It always amazes me how a good helping of statistics, can produce any outcome desired for argument.

A good read on statistics and their outcomes is Nassim Talebs’ books. The best example viz The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.
Should we include Covid?

A thought flashed through my mind while reading the improbable conclusions of this author, the real cost of freedom of the child.

Do statistics really tell the truth when considering the extra freedoms of children resulting in more child death?

Maybe that one is a price worth paying!

Dan

As for each covid costing 25 million? That's because incompetent decision-makers let the thing in, starting with the keystone cop debacle that was the Ruby Princess in "gold standard" NSW!

Had we invoked island quarantine there and then, I guarantee that covid would have been kept out along with the astronomical costs!? Claimed for saving covid lives.

Moreover, apart from shutting international borders, the economy could have rattled on as per usual!

As for costs claimed? Is the Author including the cost of shutdowns etc, for that massively inflated figure?

Given the actual cost should be limited to treatment/recovery only, to be real! As to the cost per covid?

How much more would have cost if we followed Sweden,e.g., and just let the thing rip? How many brilliant inventions/discoveries would we bury in the mass graves that'd become, covid norm?

How long would naturally acquired immunity protect us before the next disastrous reinfection?

How many new and much more virulent mutations would that cause in the infected human hosts, where such things occur!

It doesn't take a genius like the Author, to work out how many billion per covid that latter strategy could cost long term, not just for Sweden but the rest of the world as the more virulent varieties escape into the broader global community!

Given island quarantine has been so stubbornly resisted by the economy first imbeciles, Covid will keep on keeping on until the cost per covid is in the billions!

Simply put, Genius. To have a healthy robust economy? One also needs a healthy workforce! None so poor and downtrodden that they can't take a day of unpaid sick leave, let alone, a fortnight!

Because that is so! Covid, every new variant is here to stay, given the mutations need hosts in which to mutate, Genius!

It's not those coming in we are charged with protecting, but those already here, Genius!

Albeit, we could do a fair job there also if we also had island sited aid posts, rapid testing, proven effective antivirals, along with fully vaccinated island populations!
Alan B.

If, If, If !
People will keep on stuffing things up for all as long as we're not permitted to deal with the incompetent in the manner they should be dealt with !

Wouldn't it have just been cheaper to have given a 1 month timeframe to come home, where any Aussies must sign on to their flight home within 2 weeks, charter Qantas flights to bring everyone home free-of-charge, and then close the doors until fit-for purpose onshore and offshore quarantine facilities were built, with urgent priority?

Anything that could go wrong, has gone wrong.
- Bunglers

Armchair critic,
Don't you think there was enough time for most of them to jump on a plane & come home ?
My guess is they were hoping & waiting too long to get free rides back.

Lets take a look at all the things they've bungled.

Firstly the wouldn't shut the international borders because the chinese students started screaming.

Then they put the lockdowns in the capital cities, and continued the overseas arrivals.

Then Chairman Dan created a hell of a mess in Victoris, why because some security guard, was having sex with the quarantinees.

Then Gladwrap couldn't even handle the disembarking of the Ruby Princess properly.

Then they just got complacent, didn't build offshore quarantine or do anything tangible to manage the situation better.

Then the crap starts again in Sydney, was it footy players in Bondi, and an infected limo driver?

Now this thing has totally become political.
Our leaders have made promises they cant keep, If they don't keep them, they're screwed, if the do we're screwed anyway.
They promised to open the country up based on flawed Dohery institute modelling;
In the meantime they learned something else:
- It's not going to work -

Look at the stats in Israel,
http://www.science.org/news/2021/08/grim-warning-israel-vaccination-blunts-does-not-defeat-delta

OVER HALF ARE BREAKTHROUGH CASES (I've seen 60% quoted, and higher)
That means the people were FULLY VACCINATED.

Vaccines are NOT GOING TO SAVE YOU, especially if you're an older citizen.
They're not going to stop you catching Delta, and you may very well die.

READ IT!! PACK YOUR STUFF AND HEAD FOR THE HILLS!!

The government already promised to open up.
It's political suicide not to, but it's going to be hell going forward.

The stats don't lie.

Take a semi-permanent relocation to the country, AND LIVE.