South Australia’s new Prime Minister, Peter Malinauskas, announced on Tuesday that his government is taking new steps to prepare the state for the expected increase in COVID-19 cases.
This is just two years after the major emergency declaration and is based on the modeling provided to the premiere on Monday. As a result, daily COVID-19 cases in April exceed those seen in January, and viral hospitalizations may reach similar levels.
After extensive consultation with the State Coordinator and Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) on Monday, Marinauscus announced that it would abolish the COVID Response Committee and replace it with a subcommittee of the Cabinet.
The Commission is an emergency management council chaired by Marinauscus and includes the Chief of Police, CPHO, and key ministers.
It aims to provide greater support to state coordinators and greater power to approve immediate action in response to decisions made at the meeting.
Marinauskas said the COVID Response Committee is not a decision-making body and has no real power.
“And I don’t want to chair a committee that doesn’t make decisions,” he said. “I aim to chair a decision-making meeting … and therefore make policy changes.”
In response to the modeling, the Government of Marinauscus has instructed SA Health to quickly develop a plan to urgently prepare the hospital for the expected increase in COVID-19 cases.
However, this happens not only because of the expected increase in cases, but also because of “abnormal tension”. Marinauskas said the hospital system was already experienced.
He said last week was formally advised that hospital pressure was one of the toughest weeks the state had ever experienced.
“Currently, the demand for hospital capacity is so high that a decision was made last Friday to ban all non-urgent elective surgery,” said Marinauskas.
“So the situation in our public hospital system is so bad that the reverted selective surgery has been canceled again.”
Another focus of the government is to develop a campaign to increase the intake of COVID-19 boosters.
“It’s important to increase the booster rate,” said Marinauskas. “It will give the police secretary more ability to relax restrictions, and we will ensure that my government does everything we can to increase those booster rates.”
He has shown that the government will adopt a powerful public message for booster shots. This will support the efforts of the state coordinator.
Marinauscus may also need to reform public health law to complete the 27-time renewed Declaration of the Emergency Management Act, which has been carried forward every 28 days since it came into force in March 2020. I suggested that.
He hopes that the urgent declaration will be completed by June 30th of this year at the latest.
The Epoch Times contacted the Australian Medical Association SA for comment on the change, but it was rejected.
The Emergency Management Council is scheduled to meet on Friday, with quarantine and quarantine requirements at the top of the agenda.
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Steve is a Sydney-based Australian reporter with sports, arts and politics. He is an experienced English teacher, a qualified nutritionist, a sports enthusiast, and an amateur musician. Contact him at [email protected]