Above all, he predicts a shift of balance in favour of rural and regional areas, which will see towns like Shepparton thrive.
The University of Melbourne's Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences will be sharing this message of hope — plus expert insight into the pandemic — in a webinar on Tuesday.
It will be the first of three University of Melbourne webinars aiming to answer locals’ big questions about COVID-19.
Prof Kapur has become a respected leader on the pandemic, co-chairing the Group of Eight (Go8) taskforce which has provided the Roadmap to Recovery report to assist the government in dealing with the pandemic.
In addition to offering an insight into the deadly virus, Prof Kapur's webinar will explore how the virus has affected rural areas like Shepparton and detail a roadmap of solutions for the future.
“People think the roadmap is only about virus control but it's so much more than that. This pandemic will significantly change the whole of society,” he said.
“We need to look at how vulnerable groups will fare in the wake of the pandemic — and this includes regional and rural areas such as Shepparton.”
While he said it was still difficult to forecast the economic and social challenges towns like Shepparton would face down the track, Prof Kapur anticipated some surprising benefits.
Primarily, greater connectivity to metropolitan hubs.
“Most interactions are now digital. So Shepparton has essentially become as close to Melbourne as Fitzroy,” he said.
“Previously, regions missed out because everyone in Melbourne got together to talk, but the regions felt like outsiders.
“But if we're just Zooming from now on, it doesn't matter whether you're in the Melbourne CBD or Shepparton.”
Prof Kapur believed this increased connectivity could make regional areas such as Shepparton "more desirable".
“Accessing expertise has become so much easier — for instance, a lot of medical consultations are now via tele-health,” he said.
“This means rural and regional areas will have less disadvantages of distance. There are so many positive implications of this, and it is crucial for Shepparton to capitalise on it.
“And even looking at the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, regional areas like Shepparton have, compared to metro areas, been quite spared, which is such an advantage.”
While Prof Kapur said it was a "fool's game" to predict the future of the pandemic, he claimed Australia was in an amazing position.
“Flare-ups are inevitable. It's just how we deal with those flare-ups — so they don't become a second wave — that is important,” he said.
Melbourne Graduate School of Education's Professor John Hattie will host the second webinar, delving into a sector deeply disrupted by the pandemic: education.
Drawing from his extensive education experience, Prof Hattie will provide strategies for parents, teachers and students to improve learning outcomes.
The third and final webinar, focusing on mental health, will be presented by Professor Lisa Phillips from the University of Melbourne's School of Psychological Sciences.
As locals come to grips with new ways of working and engaging, Prof Phillips will address how these profound changes could impact mental health.
She has conducted research into a broad range of issues including the development of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia in young people, university student wellbeing, and anxiety and depressive disorders.
Prof Kapur's webinar will be held on Tuesday from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm.
Prof Hattie's webinar will be on Tuesday, June 9, followed by Prof Phillips’ webinar on Tuesday, June 16, both running from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm.
All webinars can be accessed at medicine.unimelb.edu.au/school-structure/rural-health/news-and-events
There will be a Q and A opportunity at the end of each session.
14°C