New South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas, announced on Tuesday that his government is taking new steps to prepare the state for a predicted rise in COVID-19 cases.
This comes exactly two years after the Major Emergency Declaration and is based on modelling provided to the premier on Monday, which revealed that daily COVID-19 cases in April could exceed those seen in January, with hospitalisations from the virus reaching similar levels.
After extensive consultation with the State Coordinator and Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) on Monday, Malinauskas announced that the COVID-Ready Committee would be abolished and replaced by a sub-committee of Cabinet.
The Committee will be the Emergency Management Council, be chaired by Malinauskas, and include the Police Commissioner, CPHO, as well as key ministers.
It aims to provide greater support for the State Co-ordinator and greater power to authorise immediate action in response to decisions made at meetings.
Malinauskas said the COVID-ready Committee is not a decision-making body and doesn’t have true power.
“And I don’t want to chair a committee that doesn’t make decisions,” he said. “I seek to chair meetings that make decisions...and hence the policy change.”
Also, in response to the modelling, the Malinauskas government is directing SA Health to rapidly develop a plan to urgently prepare hospitals for the expected rise in COVID-19 cases.
However, this comes not only because of the predicted rise in cases but also due to the “extraordinary strain” Malinauskas said the hospital system is already experiencing.
He said he was formally advised that last week was one of the toughest weeks the state has ever experienced in terms of hospital pressure.
“There is a lot of demand on hospital capacity at the moment, so much so that on Friday last week, a decision was taken to ban all non-urgent elective surgery,” Malinauskas said.
“So things are so bad in our public hospital system that the elective surgeries that were put back on are being cancelled again.”
Another focus of the government will be to develop a campaign to increase take-up of the COVID-19 booster.
“Increasing booster rates matters,” Malinauskas said. “That will give the Police Commissioner more ability to mitigate restrictions, and we are going to ensure that my government does everything we can to increase those booster rates.”
He indicated that the government would employ strong public messaging on booster shots, which will aid the State Co-ordinator in their efforts.
Malinauskas also suggested reforms to the Public Health Act may be required to end the Emergency Management Act declaration, which rolls over every 28 days and has been renewed 27 times since it was implemented in March 2020.
He would like to see the Emergency Declaration end by June 30 this year at the very latest.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Australian Medical Association SA for comment on the changes, but they declined.
The Emergency Management Council is due to meet on Friday, with isolation and quarantine requirements high up on the agenda.
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