A top doctor has revealed why he protested at the gates of his children’s school urging parents to keep their kids home as the coronavirus pandemic escalates.
Sydney anaesthetist Dr Rob Hackett met his fellow parents outside Paddington Public School on Monday as total number of Australian COVID-19 cases hit 313.
Dressed in his scrubs, the doctor of 20 years’ experience held up a sign saying: ‘If possible, please keep your children at home. Do not bring them to school. Lives depend on it. Government too slow to act’.
Public schools remain open across the country, although assemblies and other big gatherings are banned, and the prime minister has hinted they may shut in the future.
Dr Hackett said he had twins in Year 4 at Paddington school, and an older daughter in high school. He’s keeping all three at home for simple reasons.
Dr Rob Hackett, an anesthetist and medical consultant, stood outside Sydney’s Paddington Public School with the above sign taped to his jacket on Monday morning
Companies are increasingly sending workers home. Above, a woman wears a surgical mask in Sydney this morning
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Dr Hackett said all of us, including school students, ‘need to self-isolate now’.
The measure would stop needless deaths, ease the burden on the health system and prevent damage to the economy.
‘We need to get ahead of the curve. We need to act aggressively,’ Dr Hackett said.
‘There’s been a few countries that have acted aggressively from the beginning – Taiwan and Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau, China outside the Hubei province and New Zealand. These countries will be in much better stead in acting early and aggressively.
‘We are forever behind the eight ball with what we’re doing in Australia. We’re constantly missing opportunities to do things.
‘It keeps us on the same trajectory as Italy, Spain, France and the US, and pretty much every other country that isn’t taking the aggressive measures New Zealand is taking.’
Dr Hackett said the sooner schools shut, the better.
‘We have to act fast,’ Dr Hackett said. ‘Unfortunately schools will have to close anyway – but the sooner we close them the less time we’ll have to close them for.’
He said the strong measures taken by countries such as New Zealand meant that country may be spared having to close its schools and shut down other vital parts of society.
In scathing remarks, Dr Hackett slammed the Australian government’s current policies are ‘short sighted’.
He said ‘not only will (they) lead to a number of unnecessary deaths but will also cause greater damage to the economy because of the way it’s been (handled).’
Dr Hackett said both parents and teachers were supportive of his protest – and has urged the government to take measures that seem drastic, but will save pain in the long run
He said parents were supportive of his protest this morning and had bailed him up for more information.
Teachers ‘were extremely supportive as well – they said they didn’t want to be there … these are the teachers of my children’, he said.
Dr Hackett said his call for schools to be closed wasn’t just about protecting kids – arguing everyone should self-isolate if they can.
‘All non-essential community interactions should be put on hold,’ he said.
‘Non-essential business locations should be closed too and staff work from home where possible.’
Schools should keep a skeleton staff to supervise children whose parents can’t watch them all day.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the Today Show on Monday he was following the advice of the nation’s top doctors and still sending his children to school.
Sydney’s Epping Boys High School was briefly closed a fortnight ago after a 16-year-old student tested positive to COVID-19
‘My kids are going to school. I trust the medical advice of those who are responsible for the medical health of our nation,’ Mr Morrison said.
‘They don’t consider these things idly, they consider them very carefully. It’s a fact that younger people are less at risk and there are greater risks in school closures.’
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said that state’s decision not to close schools was based upon how the disease presented in children.
There’s also the risk health and emergency services workers will have to leave their posts to care for their children as a result of the decision.
‘For children under nine years of age, it is an extremely mild disease, and there are virtually no reports of deaths for those below 20, it’s a tiny percentage,’ Mr Sutton said, according to the Australian Associated Press.
‘My kids are in primary school and in childcare and I’m very happy for them to be there.’
Dr Norman Swan, the ABC’s medical expert, said the evidence for closing schools is ‘mixed’, but he supports the measure.
A shopper keeps protected during their grocery run at Woolworths on Monday. Supermarkets have been targeted by panic buyers and people building stockpiles in recent weeks
A government is ramping up a public information campaign about COVID-19 – urging people to wash their hands frequently, cover their coughs and sneezes and avoid contact with others if you are unwell
‘I have a personal view on this – there’s no time to waste,’ Dr Swan said.
‘Each day that goes by we’re going to lose control of this. We’ve got to stop, we’ve got to shut down schools’.
China and other south-east Asian nations didn’t close schools, he said – but the outbreak occurred over the Chinese New Year, when most were on holiday.
Meanwhile, Dr Hackett had a stark warning about what the virus will do to the health system, if the Australian government refuses to take radical measures.
‘We will be turning people away to die because we don’t have the resources to look after them,’ he said.
‘I will lose some colleagues to this virus, and I will also lose some colleagues afterwards to suicide, after the psychological damage.’
With the Australian Associated Press
If you believe you have coronavirus – or a member of your family does – you should call your GP or ring the national Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.