The new COVID-19 argument for scrapping Daylight Saving
There are growing calls from health professionals around the world to scrap daylight saving, with warnings turning clocks forward for half the year can have significant impacts on people’s health.
An Australian professor has voiced his concerns about the health risks associated with the change of time, saying the risks could be amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another professor that has issued a warning has been the professor of diabetes at Monash University, saying the upcoming change can have negative impacts.
“In terms of the scientific evidence, which we will want to stick with at the moment, there are more heart attacks just after daylight saving, more road accidents, and then you’ve got workplace accidents, car accidents and their implications,” he said.
“There is also cognitive dysfunction in relation to the daylight saving and the change in timing to our normal body rhythms.”
The Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews shut down the possibility of cancelling daylight saving during a press conference on Wednesday.
“I don’t want to be disrespectful to the professor, who may be a very learned individual. No. Daylight saving will be proceeding,” Mr Andrews said.
“That’s why the curfew changes, that extra hour is really important, well ahead of daylight saving.”
Mr Andrews said the extra hour of daylight would hopefully help make the summer “like no other”.
“If we stay the course we’ll be able to get close to normal, COVID normal but close to normal, but people will be able to go out and enjoy the city, enjoy the state, enjoy being back at work, enjoy a sense of confidence as they go into 2021 and you know what they’ll enjoy most? They’ll enjoy the fundamental truth that all that they’ve given, all that they’ve done count counted for something,” the premier said.
“It wasn’t frittered away. It wasn’t because pressure came on a bad decision was made, the wrong decision was made. We’ve got to avoid that.
“This will be a summer like no other and daylight saving, I can confirm, will be a feature of it.”
Daylight saving will kick off at 2 am on October 4, with residents in NSW, Victoria, the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania turning their clocks forward by an hour.