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Dr Kerry Chant refuses to rule out lockdowns if Australia is hit by another pandemic

NSW health chief cagey on lockdowns

Kerry Chant leaves options open

A top health official has refused to rule out lockdowns if NSW is hit by another pandemic.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant was asked on Monday whether with what is known now she would still recommend lockdowns and curfews.

Ms Chant did not give a straight-forward answer.

'I think those matters can’t be answered in a simple question,' she said.

'And I think also one of the key learnings is that it is important we think about the future but we don’t plan for the next pandemic totally on what we have been through for the last.'

Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced there would be three-member inquiry into Australia's Covid responses but which would not look into 'actions taken unilaterally by state and territory governments'.

As Covid measures such as lockdowns, curfews and the shutting internal borders were decided by state governments this means the inquiry won't be examining these issues in any depth.

During the Covid period the longest lockdown NSW experienced was 107 days that ended in October 2021 and it imposed curfews during that September on some of the suburbs worst hit with the Delta strain of the virus.

As gruelling as this was it pales against the 262-lockdown endured by Victorians, which came with more blanket curfews.

Dr Nick Coatsworth, who was the national deputy chief health officer during the pandemic, commented curtly that such exclusions mean the inquiry will ignore 'pretty much everything they did' to respond to Covid.

He previously called for the inquiry to examine whether independent public health powers should remain with states and territories during a pandemic.

'Who determines proportionality of pandemic response and how are societal costs of pandemic restrictions assessed and balanced against need for disease control?', asked Dr Coatsworth.

He took aim at Victorian Premier Dan Andrews who 'thinks that the Covid inquiry should focus on vaccines, national medical stockpile and PPE'.

'None of those are related to the core question. Proportionality,' Dr Coatsworth added.

'It is a word that he would prefer never enter into the historical record on our (and his) pandemic response. But it will.'

This criticism was echoed by other commentators and the opposition, who accused the Albanese government of shielding Labor premiers from scrutiny.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12556225/Kerry-Chant-NSW-Covid-lockdowns.html