The decision made by the Australian Federal Government at the end of December to embrace living with the Omicron variant is proving to be the correct one in terms of the impact on health, though there are also some challenging economic flow-ons that will take several weeks to improve. First, let’s look at the good news.
On January 6 2021:
| STATE | ACTIVE CASES | HOSPITAL | ICU | % IN ICU | DEATHS | % DEAD |
| VIC | 61120 | 631 | 51 | 0.083 | 6 | 0.010 |
| NSW | 207667 | 1609 | 131 | 0.063 | 6 | 0.003 |
| TAS | 3118 | 5 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0.000 |
| ACT | 3565 | 20 | 2 | 0.056 | 0 | 0.000 |
| QLD | 42250 | 296 | 12 | 0.028 | 8 | 0.019 |
| NT | 599 | 21 | 1 | 0.167 | 1 | 0.167 |
| SA | 21215 | 123 | 12 | 0.057 | 8 | 0.038 |
| WA | 68 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0.000 |
Only the Northern Territory has recorded more than 0.1% of deaths from active cases today; a statistical anomaly resulting from there being only 599 active cases in the territory. While most of Australia is now living with the virus instead of trying to shut it down, Western Australia remains the outlier. Western Australia’s borders remain closed to every state except the Northern Territory and the Premier and Chief Health Officer remain determined to keep Covid 19 out of the state. However, with 16 new cases yesterday, including Delta and Omicron outbreaks it is only a matter of time until they are dragged kicking and screaming into the same Covid strategy as the rest of the commonwealth.
Now that the good news has been dispensed with, the onslaught of Omicron cases is beginning to smash the country’s supply chains with shortages on some products, distribution centre’s staffing numbers decimated and the freight transport industry struggling with as much as 50% of truck drivers absent from work due to Coronavirus in some sectors.
RATs (Rapid Antigen Testing kits) are now the new Australian toilet paper, with the supermarket I work for (let’s call them ABC) barely able to supply even a fraction of the demand for them. This has resulted in all states (except Western Australia, which refuses to participate in the federal coronavirus strategy) dropping the requirement that people return a negative test in order to cross borders. PCR testing stations, now overwhelmed by those seeking a test, are now only testing those who are symptomatic and the requirement to confirm a positive RAT test with a PCR test has also been dropped.
The demand for RATs is so high, and their availability so low, that on Tuesday morning at ABC supermarkets I experienced the farcical consequence of this situation. For two hours, two staff members were chained to a phone each taking constant phone calls, with barely seconds between each call, from customers enquiring whether we had RATs available (we did not). This scene from the movie Office Space would not be an exaggeration. A queue had formed from the Customer Service desk of customers wishing to buy RATs, each being told we had none available. Finally, at 11 am the dry goods delivery arrived with 10 single RATs on it. I escorted a Checkout Supervisor to the Customer Service desk with the RATs and spent five minutes selling them to ten people in that queue.
These are not the only products being impacted by Omicron imposed logistical challenges. Limits have been placed on mince, chicken breasts, thighs and sausages in ABC supermarkets while chilled food departments are hammered across all categories, especially convenience meals.
Ironically, in a world that is obsessed with reducing greenhouse gasses to save the planet from climate change, a carbon dioxide shortage is also reducing the availability of some grocery products, especially fizzy drinks. Multiple soft drink varieties are now out of stock on grocery shelves as a result of the shortage which could potentially impact meat supplies. Carbon dioxide is used to stun animals before they are slaughtered, is used to prolong the life of meat inside packaging and is also used in the production of dry ice to keep food fresh while being transported.
Finally, if Covid wiping out freight truck drivers wasn’t enough of a challenge, something even more fatal looms by February 2022; running out of AdBlue. What? AdBlue is an additive to diesel that keeps engine emissions within legal requirements and truckers driving without the additive face fines of up to $30,000. However, they’re unlikely to even get the chance to risk being fined because many vehicle engines are programmed to cease running if there is insufficient AdBlue in the tank.
Shortages of refined urea, a key ingredient in the fluid are leading to surges in price. The major global producer of urea is China and it is believed that the CCP is diverting the supply of urea back to domestic markets to keep the price down for the Chinese as part of plans to reduce pollution in time for the Beijing Olympics. Prices of domestically produced AUSBlue have increased from $1.50 per litre to up to $8.50 per litre in remote parts of the country.
The decision to embrace life with Omicron is proving to be the correct one and it may even prove to be the surprising climax of the Covid 19 pandemic. While Australia does appear to have underestimated the challenges of Omicron’s embrace, Prime Minister Morrison’s determination to continue the course is positive. Unfortunately, there are new economic impacts as a result of discarding the lockdown strategy and shortages of everyday products in the country will be the norm for a while yet.