Sydneysiders have been told constantly we can’t do lockdown, that we’re “flippant” and Melbourne does it better. New data proves the exact opposite.
Apple data shows Sydney movement has plummeted.
OPINION
It’s the big lie of Sydney’s so-called “lockdown light”.
That Sydneysiders, unencumbered by any real restrictions, are shopping up a storm, crowding buses and trains and have the sheer audacity to: Go. For. Walks.
Interstate premiers have chided Sydneysiders. Western Australia’s Mark McGowan said the people of Sydney appeared to be “flippant” when it came to coronavirus. A conclusion reached, it seems, from watching a 10 second video of people strolling on the Bondi boardwalk.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has repeatedly said Sydney needs a “ring of steel” to stop people moving.
It’s as if everyone else can do lockdown but Sydneysiders just refuse to stay put.
Abandoned Sydney scenes around the CBD during our second lockdown.
Data shows Sydney locking down harder than Melbourne
And yet recent mobility data prepared for the NSW Government tells a very different story.
It shows that use of cars and public transport in Sydney has plummeted. We’re not even walking that much.
The truth is Sydney is cooped up indoors. Maybe even more so than Melbourne.
“When you look at the objective data, Sydney is staying home more compared to Melbourne in the similar stages of their lockdown last year,” Customer Services Minister Victor Dominello told The Daily Telegraph on Thursday.
Which means Melbourne’s “proper” lockdown was actually only as good at reducing mobility as Sydney’s derided “mockdown”.
Or, and stay with me here, when it comes to movement, Sydney is actually right now, you guessed it, in a proper lockdown.
Because that’s certainly what it feels like being in Sydney.
The CityMapper has shown Melbourne and Sydney were the world’s most locked down cities. At times in the past fortnight Sydney has been more stationery than Melbourne.
I’ve walked or jogged around the same park for a month now; the school over the road is silent; I’ve cancelled holidays; a trip to the supermarket is the closest I’ve got to a mini away break; I was excited about getting a vaccination because at least it meant I could leave the local government area.
No, Sydneysiders are not travelling across the city for seaside sojourns.
We’re also not going to Harvey Norman and Ikea – they’re closed.
In some cases, Sydney’s lockdown limits have gone further than Melbourne such as shutting down construction. In some cases they haven’t, you can still walk into Bunnings. But there’s no doubt it’s a lockdown.
At one point last week, when both cities were in lockdown, the CityMapper mobility index showed movement was at 9 per cent in “mockdown” Sydney and 10 per cent in “proper lockdown” Melbourne.
Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has said Sydneysiders are ‘flippant’ when it comes to lockdown.
Sydney is still stuffed though
Does this mean Sydney is succeeding in crushing the virus? Absolutely not. It’s a mess. There were 239 cases announced on Thursday. NSW is going backwards.
Despite NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s continuing protestations she listens to the “health advice” it’s clear as day Sydney should have locked down earlier than it did.
The lack of doing that, in hindsight, is the key to why the outbreak has exploded. That Victoria and South Australia did lockdown early is probably the one reason they’ve now – touch wood – got a handle on cases.
But it’s likely that once the Delta cat was out of the bag in any state it was going to be a nightmare to pounce on.
Apple data shows Sydney movement has plummeted.
Yet Mr Andrews has, yet again, offered up his “respectful recommendations” that NSW offer a carbon copy of Victoria’s pre-Delta lockdown rules. The whole lot, no wavering from the plan, every element was equally as useful so we’re told.
“It worked here and there’s every chance it could work there,” he said this week.
But Mr Andrews also knows that if NSW were to follow his plan to the letter, it would take any scrutiny off him for imposing some of his more questionable restrictions. Like curfews.
The best that can be said for them is they “send a message” that an outbreak is serious. As if Sydneysiders, after a month of lockdown, need a “message”.
What NSW needs, and Mr Andrews is now making positive noises about, is getting some of Victoria’s contact tracers.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian needs to do something but the idea there is not a lockdown in Sydney is nonsense.
How you actually defeat Delta
The data shows it’s not masses of people moving around the city that’s the problem.
Rather, Delta has burrowed its way into hard to reach nooks and crannies.
There’s the family gathering last week, completely against Sydney’s lockdown rules, which has now seen 45 of the 50 attendees infected.
Or the people are still turning up with sniffles to GP surgeries and then giving covid to half the waiting room.
The virus is passing from person to person in essential workplaces, places that feed the rest of the city, indeed the country.
There is no doubt the government needs to do more to find the virus and stamp it out. That may need more nuance than one-size-fits-all rules. Fewer people in essential workplaces perhaps, more door-to-door compliance checks.
Because the data doesn’t lie. The vast majority of Sydney is staying put, doing the right thing, suffering through lockdown.
Being in a lockdown is stressful and exhausting, being told constantly you’re not in lockdown is even more so.
So let’s put the lockdown light lie to bed.
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