The NSW Government has come under fire in recent days over its move to "strongly recommend" rather than mandate mask use across the state.
New South Wales is currently mounting its defence against a cluster in Sydney's Northern Beaches, which is currently responsible for 83 cases.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian, flanked by Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant, fronted media over the weekend to announce tighter restrictions in a bid to lessen the spread of the virus.
One of the measures that would not be enforced just yet, however, was the recommendation that masks be worn when indoors, with the exception of one's own home.
"I am asking, and the Government is asking, all residents of the Greater Sydney area to wear masks at least for the next few days until we revisit this issue on Wednesday," Mr Hazzard said.
Dr Chant added: "We all have a part to play in how we respond to this and often the actions we adopt require people to cooperate and I must just express my gratitude to the population of New South Wales."
Mr Hazzard later defended the move not to mandate mask use on ABC radio, saying the welfare of bus drivers had influenced his stance.
"We want people to feel like we are on the journey with us. If we make it compulsory, the big issue is the bus drivers become the policemen. We have already seen enough aggression on the buses," he said.
The trio kept their message consistent in this morning's press conference, too.
"In terms of mask wearing — please make sure, if you're in an indoor setting, obviously on the Northern Beaches it's more paramount, but if you're catching public transport, you need to be wearing a mask," Ms Berejiklian said.
"If you're going grocery shopping or indoor shopping in a mall or anywhere else, you need to be wearing a mask. Indoor settings that [NSW] Health has already identified, you should be wearing a mask."
Experts voice their disagreement
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt backed the NSW approach, telling News Breakfast he would not support a call for mandatory masks across Greater Sydney.
Loading
"Well, the medical expert panel of Australia, the AHPPC [Australian Health Protection Principal Committee] has set out very clearly that masks are appropriate, where states and territories dictate. New South Wales has encouraged that within the Northern Beaches and Greater Sydney area and so I think they are taking the decisions on the ground."
Many experts have taken a markedly different stance on the issue, including Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid and ABC senior health reporter and Coronacast host Dr Norman Swan.
Dr Khorshid appeared on Channel Seven's Sunrise program calling for a "short and sharp" lockdown in order to suppress the Northern Beaches cluster, labelling the next few days "absolutely critical".
"We've got to get on top of this outbreak quickly to avoid the disaster that we saw in Melbourne, and we know that some of the other state premiers would have gone harder — they would have gone with a short, sharp lockdown like we saw in South Australia. That was heavily criticised, but geez it worked, didn't it?" Dr Khorshid said.
"We see Sydney people doing the right thing, they're out and about with their masks on, but it's a really unambiguous message if you say to the community, 'look you've got to wear your masks'."
Dr Norman Swan told RN Breakfast Ms Berejiklian should place NSW in an immediate lockdown.
"I think there's no question that she should and they need to mandate masks," Dr Swan said.
Dr Swan also observed that NSW was making similar mistakes to the Victorian Government in the early days of its outbreak.
"The mistake that governments all over the world make, including Victoria at the beginning, is trying to ring fence suburbs. Remember those 36 suburbs they tried to ring fence? It was just impossible to do. And you've just got to act decisively and quickly and therefore you might not have to do it for very long," he said.
"But Christmas, let me tell you, will be a superspreading event in Sydney if we don't get this under control."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiSGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEyLTIxL3Nob3VsZC1uc3ctbWFuZGF0ZS1tYXNrcy8xMzAwMzU3NNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMzAwMzU3NA?oc=5
2020-12-21 02:11:00Z
52781248001904
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Should masks be compulsory while NSW battles the Avalon COVID outbreak? The Government says no, but some experts disagree - ABC News"
Post a Comment