Politicians silent on COVID, official figures wind down, but one in 6 Australian COVID deaths were in the past 28 days, despite vaccination

The respected Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard has us fifth in the world on current numbers, up from seventh two Saturdays ago when we last referred to them in this space.

More than 23 per cent of our COVID cases and almost 16 per cent of COVID-associated deaths have come in the past 28 days, all at a time when the Commonwealth says that 95 per cent of those aged 16 and over are "fully vaccinated".

The lockdowns have gone but the virus has not. For most people COVID-19 is either an asymptomatic experience or one that produces a flu-like cold at worst.

For a significant minority, however - mainly those aged about 60 or over - it can debilitate to the point of death.

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There is no single reason for this attitudinal sea-change in Australia and other jurisdictions that previously prided themselves on strict public health regimes to keep a new and unpredictable killer at bay.

At some point, the costs of the lockdown approach began to outweigh the benefits that were accepted by most but seriously questioned from the start by some.

But if governments stood accused of being too heavy-handed to begin with, the continuing death toll - and the long-term impacts of serious COVID-related illness not captured in the raw figures - should surely give pause to our political decision-makers.

Yet as Newcastle Herald health reporter Anita Beaumont is reporting, both NSW Health and Hunter New England Health are no longer providing daily updates, expecting the public to find case numbers - which are growing in our region - online.

At a time when COVID is still an evolving and potentially deadly disease, this is a decision that appears to border on the reckless.

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It is one thing to say vaccination allows the burden of health safety to go back to the individual. It's another thing entirely for our governments to make it harder - even if not deliberately - for the public that elects them and pays their wages to see at a glance what is happening with a disease that can rightly be called the modern plague.

If the Coalition is returned to Canberra, party faithful will probably congratulate Scott Morrison for keeping COVID out of the campaign spotlight.

The families of the hundreds who on current trends will die with COVID before May 21 might have a different view.

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