The lockdowns are over, and they’re not coming back. Even if there ends up being a second wave of coronavirus, I believe it would be practically impossible for any authority to enforce a second lockdown. People just won’t go for it again. Fear has subsided as even the most official of official government health agencies, the Centers for Disease Control, now admits that the fatality rate for COVID-19 is 0.4% for symptomatic carriers. That doesn’t include the asymptomatic, which if incorporated brings it down to 0.26%, well within seasonal flu rates. See Table 1. For people below the age of 50, the best estimate of fatality rates is 0.05%.  

That’s not the only reason that the lockdowns aren’t coming back. The other is that the media has a new, shinier distraction now it can focus on that should relieve us of the burden of the fear of contagious disease, and replace it with a more exciting fear of riots and looting. As coincidence would have it, this also happens to involve a bunch of people wearing masks, except this time instead of keeping their distance from one another, they’re concentrating more on destroying property. In other words, COVID-19 is finally out of the news cycle, and we’re back to the old familiar territory of racial tensions. At least those of us who aren’t all that excited about participating in riots now have a greater say in the matter compared to whether or not we want to get infected by a virus.

The most extreme about-face is arguably Australia, which back in March ordered the closure of all casinos and other entertainment venues for “at least 6 months”. Well, scratch that one. It’s quite hard to justify such a move when there have only been 7,260 cases of coronavirus in the whole country. Some Aussie companies took advantage of the situation rather well, particularly The Star Entertainment Group, which capitalized by securing an enormous 20 year deal on tax rates with the Australian government. VIP revenue will be taxed at 10%, and mass market up to AU$780 at 29% until 2041. And whoever said that the rich get preferential tax treatment? VIPs at 10%, middle class at 29%, they’re both in the double digits, so it’s practically the same thing, right?

But The Star got something else, too. New South Wales has granted The Star a monopoly on electronic gaming machines, in exchange for kickbacks to the state of 32-34%. There is a chance that the monopoly may be rescinded with Crown getting in on the action eventually, but if that happens, New South Wales has promised The Star “unspecified financial compensation” straight from taxpayers together with its Dear John letter for breaking its monogamous commitment. Call it alimony, or maybe a prenup.