Covid in Australia
Written by Jay Nauss
It must be nearly a year and a half ago since Covid 19 struck with fury, putting the nations of the world in a fearful panic. Never in living memory have we seen personal liberties squashed, due to nations trying to combat this invisible ‘enemy’.
I do not know the details of how the world’s nations have risen to the challenge of Covid 19. I can only speak of what I have experienced here in Australia.
Victoria was the state hardest hit by the contagion. Melbourne was locked down for weeks, if not months. Victorians were restricted in their movements and mask wearing was mandated. But for all that, the average age of those who died was 85, and most of them were in aged care facilities and suffered from other medical issues besides Covid, but their deaths were attributed to Covid. That has been the experience in other jurisdictions as well.
State borders have been closed here in Australia for lengthy periods of time, but now they are opened; hopefully for good.
We know the drug manufacturers have worked late into the night to come up with a vaccine with which to combat the virus. The result has been the production of several different vaccines, with nations acquiring them at great expense to vaccinate their populations.
Because the vaccines have been hurried into production, the critics have complained that not enough testing of the new vaccines has been undertaken, so this has naturally led to public hesitancy to embrace them. Here in Australia, there have been a few reported cases of adverse effects from the vaccines. Coupled with this is a low number of Covid cases in Australia compared to other nations, and thus the public aren’t rushing to take up the government’s offer to be vaccinated.
The Australian government has invested a great deal of money purchasing the vaccines, so it is understandable that they want a high number of the public to take the “jab”. Currently, they are mounting a well funded advertising campaign to convince the public it is a “good idea” to get the “jab” as quickly as possible. Winter is fast approaching; and of course, that is flu season, and another reason to get vaccinated, according to them.
I suspect to hurry things along we may see a few ‘convenient’ cases of Covid pop up in various places leading to lock downs and border closures. Incidentally, some of the infrastructure from the last Queensland/New South Wales border closure remains in place. I wonder why???
International flights have been curtailed until the middle of 2022. It is a certainty that a low vaccination rate won’t lead to international travel opening up too soon. The one suggestion that should be a concern to all Australians is a comment by the Prime Minister, that vaccine passports might be introduced. Initially, it would mean that citizens of one state would not be allowed to travel to other states without a vaccine passport. Add to that the likelihood of needing a vaccine passport to buy groceries and do the other necessities of life, we would soon see a downward spiral in civil liberties. Who was it that said: “Never let a crisis go to waste?”
Christians may see some of the proposed initiatives as marks-of-the-beast and buying and selling could be linked to whether or not one has a vaccine passport. It has been said, that the Covid 19 vaccine is voluntary, and it may well be, but unless you take the vaccine you could be seriously disadvantaged.
It is interesting that Australia’s Prime Minister claims to be a Pentecostal “Christian”, and for him to suggest a vaccine passport, which would be a licence to live, is most interesting indeed.
I am sure that many readers who are students of Scripture, unlike the majority who aren’t interested in Biblical truths, let along Christianity, could be witnessing days of tribulation in the coming months.
Could we say, ‘unless these days be shortened no flesh will be saved’.