Reflections from 30,000 feet

Yesterday I returned from three weeks travel to the UK.

The UK is a place very familiar to me, but due to the COVID pandemic I hadn’t been there for 18 months.

I was reminded how visceral the experience of travel is. You can’t really appreciate the differences between countries without seeing things first hand.

I think our Australian politicians and health officials would be well served by travelling to some other countries and seeing first hand, how they are coping with this pandemic.

Outbound, I travelled through Singapore to the UK and returned via Dubai. The UK regards Singapore and Australia as a “green zone” and I was able to directly enter the UK without delay. My travel required a Letter from Australia’s Department of Home Affairs (we are still the only nation that prevents our citizens leaving without permission), a negative PCR Certificate of Analysis linked to my passport number, a UK Passenger Locator form and proof of purchase of a Day 2 test upon arrival in the UK. I had also been double vaccinated with Astra Zeneca before departure. I am 49 and requested AZ via my GP anticipating travel. I had no side effects.

My business meetings were all very successful, each a reminder of the power of meeting people face-to-face. I feel confident these meetings will lead to 3–4 substantial business relationships that will boost the new trade deal between Australia and the UK. I also got to see my two teenage kids, who are at school in the UK, for the first time in 18 months. I was there to see my daughter graduate from High School.

While I was in the UK I had four PCR tests and five rapid antigen tests (45 mins) for COVID. All negative. Tests are available at pharmacies, can be sent online to your home, all connected to an NHS app. The UK has apparently been in lockdown for months, but to look around you wouldn’t know it. People were everywhere, mostly dining outdoors, where wearing a mask is not required. While I was there, they hit 50,000 cases per day. Hospitalisations are rising, currently about 500 per day but very few people are dying. In the week ending 9th July there were 9752 deaths in the UK, 213 with COVID-19 on the death certificate. There is discussion about “dying with” not “dying from COVID”. Co-morbidities play a factor in a (large?) portion of COVID related deaths. About 1 in 300 Brits has COVID. Strangely as a society they are “just getting on with it”. 88% of the population has had a first jab and 68% are fully vaccinated. My 18 year old daughter had her first jab (Moderna) while I was there. Astra Zeneca has been administered to most of the population.

Less than a week ago, Boris Johnson, proceeded with “freedom day”. There are no longer any restrictions in the UK. Protective measures are now a matter of personal responsibility. Interestingly, I observed most people voluntarily wearing masks indoors, in retail settings, on public transport much as they did before.

What struck me most is that there is only one way out of this pandemic mess. COVID is never going away. It is out there in the world and will always find a home, somewhere on the planet, in a moist warm bodied host. Candidly, I think we will all get COVID at some point, much as almost all of us have had the flu and the common cold (which is of course a corona virus!) A vaccine will prevent you dying.

Returning to Australia was a profound experience. I was tested 9 times while I was away and had two negative PCR tests with linked certificates of analysis 48 hours before departure. We have put our borders up to the world. I am grateful to Emirates that they are continuing to run “ghost flights” back to Australia, because without them there would be nothing. There were 20 people on an A777 and I sat in an otherwise empty cabin at the front of the aircraft. The service was incredible from hard working flight personnel who count themselves the lucky ones. I passed through an unusually quiet Dubai airport, with an escort from gate to lounge. Airport personnel are up beat and getting on with it.

Arrival into Australia was surreal.

After the mildly intimidating on aircraft announcement “welcome to Australia… if you don’t comply you will face imprisonment and a $20,000 fine”. I was observed by easily 100 personnel and interviewed about my symptoms 5 times with multiple temperature checks, between the aircraft and baggage claim. A similar process happened from baggage claim to the bus, with a police escort, we were loaded individually, under security airside on the aircraft apron. Finally upon arrival at the hotel another army of personnel checked us in, interviewed me about my symptoms and took my temperature, in case anything had developed on the bus I presume. All personnel were super friendly and doing a good job. Many commented that they were pleased to have a job as essential workers. I am now in hotel quarantine — very comfortable with an amazing view of the city skyline at south wharf. Nothing can leave my room except for garbage, laundry and linen in double sealed bags left outside my door. My floor is permanently manned with quarantine personnel. I was tested on Day 0 (negative) and will be tested on Day 2, 4, 8, 12 and 14.

This is all very impressive and (please don’t think I’m being frivolous) but ever so slightly amusing in an unsettling way.

In my opinion, Australia is now mismanaging the pandemic and falling behind the rest of the world.

Australia is by definition a long way away, disconnected from the rest of the world. I think all of us felt very proud of the way we handled the pandemic during 2020, the sacrifices we made, the near absence of cases enabled by hard lockdowns. Today I wonder if the same pride is potentially hubris.

In my opinion, our state and federal leaders appear to be preoccupied with getting re-elected, having realised that doing a “Mark McGowan” and closing borders is a “vote winner”. Again, in my opinion, we need leaders do do what’s right for citizens of the country and not abdicate making tough political decisions by abdicating responsibility to medical advisors, who are clearly phenomenally competent but not experts on the broader set of issues required to lead the nation.

In the few last days French President Emmanuel Marcon <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/world/europe/france-covid-vaccine-coercion.html> announced “vaccination is a matter of individual responsibility… but also a matter of our freedom.” A vaccination health passport is required in France to go to bars, restaurants, cafes and shopping centres. Otherwise you will need a negative COVID test, which you will have to pay for after the autumn. Israeli Prime Minister, Neftali Bennet <https://www.timesofisrael.com/bennett-vaccine-refusers-are-endangering-the-entire-country/> made similar announcements “the science is unequivocal; the vaccines work. They are effective and safe”. “Those who refuse to get vaccinated are endangering their health, those around them and (our) freedom”.

So I’ve returned to Australia to find both Melbourne and Sydney in the middle of another lockdown. In Australia it would seem we lockdown a whole city with not 50,000, but 163 cases in Sydney and 12 cases in Melbourne. Do we plan to run our country this way with rolling lockdowns every 6–12 weeks for the next 5 years? 10 years? Forever?

This morning I’ve woken up to see super-spreader, protest events in both Sydney and Melbourne, to which most of us are understandably outraged. Protesting is not the way out of a pandemic.

There is only one way out — get vaccinated! COVID is never going away. It is out there in the world, much the way the common cold (a corona virus) and the flu are out there. As I say, we will all get COVID at some point — a vaccine will stop you dying.

So where is Australia at? How do our vaccination rates compare?

UK 68%

USA 49.9%

Worldwide 13.5%

Australia 12.2%

We can’t rely on our Politicians to fix this for us. We need to do this for ourselves. Call your GP. Ask to get vaccinated. Is there anyone in your life, your parents, neighbours who are vulnerable? You could ask to get vaccinated to protect them.

I’m so pleased to wakeup this morning to see the new advice in Australia for anyone over 18 to get Astra Zeneca. Finally! I am 49 and requested Astra Zenica in May. My partner, who is the same age, also requested Astra Zenica in June. Six weeks ago when she went to the Exhibition Buildings, she had no less than 8 personnel try to persuade her not to get AZ, including one who said “I don’t understand why you would have Astra Zeneca, when you could wait and have Pfizer”. Get vaccinated. I’m planning on having all of them eventually. Even the first dose provides 60% of the benefits.

The Australian TGA is among the world best regulatory agencies and has approved AZ. We seem to get preoccupied with statistics that suggest that 3 in 100,000 will get TTS (blood clotting). For 99,997 in 100,000 people Astra Zeneca will prevent them dying. Furthermore out of 6.1 million doses of Astra Zeneca, there have been 87 cases of TTS and 6 deaths. One in 15 have died from TTS and now doctors and the heath system knows how to treat the condition. Death from TTS is a one in a million possibility, comparable to the odds of winning Tattslotto (1 in 8 million).

In Australia 1,142 people died on the roads in the 12 months to June 2021 which is 5 in 100,000 people. We don’t shut down the roads based on 1,142 deaths, instead it’s compulsory to wear a seat belt and carry insurance. Any objections? None. If you are concerned about Astra Zeneca I suggest you don’t get in a car.

Finally out of 25.4 million people, 185,000 die each year in Australia from a range of causes including flu (705 in 2019), heart disease (17,500 in 2018), diabetes (16,700 in 2018), mental health and suicide (65,300 attempts every year). 3,046 people committed suicide in 2018, 8 per day, 2.5 x the road deaths.

In Australia there have been 915 deaths from COVID, 2 deaths in 2021. How many of these deaths were people dying with, rather than die from COVID due to co-morbidities? I don’t know.

In my opinion, we are losing touch with what makes Australia great. We are practical, can do, unfussy, confident, capable, and robust people. It’s time to get vaccinated and get on with it.

There is only one way out — get vaccinated! If you haven’t been, call your GP, request a vaccine. Encourage your family, friends, and community. Let’s get back to some bigger issues like solving climate change and making the world sustainably prosperous!

Image: The Australian: Cameron Smith: How long can we keep shutting out the world?