted restrictions on May 1, allowing families (consisting of two adults and their children) to visit other households for the first time in weeks.

While in Queensland, travel restrictions have been eased allowing residents to travel up to 50 kilometres from their homes for recreational purposes. They’re also currently considering lifting more restrictions in time for Mother’s Day.

Deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly said restrictions needed to be gradually eased rather than any immediate return to life before the pandemic.

The roadway gantry signs on the Westgate Freeway display messages about COVID-19 testing on May 5, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“Some things will open, others will not,” he told reporters in Canberra. “It will be scaled so that risk of increasing the number of cases is minimised while giving the maximum benefit to the economy and to normalisation of society.”

The ACT will stagger sending public school students back to classrooms over the next four weeks.

Select year levels will begin returning from May 18, eventually, all students will return by June. Non-government schools are expected to follow a similar timeline.

There have been 6,875 cases of coronavirus in Australia, with 5,984 people recovered.

The death toll is 97, with 16 lives claimed at western Sydney nursing home Newmarch House, which faced regulatory action on Wednesday.

Forty-nine cases were discovered at the Cedar Meats abattoir in Melbourne, while the national infection rate had its highest increase for more than two weeks on Wednesday when 26 cases were reported.

More than 5.1 million people have downloaded and registered for the government’s virus tracing app. Currently, over 5 million people have applied for the Jobkeeper program.