On Saturday 28 August 2021, as the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant gradually spreads across the continent and, infections along with deaths continue to grow daily by epidemic-level numbers in Australia's most populous east coast state, this appeared in mainstream and social media....
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| The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 August 2021 |
Now that message may be close to the boastfully Pentecostal heart of Australian Prime Minister & Liberal Party MP for Cook Scott John Morrison, as well as in line with the political message he has been pushing since the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In fact Morrison has become quite insistent in the last week or so - in print and television interviews as well as on his feet in the House of Representatives - and like the ACL he glosses over the very real difficulties predicted by transitioning to very low public health restrictions based solely on a national vaccination percentage.
However, those difficulties stubbornly remain.......
On Saturday 28 August 2021 NSW Health recorded 1,218 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm that night, another 8 people had died from COVID-19 infections, the number of COVID-19 cases admitted to NSW hospitals had risen to 813 with 126 people in intensive care and 54 of these required ventilation.
At Day 76 the state's public hospital system is feeling the strain after a prolonged infection surge and despite a COVID-19 'community care' system at least 8 people with COVID-19 have died in their homes.
Added to this locally acquired Delta Variant infections is still escaping into the regions and out of its state borders - the latest being two truck drivers who travelled from NSW through three other states before their infectious status was recognised.
The U.S. influenced hard-right Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) aka The Centre for Human Dignity message is simplistic and dangerous during this Delta Variant Outbreak. Because it is targeted at est. 52.1% of the population who state an affiliation to a Christian religion, in the hope that they will put pressure on state premiers and MPs to do the bidding of the ACL:
Take action today
Using the form below, please write an urgent email to your Premier or Chief Minister and your State MPs – it will only take a couple of minutes. Some wording has been provided for you, but feel free to adjust it as you see fit. Be concise and respectful.
As always
The salutation at the start and your name at the end will both be appended automatically. Please don't add these to the letter below, eg please do not address the email “Dear MP's name”.
When you complete your name and address in the box below, your letter will be directed to your Premier or Chief Minister and your State MPs.
Right now around 10,000 people have already used ACL's 'action' webpage as requested. According to ACL's website in February 2020 it claimed a membership of 170,000 individuals who are "seeking to bring a Christian influence to politics". By 2021 it was claiming 175,000, however the only verifiable membership figure is the 5-member board whose names are currently concealed "Due to security concerns".
The misleading ACL message about the advisability of living with ongoing epidemic levels of COVID-19 because it restores our "freedoms" is not one supported by science or the majority of Australian medical/epidemiology experts.
Indeed, Doherty Institute modelling suggests that even at best case scenario, if the ACL gets its way then within 3-6mths of ‘opening up the economy’ at a 70% national vaccination rate, an est. 1,983 deaths are likely to occur including the deaths of 685 vaccinated people.
Encouraging people to ignore determining risk of infection, chronic illness or death for themselves and members of their family, on the basis of an alleged 'shared' Christian faith with the ACL, is a step too far.
That excerpts of this warped message was even published by a supposedly secular national Nine Entertainment newsprint and online asset was really 'jumping the shark'.
NOTE:
* 'Jumping the shark'. Colloquial expression meaning to lose both integrity and the plot.
