Western Advocate editorial: December 16, 2021 | Return to masks would not be a loss of face

Premier Dominic Perrottet has styled himself as the "freedom premier" and came to the top job promising to keep COVID restrictions to a minimum.

It was more than a month ago that December 15 was earmarked as the day most of the state's COVID restrictions would be eased (unless the state's double vaccination rate hit 95 per cent first, which it didn't) but that road map was written before NSW had to deal with the Omicron variant.

On Wednesday, the first day of the eased restrictions, the premier faced reporters alongside Health Minister Brad Hazzard and chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant in attempt to deliver a message of confidence in the face of growing uncertainty as the state's daily new infections figure soared past 1300.

He failed terribly to do so, and Mr Hazzard's warning that NSW could be facing 25,000 new COVID cases some time next month only muddied the water further.

For her part, Dr Chant suddenly seems less concerned with presenting a united front on COVID decisions, as usually appeared the case when Gladys Berejiklian stood beside her at the daily briefings, and on a number of occasions on Wednesday her advice on mask-wearing was not quite in line with the official position.

And that's no bad thing; as the state's top health authority it is in all our best interests for Dr Chant to speak freely and frankly on these issues.

So as COVID numbers continue to rise and with the health advice suggesting the Omicron variant is among the most transmissible so far, surely the only way forward is a return to the mask settings that were in place at the start of the week.

Our path through COVID has shown that when wearing masks have been advised but not made mandatory that the take-up has been very low. The day masks became mandatory back in June, they were suddenly everywhere.

NSW residents have shown themselves to be willing to follow the rules put in place to keep us all safe but those rules need to be clear.

The premier will be reluctant to take what seems to be a step backwards but reintroducing masks is a relatively unobtrusive move that could offer real protection.

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