COVID lockdowns have human costs as well as benefits. It’s time to consider both.
“The Conversation” has just published an article written by our own Prof Martha Hickey and Prof Gigi Foster (Professor, School of Economics, UNSW) relating to the impacts of COVID 19.
The article is titled “COVID lockdowns have human costs as well as benefits. It’s time to consider both”.
A snippet from the article:
Australia has been lucky. We’ve had time to consider our response to COVID-19, based on what was happening in other countries, before it hit us.
We implemented restrictions that are likely to have saved many from dying of COVID-19. Fewer than 100 have died so far, a fraction of the number initially projected.
At this pivotal moment, we need to think carefully about how best to protect ourselves going forward.
We need to consider whether the costs of continued restrictions to prevent transmission of COVID-19 – costs that can be quantified in terms of human lives harmed and human lives lost – are worth the benefits.
It is unpopular to question the value of protecting Australians against COVID-19 when the world is in the middle of the pandemic.
Yet continuing the restrictions we have put in place will increase deaths from other causes, and decrease the quality of many lives.
Moving forward, we will need to make decisions that maximise the health and well-being of all Australians, including the most vulnerable. We will need to consider not only the deaths and suffering the restrictions prevent (the benefits), but also the deaths and suffering they bring about (the costs).
The article can be found at this link.
Image Source : BIANCA DE MARCHI/AAP
Wishing everyone well during this time.