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WA is a giant COVID lab experiment, a massive petri dish primed to shatter

Establishing itself as a hermit kingdom to protect itself from the pandemic may have served WA well. But it can't stay isolated forever.

Amber Schultz

Feb 04, 2022

106

Perth, Australia’s most isolated city, has locked out the rest of the country and the rest of the world for the better part of two years. With the harshest travel restrictions in the country, Western Australia has repeatedly shut its borders, leaving family and friends stranded apart.

As Premier Mark McGowan said when the restrictions were introduced in March 2020: “We will be turning Western Australia into its own island, within an island -- our own country.”

As a result, the state has become a strange lab experiment. One of the only places in the world where COVID-19 hasn’t spread like wildfire, the state now faces a dilemma as it pushes back its February 5 reopening date again due to surges in Omicron cases and deaths across the country.

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About the Author

Amber Schultz

Associate Editor @AmberMaySchultz

Amber covers health and social affairs for Crikey. She has been shortlisted for two Young Walkley Awards, was the 2021 Mumbrella Young Writer of the Year for her coverage of sexual violence, and in 2018 completed the Jacoby-Walkley scholarship. She holds two Master degrees and previously worked for The Age, Nine News and ABC's Tonightly.