Coronavirus Australia: Sydney’s ‘best chance to avoid lockdown’

The Committee for Sydney has called on the NSW government to introduce mandatory mask wearing in the metropolitan area. The group said following Victoria’s lead and making masks mandatory in Sydney was our “best chance to avoid a second lockdown”. “People in Sydney are still not wearing masks,” the committee wrote in a statement. “Even as COVID-19 cases in Melbourne remain intractably high, and even as we see the increase in community transmission in Sydney that may foretell a true ‘second wave’, a deeply ingrained cultural resistance to mask-wearing has not budged.” The recent advice from NSW health authorities is to wear a mask if you are in a situation where you can’t practice social distancing, like on busy public transport.