Why the resistance kids are used to covering up

August 24, 2021 â€" 12.03am

Illustration: Cathy WilcoxCredit:

To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number.CHILDREN AND COVID-19

Why the resistance, kids are used to covering up?
I have noticed that children seem to enjoy wearing masks representing Spider-Man, the Phantom, ninjas and various other cartoon figures and Halloween characters. And they do not suffer trauma.

When they go to the snow they wear balaclavas. When they go to sporting events they often muffle their faces in scarves.

Please explain the resistance to a measure that may save health and lives â€" theirs and others’? Rosalind McIntosh, Camberwell

We must vaccinate this cohort before opening up
Over the last week, Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have appeared to be preparing the public message for opening up at approximately 70-80 per cent of vaccine coverage for adults.

Millions of children in Australia remain unvaccinated and completely vulnerable to the Delta variant. Given vaccine shortages for adults there are no guarantees there will be enough supply â€" opening up without vaccinating this cohort will see a surge in hospitalised cases of children, based on international reports.

It seems the government is prepared to risk the safety and wellbeing of Australian children under the narrative of “living with the virus”.
Jessica Hill, Burwood

A dangerous distortion of the recommendations
The Prime Minister’s determination to begin opening up when vaccination rates reach 70 per cent of the adult population is a dangerous distortion of the Doherty Institute recommendations.

That figure of 70 per cent of adults means that the overall rate of vaccination for the whole population is more like 50 per cent, which leaves millions of people unvaccinated and highly vulnerable. There is no way that we should stop lockdowns on those figures.

We now know children are high-level transmitters of the disease and they can die from it just like anyone else. The institute warned that with high rates of infection we need to be more conservative as to what is “safe”, as the absolute number of unvaccinated people at large makes tracing infections so much more difficult.

Vaccination should therefore be from birth if we are to get on top of the Delta variety, and on the basis of what is happening in Israel and elsewhere the target figure should be more like 85 to 90 per cent of the total population. John Biggs, Mount Nelson, Tas.

An amazing juxtaposition
An amazing juxtaposition on page 5 of The Age on Monday (23/8): a parent who doesn’t want her kids “stigmatised” by wearing masks but who, interestingly, wears a mask herself commenting on the “very low” risks to children of catching COVID (“Parents divided over masks for their children”) and right there next to that a story headlined “200 kids in NSW figures”, all of whom are in the same age range as her children.
Angus McLeod, Cremorne

Children can’t always be shielded from realities of life
Yes, Lauren Lombardi (“Childcare closures push us closer to the brink”, Comment, 23/8), lockdowns are difficult, and, I think, especially so for parents working from home with small children.

The centres have been closed to most of the cohort for the safety of those children, given the evidence of the increasing number of young children being infected by this Delta variant.

Surely things being forgone in the short term is a price we have to pay for the health of children. Children cannot always be shielded from the harsh and sad realities of life.
Jenny Callaghan, Hawthorn

What’s the plan to protect my children?
What is the plan to protect my children (seven and nine) from COVID-19 as the country eventually opens up again?

I don’t want to hear that their chances of hospitalisation are small, I want to hear a plan to protect them. I don’t understand the impacts of long COVID on children well enough to put them at any risk of contracting the virus. When can I vaccinate them?

And if there are studies out there on the impacts of long COVID on children, please point me to them, I would love to understand it better.
Kate Woollard, Geelong West

THE FORUM

Hiding behind ‘hindsight’
The Prime Minister again invokes “hindsight”, this time to excuse his government’s lack of preparation in evacuating refugees from Afghanistan. The benefit of hindsight apparently excuses mismanagement of any kind.

Variously, the PM has said that “in hindsight” he would not have taken a trip to Hawaii during the bushfires, and with the slow vaccine rollout “those delays are regrettable, people have perfect hindsight after these events”, and “well it is interesting to be wise in hindsight, what matters is what we do now”.

Therein lies a significant issue with the government, it only appears to act on any meaningful issue with the benefit of hindsight. In hindsight, vaccinating as many people as possible really was a race, yet foresight only appears possible when the government plans systematic pork barrelling in marginal seats, when suddenly we have spreadsheets with timelines and prioritisations clearly allocated.

With the significant political and environmental challenges we face as a nation, hindsight is OK, but foresight is much better when leading a nation through the perilous challenges we face.
Roan Plotz, Preston

Some consistency, please
I was very worried by the violent anti-lockdown protests on the weekend, especially the large gathering in Melbourne.

It seems there is a core group of organisers who have no regard for the health and safety of our community and the members of the police force who are doing their job for all of us. They are followed by a large group of disgruntled citizens who are venting.

I was somewhat concerned, too, that Scott Morrison, as Prime Minister, did not condemn the violence. He was quick to criticise climate activists who plastered graffiti on Parliament House. These protesters didn’t put police in hospital.

A bit of consistency is in order.
Leonie McCormack, Northcote

A prize photograph
Photographer Justin McManus should receive the award for photo of the pandemic (“Police consider shutdown of public transport to protests”, The Age, 23/8).

I note the strange irony of crowds highly frustrated by the ongoing problems of the pandemic, but the man front and centre, of the protest, simultaneously being doused with capsicum spray and holding for dear life his takeaway coffee.

If that’s not forever the image of Melbourne at the height of lockdown, then I don’t know what is. Keep your chin up, Victorian and NSW cousins.
Shaun Dunford, Mount Gambier, SA

A two-pronged approach
There is no doubt that lockdowns have a crucial role in containing the spread of COVID-19 until our vaccination rate is high enough to protect the population.

But there is also no doubt COVID-19 is having significant impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of large numbers of people, including children and young people, yet governments do not appear to have a plan to deal with this reality.

The steady increase in funding for mental healthcare services is important and welcomed, but these services are generally for people with a clinical diagnosis. We therefore urgently need a parallel mental health promotion response to support all Australians through these challenging times and to prevent people from experiencing serious psychological distress wherever we can.

Given that partial or full lockdowns are likely to continue for several months until our vaccination rates are high enough, we need a simultaneous focus on the prevention of mental ill-health and the prevention of COVID-19 â€" not just on one or the other.
Stephen Carbone, Thornbury

EPA cuts are ...
Disbanding the Environment Protection Authority’s waste crime unit and cutting one-third of the EPA workforce (“EPA to slash jobs, scrap crime unit”, The Age, 22/8) can only have one result.

The EPA won’t be able to do the job we need it to do, people and the environment will be poisoned and polluters will escape prosecution.
Max Sargent, Thornbury

... going to cost us
It would save us money in the long term to increase funding to the EPA.

If it were stronger and bigger the current hold-ups with the West Gate Tunnel would not be happening and all these fires of illegally dumped toxic rubbish would not be occurring. Nor would taxpayers be paying millions to clean up sites.

Telling Scott Morrison to sign up to a climate accord when you are increasing the likelihood of more dumped waste going up in toxic smoke is hypocritical.
Robin Storie, Knoxfield

The nature of the problem
Ross Gittins calls climate change a “wicked” problem (“Global warming too ‘wicked’ to muddle our way through”, Business, 21/8).

A wicked problem is defined as a social or cultural problem which is difficult or impossible to solve, but climate change is not a “wicked” problem. We have the knowledge and technology to solve it relatively easily right now.

“‘We’ve barely begun’: Expansion for planned Top End solar farm” (The Sunday Age, 22/8) tells us “burning all of Australia’s coal, oil, gas, uranium and other non-fossil fuels would provide a little more than one-tenth of the amount of solar energy we receive every year for free”.

The problem is that the coal, gas and oil industries do not want climate change solved, because doing so would hugely diminish their profits. Instead they use their vast reserves of money to buy influence and power to stall or prevent any meaningful action on climate change.

That’s where the wickedness comes in.
Helen Moss, Croydon

The new normal
While I completely understand the sentiment (“‘All we want is to get back to normal’”, The Age, 21/8), life prior to March 2020 seems a dream â€" the truth is we will never live life as we did pre-pandemic, and nor should we.

It is important and easier to focus on the short-term goal of vaccination, but, one way or another, we will all need to adapt to living with COVID-19 in the community. We also need to adjust to living with the reality of a changing world suffering from the impacts of climate change.

While it all seems doom and gloom, I like the phrasing of former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, who says that this time is an opportunity to “build forward”.

The door to stabilise Earth’s climate is closing, but we who are currently alive have the responsibility and opportunity to determine the fate of humanity.

Let’s live more simply, consume less, connect with the natural environment, and find joy in relationships with each other.

Live simply, live well.
Amy Hiller, Kew

Redirect the vaccines
Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says over-50s should not hesitate to get vaccinated, but the fact is they have hesitated and in doing so have failed to protect themselves and others, and are delaying our chance to rejoin the world.

Now is the time to redirect vaccines originally allocated to that age bracket to the 16-to-39 group, and for the younger generations to do their part in getting the job done.
James O’Keefe, East Melbourne

Rather than fining them ...
I was disappointed to see people protesting on the weekend against the latest lockdown. I thought we in Victoria were better than this.

Television footage shows that most involved in this protest were young people and I wonder if they simply went out for a bit of social activity with other young people or if they truly believed that they were entitled to mix and mingle as their whim took them at the time.

Perhaps they have had so much freedom that they have forgotten that we lock down for the good of everyone.

How would these people have survived through hardships of the two world wars last century: the blackouts, curfews, food and petrol rations, to name just a few deprivations?

This may sound old-fashioned, but I wonder if those who were reported should, instead of being fined, be doing community activities. Perhaps then they may understand that we all need to think of what’s best for the community instead of “me, me, me”.
Jeanette O’Brien, St Leonards

Focus on the positives
Aren’t we all missing out on something during lockdowns? So why the continual focus on people having to cancel a holiday or a special celebration?

How about more stories about the heroes of the day? The doctors, nurses, contact tracers, teachers, scientists, cleaners, shopkeepers â€" the list goes on.

There is so much negativity in the media about lockdowns, but the reality is that they have been established to get us out of the pandemic and so much negativity does nothing to help.
Diane Maddison, Parkdale

The coffee passport
It’s the elephant in the room. With restrictions becoming more severe in our attempts to control the uncontrollable, no one is tackling the untouchable â€" takeaway coffee cups.

These vessels seem to exclude the bearer from complying with mask rules. I enjoy a coffee as much as the next person â€" one of life’s pleasures â€" but I don’t regard my caffeine hit as more important than my safety or that of the public.

Get a takeaway coffee by all means, but keep the mask on until sipping, or take it home.
Geoff Goonan, Glen Iris

AND ANOTHER THING

Lockdown protests
What would happen to any protest if it was not reported in any media and was completely ignored by the public and police?
Carmyl Winkler, Benalla

Credit:

Are the parents who brought their children to the Saturday anti-lockdown “protest” in the CBD being reported to the appropriate authorities for child endangerment.
Mary Wise, Ringwood

In addition to fines for the anti-lockdown demonstrators, some community work in the COVID wards might bring some enlightenment about what their version of freedom brings.
Ian Williamson, Reservoir

The pandemic
If Scott Morrison had just done his job with the vaccines, we might not have lockdowns now, and we wouldn’t have to listen to him complaining about them.
Laurie McCormack, Northcote

Does CSL have any plans to develop a vaccine against ignorance?
Stephen Rodgers-Wilson, Southbank

The footy
Could it be an omen? The last time Melbourne won the premiership in 1964, the Olympics were in Tokyo.
David Seal, Balwyn North

Politics
Scott Morrison, what we have here is a failure to communicate.
Dirk van Florestein, Geelong West

Prime Minister â€" if you are number one, you must be odd.
Margaret Ward, Sorrento

Furthermore
Weird mask wearing phenomenon noted: I now find it easier to breathe with a mask on, than off.
Marie Millett, Albert Park

Finally
Michael Leunig (The Age, 23/8), so unhelpful, so disappointing. You’ve lost me.
Rosemary Kelly, Essendon

I have long admired Leunig’s whimsical, clever and sometimes confronting cartoons but lately they have become dark and divisive, and cause harm not inspiration. Distressing and disappointing.
Catherine Burnett, Fitzroy North

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