Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader
In four short weeks since the Premier prematurely opened the border to Covid, cases continue to soar.
As of today, 16 874 positive tests have been confirmed, and we know that’s a significant undercount due to the lack of testing.
The level of illness in a once safe Tasmanian community is profound, and because the Gutwein Government is taking no real steps to contain spread of this deadly, disabling virus, many more Tasmanians are likely to get sick. Some will die and huge numbers will suffer debilitating long Covid, a scientific truth not yet acknowledged by the Premier or Public Health.
The first Covid patient has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, and tragically as we’re seeing interstate, they won’t be the last.
Yesterday, evidence of the Gutwein Government’s hands-off approach to the virus was evident at the Ashes match. A look at pictures of the crowd confirms vast numbers of cricket fans not wearing masks. The Ashes shows all the signs of being another government-enabled superspreader, like Party in the Apocalypse.
What Tasmanians desperately want to know is when the Premier will take meaningful steps to prevent infection, rather than facilitating it.
Parents want to know how it’s possible their unvaccinated children will be safe in unventilated classrooms when school starts on 9 Febrary.
Tasmanians with elderly parents in aged care facilities want to know how, if we were ready for Covid as the Premier claimed, their loved ones are either being infected or in lockdown. Staff who work in these facilities want to understand why they aren’t being tested when they go in to work with these highly vulnerable Tasmanians.
Local businesses also want to know the government has a plan to prevent community transmission so they can safely reopen.
So many questions, so few answers, and we’re only a month in to this reckless let-it-rip phase that demands Tasmanians live with a deadly, disabling and rapidly mutating virus. The evidence is clear from the quiet streets and closed businesses that the locals are passively resisting this dangerous approach.
Do better, Premier. Tasmanians need to know you’re putting their health first and that’s not the message they’re getting now.