Opinion: Australia should switch course and try to eliminate COVID-19
They should adopt an elimination strategy: setting out to eliminate the virus from Australia and restore domestic economic and social activity to almost-normal, while controlling our borders until there is a vaccine or a cure.
Pursuing an elimination strategy will require leadership. It will require lockdowns to be extended, so that they continue even when local transmission is nearly gone. It means the Melbourne lockdowns should continue until active cases in the community reach zero and remain there for two weeks. Where there are active cases, the government should encourage people to wear masks in public spaces.An elimination strategy is not without risk.
But the return on an elimination strategy is enormous. As Victoria heads back into lockdown, Western Australia – which hasn't had a locally transmitted case since April – will remove all internal restrictions from next week. Movement within that state will be free. As long as testing remains routine and border restrictions remain firm, life will more or less return to normal.New Zealand has pursued an elimination strategy to "keep it out, find it, and stamp it out". That worked.
Australia's national cabinet should explicitly pursue an elimination strategy similar to that of New Zealand. The current suppression strategy carries the certainty of repeated outbreaks and lockdowns, shattering business confidence, confusing the public, and prolonging the COVID-19 ordeal. It will cost the economy more than an elimination strategy. If we reassess and refocus, the benefits of elimination are within our reach. If not, we must all prepare to live with uncertainty.
Stephen Duckett is the health program director and Will Mackey is a senior associate at Grattan Institute.The most important news, analysis and insights delivered to your inbox at the start and end of each day. Sign up to
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