Don’t Hang Up Your Covid Mask Yet! By James Reed
You can feel it in the air, or at least from looking at internet reports. The health elites are gearing up for yet another Covid freak out. For example, hospitals are apparently “buckling’ under the strain of new Covid cases even though the population has been obedient little serfs and got the jab and boosters. Thus, doctors, are wanting a return of the mask mandates, as if that will do any good if there really was surging Covid cases. But other doctors, much fewer in number are opposing this, such as Dr Nick Coatsworth who has said on the Today Show: “'I think what many Australians feel and would agree with is that the time for mandating some of these interventions is at an end in July 2022, … I think we really need to come together and realise yes it's a deal but it's not the same big deal that it was two years ago.' But, that will probably not stop the elites from going through another Ground Hog Day of Covid mandate mask madness.
“One of Australia's top doctors has called for the return of mask mandates as hospitals buckle under the pressure of surging Covid cases.
Doherty Institute director Sharon Lewin said she understood that Australians were tired of hearing about Covid-19, but that the pandemic was far from over.
The infectious diseases expert said governments should consider bringing back mask mandates in indoor settings as hospital admissions soar.
'Mandates should be considered,' Professor Lewin told ABC Radio National on Wednesday morning. 'It worked very well previously, it won't be for a long time'.
'Everyone should be aware that masks indoors when we have got this amount of Covid will be another additional help.'
The professor said mask mandates would reduce the pressure on health systems, with 739 hospitalisations in Victoria and 2,023 in NSW on Wednesday.
There were 11,176 cases detected across Victoria on Wednesday and 10,662 in NSW - with the states reporting 20 and 16 deaths respectively.
The professor's warning comes as the Victoria's state health department reveals its four-stage winter plan amid an uptick in new infections.
The plan shows how many hospitalisations will cancel staff leave and elective surgeries as well as the return of some restrictions.
Stage three of the plan, triggered when the state records 800 hospitalisations, will see more telehealth appointments and staff leave cancelled.
Stage four, when the state records over 1,400 hospitalisations, will result in the cancelation of elective surgeries and the consideration of a 'code brown'.
Victoria previously declared a code brown in January - an official alert permitting under-pressure hospitals to defer less urgent health services to other facilities.
In February, private hospitals were given the green light to once again perform 50% of elective surgeries and 75% in regional Victoria.
However, other health experts have slammed calls for Covid mandates, arguing Australians don't need to be told when to wear a face mask in 2022.
Former deputy chief health officer Dr Nick Coatsworth said Aussies were 'sharp enough' to understand the difference between a recommendation and a mandate.
He strongly recommended people wear a mask indoors when they can't socially distance to reduce the spread of viruses.
'I think what many Australians feel and would agree with is that the time for mandating some of these interventions is at an end in July 2022,' the top doctor told the Today Show on Wednesday.
'I think we really need to come together and realise yes it's a deal but it's not the same big deal that it was two years ago.'
Dr Coatsworth described Victoria's hospital crisis as being 'years in the making' and that the number of patients in ICU was more important than admissions.
'I think the overall tally of people in hospital (with Covid) is not a good marker for burden of disease,' he told the Herald Sun.
It does present challenges to hospitals with infection control and bed flow and is definitely contributing to the current health system capacity issues.”
It is good that Dr Coatsworth is speaking up on this, but a pity more doctors are not. What does it take for them to take a stand?
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